Phil Esra asked:
>If I had it my way, I'd use OEM pads for autox. But I want to do track
>events without swapping pads--I took my MR2 to a track event, and one
>of the front OEM pads shows a couple of cracks. Not good. I'm looking
>for advice on a pad that is excellent at cold temperatures but won't
>self-destruct at high temperatures. Any advice? Rotor-friendly and
>quiet would be nice too :)
>
>Phil Esra
>ex-Andy McKee MR2
>
Hey, nice pretty blue MR2 you got. I know you don't want to swap brake
pads, but my personal recommendation is to use stock pads for autox and race
pads for the track. I road raced an SSGT '91 MR2 Turbo and an SSB '93 MR2,
and used them for street and autox too, and I regularly swapped brake pads.
It only takes a few minutes once you have the wheel off (especially after
you've done it a couple of times), and you'll have the wheels off to change
tires anyway.
The first time I did a track day with my '91 MR2T, I installed a brand new
set of stock brake pads. After three 20-minute track sessions the rear pads
were gone, down to the backing plate. Stock pads just can't handle the
temperatures of hard track use. For track use I used the Hawk blue pads
which worked great. But they don't work that well when cold and they'll eat
your rotors (especially when cold), so they aren't a good street/autox pad.
You can get new Toyota rotors from Toyota Motorsports for about $35 each, so
I was more concerned with pad life than rotor wear.
For street & autox, I recommend the stock Toyota pads. I tried the
Carbotech Kelate (Mean Green) pads, and they were grippier and made it feel
like I had bigger brakes, but they were more difficult to modulate so I
ended up locking up my brakes more often during autox runs. And on the
street they squealed a little, even with well-gooped anti-squeal shims
installed. One combo you might want to try is stock pads up front and the
Kelates on the rear. This essentially gives more rear brake bias which I
liked, but I know others who thought it made it too easy to spin the car
when trail-braking into high speed corners.
Brad Burns
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