Finally changed my brake pads back to stock after the last VIR, and found that, after about 700 track miles, I have about 30% pads (Porterfield R4) left in the front (hopefully it will still past tech inspection for my last event in SP) and 90% in the rear.

The car is quite well balance under braking, so I am not worried about brake balance; however, I would have expected more of a 30/60 wear rather than 30/90, afterall ~55% of the weight is at the rear.

The good news: I only have to purchase front pads for next season

What do you think?

 

Seems pretty normal to me.

 

FT: My front pads are worn much more as well, and they threw off a lot of nasty dust that was hard to remove after getting caked on during our session in the wet. The caked on pad dust was also very hard to remove from the doors where the leading edges of the magnetic numbers were. Check to see if your drilled rotor holes are caked up with brake dust. If so, you may want to clean them out so they can be functional again. I used a 5/32 drill bit, pushing it all the way through to the backing plate. The brake dust came out in plugs. Yes, I know, there are hundreds of holes to do, but it's a fairly easy job that's hard to screw up. Place an open newspaper under the rotor to catch the dust plugs, or you'll have a brake dust mess that's hard to clean up on your garage floor. I cleaned the rears out too, but they weren't nearly as clogged as the fronts. I'm getting slotted rotors when these are done.

 

Um.. most PCA regions expect at least 50% of available brake pad (compared to new) at the beginning of an event. Check the tech form for the event as it likely mentions this fact.

At SP for turn 1, you need to scrub off some serious speed (maybe from 125 down to about 45) and again some serious speed for turn 5 (100ish down to 30ish). I would want more front brake pad to start my day. Realize also that "thinner" pads will transfer more heat into the caliper and brake lines, thus causing fluid to boil sooner... which means serious brake fade.. which means I hope I am not the car in front of you for turn 1 or turn 5 At least bring a spare set to the track, but I would encourage putting them in before the event.

While "55" percent of the weight is in the rear in a "static" position, it does transfer to the front under braking. Plus, I would bet, that in a modern car, the front brakes do about 75-80% of the braking to begin with!

 

pad thickness at 50% is what most PCA region request. but that's no being realistic. in 500 miles at laguna seca, i can crack the rotors on my GT3 or my cayman. i do about 10 days at laguna seca a year, add up the rotor cost! thinner pads does heat up fluids, but i flush my motul after every laguna weekend, it's still cheaper and i never had fading binders.

BUT for laguna seca or any track with hard braking requiremetns, i would start with new pads, i pull the 50% or thinner pads for use at thunderhill, sears point, button willow, where braking is not as demanding and one day on any of those tracks should use no more than 10-15% of the pad material.

so yes, 50% or more pads left is good, but coorelate that with which track you are on.

i use three sets of fronts for every set of rear on both gt3 and caymans. all on pagid yellow RS19's.

 

Thank you all for the input, our experiences seem in-line

Jim, yes, I have been cleaning the holes with a q-tip though

I, too, would feel much more comfortable with more pad especially at SP-Main. I have been there only once 2 years ago with a different car, so I am not sure I want to take the chance going into T1 and T5, or at least I do not want to worry about brakes, just want to concentrate on driving I'll just change the pads and fluid before the event.

Thank you again for the advice.

FT