jerome951

PF97s are OK for the street if you can stand the squeeling and dust. However, I'd still recommend you switch on track days because:
- PF97s are now freaking expensive
- when swapping, you have a chance to inspect your pads, rotors, suspension, wheel bearing tightness, etc. All are important when going to an event or coming back from one. Do it enough times and you can have it done in quick order.

Mark944na86

This strikes me as sound advice. Cheers!

Bri Bro

If you do not get the brake dust wet or damp, you can blow it off with air. Once it sees water, it sets up like concrete.

Mark944na86

I got the pads today and put just the front set on. Tried it for a quick test drive (street). Nice! Excellent stopping power, but very civilised and smooth, with very little warming up. Not a single squeak! And I was expecting _race_ pads...

Seriously, so far I could see myself living with these as street pads without any problem. Either that, or I'll have to get better at changing brake pads on 4-pot Brembos. Anyone got any tips on making this a speedier job? Getting those pistons pushed in by the method I'm using sucks.

333pg333

I use the same setup as Duke and I love the performance. I intended to only use them for the track and swap out to a more street friendly pad but after a few times we just left them in. They're ok depending on where you drive. Pulling up to a red light beside a crowded bus stop in the morning isn't going to win you many friends for the squeal factor but I forgo this just for their ability to stop. I don't have cold stop issues either. They do eat rotors a bit and yes, the dust needs to be cleaned off regularly. If left it will mark your wheels perhaps indelibly with a rust coat look in places. When you go to the track, take a bucket with sponge and just wipe them down between sessions, but be careful not to slop cold water onto hot pads, rotors, and calipers though.

Maybe 97s all round for an S2 is not a bad option. The 01's bite harder and you might overslow with them perhaps?

Once you try them you will be hooked I'm guessing.

333pg333

Can you clarify that Mark on the costs? Are you saying that you paid $308 for 2 sets (meaning 1 pair for each wheel?) and shipping?? That's a very good price. I bought mine from OG racing after also finding the local guys in QLD to be more expensive by a decent margin. I think the front 01's for Big Reds seem to jump up in price though. Mine came to $574au.

Mark944na86

By set, I meant 1 set = 1 axle.

So I paid about $120/axle, plus just under $70 shipping, to get to $308 all up. US dollars.

I had a look at OG (since they are a site sponsor) and they were a bit more expensive per set for the S2 PFC97, about $130/axle IIRC. But their advertised int'l payment and shipping policies were ridiculous! I think they required a bank wire transfer (with all the attendant costs) from int'l customers. WTF?

I noticed the 01s seemed a deal more expensive wherever I looked -- closer to the $180 mark per axle for the S2 Brembo calipers (0345 is the PF pad model code for my calipers).

It was also a bit ambiguous whether the 01s were actually available in the 0345 size. Most places didn't list that size/compound combo, and when I spoke to him, the guy in QLD didn't seem to think it was available. So I played it safe and went for the 97s all around. (So far so good. )

BTW, I'm serious about the no-squeak on my car. How come my pads are so quiet?

Duke

Are they bedded in, or have you run them at a track event yet?
They are quite before that.

Mark944na86

Track day tomorrow. I will report back after.

Put the rear pads on today, and took it for a spirited run on some twisties to do some bedding in before tomorrow. Stopping well. I noticed the ABS kicked in for the first time in a while.

333pg333

Actually PFC suggest that they don't need bedding either. Whatever, I am sure you will go deeper into your brake zones. Have fun tomorrow and report back Mark

btw, is next Sunday the track event when some of your guys are coming down to Eastern Creek?

Duke

True, but at least my pads were quite when they were still virgins

JDS968

I haven't used 01s yet, so I'm sort of talking out my *** as usual...but for these relatively lightweight cars, I don't see a whole lot of use in the 01s. I can already brake so late with the 97s that I can't imagine shaving more than milliseconds off a good lap time with more bite, even with slicks the tires become the limiting factor.

The instinct is always "more brakes more brakes more brakes" but once you can ABS (or threshold brake) at will, you're not gaining a thing.

333pg333

Some sort of midnight Nordic sacrifice Dukey?

I agree on a n/a car (if your avatar is the car in question?). To be honest I haven't tried my car with 97s all round either, but I think with a modified turbo you can justify the extra bite. I am still getting used to a non ABS car but funnily enough I noticed some rear lockup on a bit of video shot from behind my car and this is without the 5/33 bias valve that I used to run....so....not sure why that's happening? Apart from driver error.

Eric_Oz_S2

I have the PFC97s all round on my S2, and I now run the 5/33 bias - it was hopeless before swapping the bias. I run Hoosier R6 on the track and I still get front lock up before rear. Not sure why you would get rear lock up, especially with (I presume) LSD. (I'm running sans LSD at the moment).

Eric

Mark944na86

Well, I did get a few sqeaks on the way home from the track, so I guess the old Norse gods have been appeased!

Based on the earlier discussion, I did change out my pads back to the Mintex for street today, and cleaned all the dust from the wheels and calipers.

The brakes were fine, but I did get a disconcerting "wobble" (for the want of a better description) after about 10 laps or so. Felt a bit like a wheel wasn't bolted on firmly. The things I checked were: lugs nuts, strut mount nuts, rotors, wheel bearings (did the "grab each wheel and shake looking for play" test), but found nothing.

Today I changed pads, set the tyre pressure back to street use, took it for a test run, and no wobble.

I'm wondering whether hot tyres with too much cold inflation pressure might cause this effect? (My tyres are Z rated, but they aren't track tyres.)

Any ideas?