JRitt@essex

Hello,
Yes, the Ferodo DS3.12 has proven for most of our clients to be usable on the street. It has enough cold bite to stop the car without requiring a warm-up, and most people have found them to be very low noise. They do emit a chirp once in a while, but mostly quiet. I have them on my personal C6 track corvette, which I take out for joyrides to move fluids through it once in a while.

With the above said, there isn't a 'free lunch' when running race pads on the street. Anytime you run any race compound cold, it's going to have accelerated wear on your discs vs. a street compound. Race compounds are designed to work at high temperatures. At track temps they stick to the disc face and form a pad transfer layer. The pad rides on that layer of its own material deposited on the disc face. That is called the adherent mechanism of operation. At cold temps however, race compounds work in an abrasive manner. They do not form a transfer layer, and instead wear the disc down. When they're abrading the discs, that layer of disc material is also going to be noticed as 'brake dust' on your wheels.

Many of our clients leave the race pads in to drive to and from the track, and may occasionally run the car on the street to move fluids. The DS3.12 seem to work well for that. If you're going to drive on the road however, we'd suggest swapping in the Ferodo DS2500. The great thing about the various Ferodo compounds is that they play nice together since they're made from the same core materials. You can swap them around and lay them down on top of each other without having to re-bed the discs or worry about vibrations. The DS2500 is an excellent sport compound that can even handle mild track duty.

One of the great things with our system is that changing pads is incredibly easy. The bridge on the caliper is two hex bolts front, one in the rear. You don't need to take the whole caliper off, disconnect the brake lines, etc. like you do with the OEM calipers. That means the hardest part of changing pads is going to be fiddling with your center locks, not the pad change itself. Our GT3 customers LOVE the ease of pad changes. Even if you're paying a shop to do it, it's still going to save you labor hour costs.

To us, the ideal situation is to run the DS2500 on the street and the DS3.12 or DS1.11 on the track (the DS1.11 will squeal like a banshee cold on the street though, and sometimes even warm). If you just want to drive the car to/from the track, the DS3.12 works well with little to no drama. The DS2500 is a Swiss Army knife pad that works on the street, AutoX, canyons, and even mild braking tracks on street tires.

Our system comes with a subsidized first set of Ferodo pads in the compound of your choice for $250 front, $175 rear. We also pre-burnish the discs at no charge on our GT3 kits, so you don't have to fiddle with that process, and you can immediately take the car to the track. Our goal is to make the kit as ready to perform 'out-of-the-box' as possible.

Hopefully that helps. You can see all the details on the Ferodo Racing pad compounds on this page: https://www.essexparts.com/brake-pads/ferodo-brake-pads

Let us know if you have more questions...happy to help!

JRitt@essex

Three year customer review

We just received another nice review from one of our clients who was looking to purchase some AP Racing brakes for his new 911 Turbo S. He took the opportunity to tell us about how our brake kit has performed on his 991 GT3 over the past three seasons. Per my comments above, this customer was an early adopter of our kit, and that was before we were burnishing/pre-bedding the discs as standard. His feedback (and others) convinced us that we should be prepping the discs as standard in this particular system. Time is a scarce commodity for most of our GT3 clients, and as such we want to make everything as quick and seamless as possible. Below is what he had to say:

"My ’14 GT3 was converted to an all-out track car for the ’17 track season. 1st iteration kept the OEM calipers with aftermarket rotor/pads. The brakes were much improved but not up to the performance of the rest of the car. I read about the AP system being developed for the 991.1 GT cars on the rennlist forum and Chris, at Musante Motorsport in Connecticut, was able to secure one of the 1st sets.

To the track—as my car is not street legal I tried to bed the pad on the skid pad for about 20 minutes, clearly not the best idea.1st session and I sacred the living s*** out of myself as the brakes just weren’t doing much. All I could think was that it was the biggest waste of money on the car so far. Chris reached out to Essex and they told him my bedding procedure was not up to snuff and immediately offered to send out a set of rotors and pads that were pre-bedded, no charge (**Editor note- based on owner feedback, all AP Racing by Essex 991 GT3 brake kits now come with pre-bedded discs!**)

I decided to give it 1 more day and it was transforming. The scary track sessions seem to have done the bedding trick and the car was truly transformed. These are without question the best brakes I have ever driven. They shortened my brake zones significantly and by the end of the 1st day I has shed almost 2 seconds off my lap times. Great brakes and great service I highly recommend without reservations, just don’t be like me and make sure you bed everything before try for hero status."

You can see this reivew (and many others) on the Essex Blog.

JRitt@essex

Another review of our system just came in. From the Essex Blog:

We love it when we receive pics from clients that depict their car covered in track grime: We know our AP Racing Radi-CAL Brakes are being used as intended, and we also know the owner can now truly appreciate what sets our product apart from the rest. This green beauty is sporting our four wheel AP Racing by Essex Radi-CAL Competition Kit, loaded with Ferodo DS1.11 pads. Below are the owner's comments after getting some track time with our brakes:

"Hi Jeff! Hope this note finds you and yours safe and well as well as the Essex team. I now have 7 days at the track this year since I made the swap on my 2018 911 GT3. I can't say enough good things about the brake kits you helped set up for me. They are doing a fantastic job and inspiring great confidence. I find myself braking a touch later and trail braking more with better feel than ever. Of course, the real proof is in the lap times and I am happy to report that that confidence is translating to new personal best times at all three tracks that I've visited this year."








Keep getting them dirty gents!

JRitt@essex

Hello Gents,

I know many of you potentially have a new 718 Cayman GT4 either in the stable or on the way soon. We had one in the shop over the weekend, and verified that all of our 981 GT4 brake components are a perfect fit for the car. So if you're needing brakes for you new GT4, we have you covered. Click this link to see the full menu: https://www.essexparts.com/my-vehicl...T4/Iron%20disc

Also of note, it scaled at 3,106 lbs. with half a tank of gas.

Specs included:
LWBS
LED's
Full leather w/carbon trim
Bose, Nav, Carplay
Alcantara steering wheel
Iron discs

The car was weighed with the OEM brakes. Our AP Racing system knocks about 33 lbs. off the car, which would take it to 3073 lbs.

JRitt@essex

Many, if not most, of our AP Racing clients are also running Ferodo pads. I wanted to share a recent post we made on our blog: Ferodo DS3.12 Sweeps the Podium in GT Racing

This will likely not come as a big surprise to those of you who have used the Ferodo DS3.12 compound, but it is now finding great success in European GT Racing. Ferodo-equipped cars recently had a podium sweep, and they are winning races across multiple classes. We're not at all surprised based on our dyno results and what we've heard from all of you, but it's good to see the pros exploiting these fantastic pads. They are the real deal!

Ferodo DS3.12 was also just featured in Race Tech Magazine. You can find more pics and info in our blog link above. Thanks for your continued support gents!

Randyc151

I don't know about how they feel at Imola or Monza, but they feel great at VIR and on the street between events, too. DS3.12 pads are a winner.

G12R

+1. I switched to the 3.12s on stock brakes after a long relationship w/ Pagid RS29s. They were flawless there and they've been equally good after switching stock brakes out For AP Racing kits. Great on track and no noise or issues on street, which isn't a requirement but a bonus.

Apex Ace

+1 Took a minute to re-calibrate my brain and leg to the 3.12 pads. Once I was able to get them synced up and dialed in. The AP Racing Brakes and 3.12 pads offer superb control and consistency. I'm a fan!

Dave

JRitt@essex

A couple new owner reviews/comments after installing our Radi-CAL Brake Kit:

"Within a few laps, the brakes felt amazing. Not overwhelmingly more powerful but incredibly precise. My brake points were easier to dial in. Trail braking was better. Gave me a ton of confidence each time I used them. I don’t have a clue on the wear rate. Or mush else. But these brakes and their usability and repeatability were everything you and your team said it would be. I will gush a little more. The oem gt3 brakes are pretty awesome. I switched to AP brakes for the ease of pad change. The difference in feel and performance with the AP brakes was over and above anything I had imagined. They just worked so well so immediately. Also, I forget with whom I spoke when I called a few weeks back. But the person was very patient and answered clearly and precisely every question I asked. Anyway, thank you all. I will tell anyone who listens about this setup. Incredible." -DU 991 GT3




This client has been running an Essex Comp Kit on his C5Z06 Corvette, and knew our brakes were a must-have if he wanted to squeeze out the best lap times on his 3RS.
"I LOVE my new brakes. 7 track days now and I have a really good feel for them! My second track car with AP Racing Brakes and I couldn’t be happier. Saturday I set a personal best 1:38.6 at Laguna." -DH 991 GT3RS

JRitt@essex

Our friends at Dundon Motorsports discussing brake bed-in, with our AP Radi-CAL system on both their shop 991 GT3RS and their 718 GT4:

JRitt@essex

Last update for today...Porsche won Petit Le Mans the other week with their 911 RSR running AP Racing Radi-CAL brakes!




Here's a cool shot of the rear.

JRitt@essex

Okay...maybe one more today...Our Black Friday Sale goes live tomorrow. For our four wheel AP Racing Radi-CAL Kit, that's over $1,000 in savings! Details below:

http://essexparts-7337884.hs-sites.c...s-now-at-essex