If you watch the straights when he gets on it, he does just walk away. I was just driving harder the whole way around.

 

MMM, Lotus. So tasty.

 

Fine point, but the black and the silver car get away from him and you a bit quicker. What were they?

 

The black car was my buddy's '93 MR-2 Turbo. Modded and VERY fast (300+hp). The silver car was the Integra GS-R race car, which was the only car that passed me that weekend. When my buddy and I had open track to ourselves, he would be faster in the straights but I would be braking later and faster through the turns. He eventually did let me by, although he was being nice. We were a very close match.

 

Thats pretty good for a non race prepped car vs a race prepped car. Well Done!

 

I'm using Axxis Ultimates on new rotors this summer. The wear on the rotors seems better than stock, they dust almost as much as stock and have have very good cold grip.....oh yeah, they are absolutely quite. So far.

 

Any track time on those pads at all?

 

I was swapping out my pads for my next track day and I had a part left over.

Can any of you guys that swap out your pads a lot tell me what the leftover clip is used for?

Thread is here:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/leftover-clip-brake-pad-diy-64372/

 

It's a anti seal brake shim.

Can't get from Mazda though.

 

Okay thanks.
Glad that it is not critical and won't create issues on the track. \

Interestingly, when I removed my OEM pads there was a lot more pad left than I thought. I've done 2 track days and 5K miles and there was still about 2/3 pad material left. I changed them anyway and will use the old pads to get home from the track someday if I eat through the new pads in one weekend.

 

I noticed the same thing on my stockers when I replaced them with the Hawk's. Surprisingly a lot of pad left with the aggressive braking that I do on a regular basis.

 

SR Motorsports offers a complete pad kit for the 8. Anybody know what brand these are or does SR make them in house?

http://www.srmotorsports.com/RX8_Per...kes_Parts.html (scroll down)

 

I havent seen those before, but unless you're turning your car into a track machine, I doubt that those would be necessary. I think just pads and fluid are quite enought for doing HPDE and other autocrossing stuff

 

I would buy brake pads from a brake firm. If the can't advertise who makes them, then don't buy them.

 

My pads had about 7-8000 miles of general street usage before the DE. I ran the rears down to the metal and the fronts were just about gone. I don't really take it easy on the track. If I'm not pushing the limits, I don't feel that I'm learning as much as I could.

 

I just returned from Cal Speedway (infield track) and ran both days back to back in ~80 degree ambient conditions - the braking of this car is phenomenal! With an entirely stock braking system I had no fade at all and had a consistent pedal feel throughout the entire weekend.

 

Just found out from them the pads a brand called "PowerStop", anybody have any experience with them?

 

I ran at Gingerman last weekend in 95 degree heat and track temp of about 135 degrees.
OEM brake were good with no fade (I have DOT4 fluid). Pedal now had more play in it so I think I really ground done the pads. I'll check over the weekend.

 

I'm running ATE SuperBlue fluid and Porterfield R4-S pads. The stock pads are awesome, especially with that initial bite. Problem is they just eat rotors like crazy.

 

Carbotech XP8s, in the front only with OEM in back, are working quite well on one of our cars with a couple track days on it. For those running the OEM brakes on track, you may not be getting any fade your first few times out, but you will eventually. The better you get, the later you brake and the harder you are on them, and the stock pads will eventually prove inadequate.

The RX8 does have very good stock pads, and wholly adequate brakes overall. Kudos to Mazda for designing such a good system from the factory. But like most OEM parts, there is room for improvement.

For those not familiar with Carbotech, their line consists of the following:

Bobcats: One of the best street pads available. Quiet, low dust, and very high coefficient of friction. Good for up to 900 degrees or so. Can be used for very short track sessions on street tires, but it is not intended to be a track pad.

Panther Plus: Entry level track pad, good from 150-1250 degrees. Are a little squeaky to run around on the street all the time, but they work fine cold and are impressive once in the upper temp ranges.

Panther XP8: Great mid-level track pad that's still drivable on the street (to and from the track is the idea, but I've used them for weeks at a time with no issues). Good from 250-1350 degrees. This is what we use on track in the DPE cars, usually with Bobcats in the rear once the OEM rear pads wear out. And we use Bobcats all around on the street.

The Panther line goes up to XP9 and XP10, but those would only be necessary for competition level track time on R-compound tires etc. And we've found that it usually isn't necessary to put track pads in the rear if you have them in front, as the more aggressive front pads will bias the system forward a bit anyway and the fronts are already doing more of the work. On soemthing like a non-Brembo 350Z with horridly undersized brakes we'd do track pads all the way around for any track day, but this hasn't been necessary on the RX-8 thus far. We'll see how it goes when the turbo goes on one of them late next month; might have to rethink our selections then .

All Carbotech pads are carbon-ceramic based, which is the best thing going right now in pad material. Very non-corrosive on those expensive wheels, minimal rotor wear when operating in their temp range, very high friction coefficients for an excellent 'bite', and minimal dust for the given class of pad.

If you want some unbiased info on Carbotech, head over to www.i-club.com or www.nasioc.com and do a search on Carbotech. The Subaru folks love these pads, and as a Subaru owner I have to agree with them .

And of course all compounds are available for the RX-8, both front and rear.

Sorry if that's too much of a sales pitch, but we really do believe in these pads. And not only that, we actually use them!

 

How much is a set of these pads for the fronts for an RX-8?

Do you sell them?


A friend of mine with a BMW 325is uses the Carbotech XP8s on his car. He's been pretty happy with them so I thought I might think about giving them a shot.

 

They are $158 for a set of front XP8s, and yes we do sell them. And in fact we have two sets in stock. Feel free to place an order through the site, or give us a call and we can talk about it more if you have questions (913.441.4144).

http://www.dpeweb.com/ProductDetails...9&vehicleID=58

Regards,

Phil
Driven Performance Equipment
www.dpeweb.com

 

i boughty the whole brake upgrade kit with the slotted rotors. we only put on the fronts for now and sr is sending rears next week. the pads were hawks but im not sure which ones. someone said the HPS pads from hawk are bad and i wonder if thats what they were since i do not feel like i have front brakes at all! it may be mechanic error or glazed pads. i will find out on monday.
the rotors are nice and look like good quality, but the proof is in the stop.

 

Well, there are a couple of things that could be in play there. Keep in mind the operating temperature of pads has a big effect on cold stopping. If the pads that come with that kit are aggressive high-temp pads designed for optimal performance at the track, they will need heat in them to be effective (meaning low bite when cold). Not all pads are created equal, and some high-temp pads can also have a wide enough temperature range to also be usable on the street, but more often than not, an aggressive track-oriented pad will take a couple of stops to heat up and start biting.

Also, given that you have brand new rotors, you would be well-served to lay down some pad material on those rotors for optimal performance. I would recommend you bed your rotors and pads to see if having a good layer of pad material on the rotors helps.

Good luck.

- Craig

 

Agreed, stopped yesterday there was a very noticable difference at the track between my pads cold and after they got some head into em. Caught me a little off guard the first time.