I just got the car back together with new front wheelbearings and front pads & rotors.

I went with standard Zimmerman rotors (nothing fancy) and KFP magnum golds (intermediate track pad). So far they haven't squeeled at all....I'm very surprised.

I bedded them in as instructed...though it was a bit hard to find roads that were straight enough to get up to 60-70mph and then get on the brakes pretty hard...without getting rearended that is.

In order to do the rotors I had to remove the calipers, which required disconnecting the brake lines. So although I bled 1L of fluid through with the Motive powerbleeder, the brakes are still a bit soft. I expected this, its not possible IMO to get all the air out on the first try. Kicking in the ABS a few times should help get the air out of the system too.

After sitting for nearly 3 weeks, the car started with no problems at all. It cranked over a little slow, but caught just as quickly as it usually does.

I will add to this on sunday after I do my first autocross on them.

Well I better drive the car a lot to get some miles on the pads! right?

 

cool i just put new rotors on my 83 today but i dint have to bleed my brakes

 

Forgive the thread hi-jack...

Is there a way for cars without ABS to bleed the lines without using a special pump?
Ever since I disconnected my calipers to do the rotors strut insert job the braking has been at best 60% of previous stopping power. Go figure. I didn't disconnect the calipers from the brake lines; I hung them with a flex-cord so no tension was on the brake line.

I can still stop rapidly, but I would expect braking power to INCREASE with turned rotors and new pads (increased friction?), not decrease.
Thanks.

 

X-ray, you shouldn't have a problem bleeding ABS w/o special tools. I do mine all the time that way - the kids are old enough to pump & hold the pedal, which is nice.

FWIW, I had a devil of a time bedding in new HP+ pads on new Zimmerman rotors. The Hawk package explicitly recommends against bedding new pads on new rotors. Took about 50+ miles of driving and working over the brakes. They eventually did bed in, which was good since I had a DE weekend starting the next day. Symptoms were poor braking and a shudder that felt like a warped rotor. Since then I've put 10k miles and a bunch of track time on them, without a problem

 

Adrial, I'm running the same set-up (Zims + KFP Golds) on my winky NA brakes. They are the devil to heat up on the street. I do actually get them smoking a bit, but it takes a good track session to really work them in. That said, I did the same thing... Try to bed them in on the street, drove around for a week or so, did a final bleeding (not a full flush, just we bit out to look for air), and headed out to a 2-day DE at Gingerman. They were great the whole weekend and required no further attention until I did my usual flush/bleed after the DE.

They should and will firm up nicely. Nothing like full thickness rotors and pads for pedal height/feel. I do have to ask, do your KFP's start to look like toasted cinders after you run them at the track? My front sure do. Rears hardly get hot enough to burn off the gold paint.

Hope this is useful...

 

WOW!

I haven't really slammed on em yet...

but WOW do these things SQUEEL and DUST...

They weren't kidding!!

 

I've been using the KFP's for five or six years, in fact I intalled some new fronts (from Paragon - thanks Jason) just this afternoon for some track days coming up in September.

I get about 5 or 6 track days from the fronts (including driving to the track and back), though I only run them down to about half thickness. After that they are noticeably more prone to heat fade. The rears last a lot longer, three times longer probably.

They work very well when cold and moderately hot, though they fall off noticeably when full hot. Installing brake ducting made a big difference, without it I would have tried Pagids to see it they would resist hot fade better.

They are rotor-friendly. Noisy though, and very dusty, but those aren't factors to me. I think they're a good value for the track and, I'd guess, autocross.

Matt

 

KFP's are nice pads. I ran these for a while on my 2450 lbs 944-spec car. Did good until I went to Az Motorsports Park. That track toasted my KFP's. Just put too much heat in to them. I even had 3" cooling ducts. The pads stopped ok, but close to the end of 30 min I could feel the pedal getting longer. When I replaced then they were cooked and I could see it.

I switched to Hawk Blues and those things are lots better and really hold-up the heat. They are a serious track/race pad.

I did do a 20 min session at Az Motorsports Park in my Stock 944 Turbo S. My Ferodo street pads held up just fine, but I was not pushing it has hard as my spec car.

KFP's should be good for mixed street track duty, but they can be overheated.