bauerjab

Make no mistake about it. I am not a fan of Summit Point. Either from having to trash my transmission from repeatedly going into second and running over bumps on T1 with resultant wheel spin or having to race in the fog on a slippery track that is beyond slippery.

But now I think I can add yet another complaint-Acid Rain. There was another recently posted thread about brake dust that rusted and ate into paint. Well... I have Fikse Black wheels (at least they used to be all black) but after a night in the rain, I woke up to find an incredible amount of rust that had eaten away the black coating on my wheels(I am running performance friction pads). I have never had this problem. I can only surmise that West Virgiinia has tremendous acid rain problems.

So chalk up yet another hidden pleasure from Summit Point.

Anyone have any idea if I am correct?

Larry Herman

More likely it's your PF pads. I used to have those black Fikses on my GT3 and with Pagid RS-19s had no problems, ever. And I have run at Summit in the rain with that car.

smankow

I'd agree with Larry on this. I doubt that acid rain would have this affect over night.

In the past, have you had your track wheels get wet with brake dust on them? Do you have any coating on the wheels?

Steve

Larry Herman

Steve, I have found that the black hard anodizing on the Fikse wheels is as good as it gets. Brake dust just doesn't stick to it, and what residue there is can easily be washed off with plain car washing soap and water. That was using Pagids. Some brake pads use more metal material, or wear the rotors more and the steel componant will rust if not cleaned off of anything right away.

OGRacing

Larry
I've gotten reports of this for years. And it comes from people using all kinds of pads. What we have learned is that it's bits of the rotor coming off under braking that is ending up on wheels and body work. When the iron from the rotor gets wet it will turn to rust. The worst is when the rotor bits come off hot and inbed themselves in the paint on wheels and then get wet. If the wheels are a light color it really shows. I haven't seen a cure for this other than not using the brakes.

Bill

Mark in Baltimore

As I posted in my thread from last night, I've been running Hawk Blues for nearly four years and have never seen all of this rust that has adhered to my paintwork. It's very disconcerting.

smankow

I agree with the black centers. My CCW wheels have them and they're no problem to clean. As for the wheel, I either spray them with Zymol wheel coat or simply apply a coat of wax to the wheel.


steve

smokey

I ran Hawk Blue pads, and had heard they left a residue, so I always washed off the brake dust before it dried if the wheels had gotten wet. One time I was unable to do it, and had to spend a few hours with steel wool to get the stuff off. It sounds like PF pads may cause the same problem. It's nasty stuff, and the only way to avoid it is to wash it off before it dries.

Matt Marks

Bauerjab - as to your other complaint - do you not use second gear at other tracks?? I think you will find that hundreds of other club racers seem to have no transmission issues in T1. Don't you run Lime Rock? Seems to me based on observation that it makes Summit look like smooth concrete with grip levels that are twice as high as LRP in the rain...

Buy a set of hoosier wets and it won't matter - they're that good. ;-)

bauerjab

Matt,

I have a set of Hoosier Wets.

I think Lime Rock has more grip than Summit in the rain. At a minimum, Lime Rock seems more predictable. But who am I to say. I only go to Summit Point once a year for the club race.

I don't use second gear at Lime Rock.

Also, my transmission is fine and I did not suffer any sort of failures. But it can not be good for the transmission to be near the red line going over the nasty bumps on T1. Emperically, I know 3 people whose transmissions failed at the track this past weekend (and we didn't even have a lot of track time). As I don't know a ton of people, I thought that was kind of high.

John

bauerjab

Bill,

Thanks for the insight. That makes a lot of sense. As for not using the brakes, that's going to take some practice....

John

Gary R.

John -

I run the black enter CCW's / PF 90's and have seen the small rust formations but they seem to just rub off with a brush. I agree the SP is worse than LRP in condition but was told they are resurfacing it this winter. I think it's a great layout, especially from T4 on.. did they put on a new layer of Home Depot driveway patch in the carousel for the race?

Mark in Baltimore

Gary, I think they put that stuff on the track about the time you and I were there.

Gary R.

Hehe... Mark, remember how nice and dark black it looked! And the way it balled up with the worms and stuck to your tire made a nice projectile as you flew into T9!