Autoxed my Sti, front brake pads cracked

[ratfink]

I was removing the glaze from my front pads after 32 laps this weekend and noticed both pads had cracks in them. Anyone have any experience with the brembo pads having issues with autox abuse?

[baller_v24]

Ive auto X'd before but have never taken a look at my brakes before. From the little bit that i have read about OEM brake pads for some occasional track usage, I haven't heard anything of that nature before.

Were they cracked before you auto X'd or was the first time you took a look at them?

You got me a little worried now, I'm doing some Auto X this Sunday. Mine have held up great but then again i haven't taken them off to look at them yet.

What class did u run in?


Edit: Wow, i just realized you did 32 laps. That probably explains it.

[pzr2874]

32 runs at auto-x ??? Holy crap.....

[man show]

Drive = Love

Subaru.

[ratfink]

I hadn't looked at the pads until after I ran. It was a two day event, and my wife ran the car in the same class, so it was running almost constantly. We ran STU. The car did pretty well. I was a little disappointed in the amount of body roll on the stock sways, but only because I expected a bigger difference between the wrx and the sti. My tires are crap, so that was the biggest limiting factor. I ended up running with the center diff at full rear manual bias and traction control totally off. With it set like that the rear would drift a bit instead of the front pushing like it wanted to with the center diff in neutral.

The pads don't look like they are delaming, there's just cracks running from the inside to the outside across the face of the pads. Car still stops fine, I was just curious if this was normal.

[pzr2874]

Delete the thread and take it back for warranty work... IMHO.... Run that hard may be normal...

[c2bcoolwrx]

WOW, 32 runs...no wonder. But, I would have expected the pads to be worn down a bit not crack.

If you are serious about AutoX and are gonna do that many runs, I highly recommend you get some pads designed for the extra abuse/heat. Personally, I run 2 sets of pads. I run Hawk HPS on for DD/street and Hawk HP+ for the AutoX.

IMHO you should consider these pads for AutoX:

Hawk HP+
Ferodo DS2500 (some use for both DD/AutoX)
Carbotek AX6

For DD/street duties:

Carbotek Bobcats
Porterfeild R4S
Hawk HPS

I believe all '04-08 STi's w/brembos have the same pad fitment front and rear (I think the '09 STis have the same front but different rear fitment). It saves money in the long run to have 2 sets of dedicated pads, not to mention your AutoX times will improve with better braking. Also, I would consider some good summer tires (i.e. Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs) and then front/rear sways w/ endlinks.

When my current pads are done I think I am going to go all Carbotek with a set of Bobcats and a set of AX6s, b/c I have heard good things.

[mosc]

Auto-X is generally short enough where high performance street pads hold up well enough and don't require you to change pads before driving home. Hawk HPS are very good at this and until you get into higher classes shouldn't hold you back at all.