Brake Cooling

[vaudiw]

I have just done another track day and destroyed another set on Mintex pads. This is getting to be expensive!

I am running std calipers and slotted rotors and they seem to work well enough until they overheat (which they do really quickly). The mintex pads give lots of bite but eventually melt.

If the heat could be dissipated more efficiently then this would improve them no end. Checking other makes of cars at the track day their brakes were no where near as hot as mine.

I know this point has been discussed ad infinitum on this forum, but it seems that everyone just upgrades the calipers. I don't have alot of money to chuck at the brakes, given the amount of track time it sees.

I see a few people have the Phaeton ducts fitted, has this helped brake performance at all? Would ducting help the std brakes or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

[s4marsh]

hi, i'm using ebc turbo groove and redstuff pads and mine still get very very hot and smoke but they stop well without fading too much although i do think the extra cooling would help but not a great deal on a standard size discs and uprated pads like we have unless you try the ebc yellowstuff trakday pad, they're road legal you just need to warm them up properly and they cost £165 for the fronts. and £50 rears which is not cheap

[Blue_Thunder]

You could probably pick up a used set of B5 RS4 brakes for not much more than a set of Mintex pads. These will cope slightly better with overheating and fade, and you'd have more options when coming round to replacing pads on them.

[vaudiw]

I don't get much fade with the Mintex pads, its the wear that is killing me. I destroy a set in one track day without trying, more than 3 laps at a time and they pads will overheat and start to smear themselves over the rotors.

RS4 brakes aren't really an option. I would have to go to 18's and getting RS4 brakes down this end of the world is nigh on impossible. The freight costs from the UK and the weak $NZ kill it for us.

[Blue_Thunder]

Have you looked into the VW Phaeton discs upgrade? Shouldn't be a problem getting the parts from your local VW garage.

[tartan_rob]

Pagid RS15 Grey,. They do not start to work properly until the disc is red hot. They are a carbon/ceramic compound and the final pad before a non metallic set-up.

[vaudiw]

Have you looked into the VW Phaeton discs upgrade? Shouldn't be a problem getting the parts from your local VW garage.

I see a few have done this mod and it looks dead easy and unobstrusive but does it actually work, ie does it make a significant difference to brake temps with std calipers?

[Blue_Thunder]

A larger disc will take longer to heat up and will cool quicker, so I would imagine it would offer an improvement on a budget. Phaeton ducting should also help cool the discs down.

If you track your car regularly though, there's no substitution for a big brake kit.