jumper5836

Well kinda very short for me, Went out for a about five laps. Checked the tire pressure and they were still not even heated up. Went back out for a few more and the brake pad sensor went off. Looking at the pads previously and knowing how early the sensors go off in my Cayenne S. I thought I was fine so I continued and after a few more laps and then coming off the front straight. I braked but there just wasn't enough left to bring it down to enter at a safe speed. I entered that first corner pretty fast before corner 2, the down shift into 2nd corner. I was still hard on the brakes but still wasn't able to slow down enough without having to run off the track.
No damage other then losing a left mud flap and putting more scratches on the lower spoiler. After I inspected the brakes my driver side pad went down to a few mil while my pass side was still ok. My take away from this is inspect all the pads, when I checked the pads I probably only looked at the front pad that still had meat on it. PSM and the layout of some tracks wear out your pads unevenly. Lesson learned.
Front brake pads lasted only 7 track days plus aprox 1 hour today.

webbie

Good to hear that nothing serious happen.

BTW, are you using stock pad? It is rare that non-oem pad has holes for the sensor.

Christien

Good lesson learned. Not to sound preachy, but if you're tracking your car more than once a year, you should also be doing brake fluid flushes at least once a year, and checking your pads while you're in there. On my 72, because they're non-boosted brakes and I need all the braking I can get, I do a complete flush before each day, at least if it's at Mosport. I'll sometimes skip it for TMP or Dunnville, but only if I've done one in the previous month or 2. Never 3 events without a flush.

If you don't have a power bleeder, I couldn't recommend it enough. I've got the entire thing down to one hour, including jacking the car, removing wheels, replacing wheels and cleanup.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...umber=PEL-0100

Best $50 you'll ever spend on maintenance.

jumper5836

webbie - yeas oem pads all the way. this car is a street car everyday I can't stand squealing brakes

Christien - had my brakes fluid done the spring, first time ever on the car, its a 2002 with tons of DE's and never had problem with brake fade. Definitely was the the pad.

Christien

Yeah, that's what I'm saying - when you do the fluid, you check the pads - just makes sense as your head is right there for a few minutes watching the fluid. The shop should have noticed your pads were wearing unevenly, and that one was low.

Turbodan

Greg, good to hear you and your car are ok.
Not to preach too loud, but I believe PCA tech inspection now require new brake fluid changed before each event under the new rules.
seems kinda excessive...until you lose your brakes!
I have heard the pagid blues don't sqeal and are fine on street.

9six4

My brake pad sensor light also came on a few laps after Greg's. I had a little over 50% on the pads and got 3 days at Mosport and this session at Dunnville.
The first corner saw a lot of off track excursions and someone even got sideways through the chicane that kicked up a ton of gravel on the front straight.
It was a fun morning for 3 hours of commuting and 1.5 hours on track!

Turbodan - How are they going to check for new brake fluid?

jumper5836

New tech inspection rules say you need a brake fluid change yearly. I think this is overly excessive for the newer cars.

jumper5836

Do to the wheel being so open, I can check all the brake pads easily. I didn't bring it in for a tech inspection prior to going to Dunnville. Though I should have looked at all my pads and not just one side. I was all ready planning to have them changed this week in preparation for the DE event at Calabogie and though I could get a Dunnville day out of them.

Dunnville is hard on brakes. I think maybe because PSM comes on while exiting out of corner 2, and 9 is the reason the drivers side wore out before the other side, if that make sense. Accelerating from a left hand turn, does PSM brake the driver side wheel.

jumper5836

I think I may have got 1 or 2 laps in, the rest were cold laps. Very wierd day, I didn't seem to be getting the tires heated up at all.

They can't check. Though the new inspection sheet has a spot for you to fill out the date of the last brake fluid change.

jumper5836

The little rubber mud flap is $19, and the piece that it attaches to it is broken off so need to replace the front wheel liner $131.

Christien

Small tracks are very hard on brakes. That's one of the great things about Mosport - its rhythm is so good that you have to brake very very little. Really only for 5 and 8, if you're a pro I love following the really good drivers into 4 and watching them fly over the hill flat out, absolutely no braking.

TMP's even worse than Dunnville, in fact I find the amount of braking you have to do gets irritating - just when you get a flow going, it's interrupted by yet another really tight turn.

Turbodan

I had my brake pad sensor go off today at Mosport. kept running but gave myself a little extra braking room just in case. now I need to decide what pads to put on.

fire_n_ice

Yep, Dunnville is murderous on brakes. I destroyed a set of completely new stock Z06 pads there in one morning.

Glad it was a relatively minor incident.