how many miles are you folks getting from your rear brakes? I've been averaging 27K miles - 3 sets so far. I'm told this is normal for this car...every other front driver I've owned has gone over 100K miles.

 

First set of OEM pads lasted about 30K miles, even with lots of track days and 2 full seasons of autocross... I replaced the fronts three times. Front rotors were replaced once before I went BBK...

Cobalt GT-S pads that are on now (rear) have made it another 12K miles and barely show any wear - even with lots of track days and a full season of AX.

I'm pretty easy on brakes, tho... I know plenty of other people that haven't had anywhere near the same experience as me...

 

i replaced my stock rear pads at 7k....sebring and homestead haven't been kind to my brake pads. this was while installing the third set of BP-20 pads in my TCE 13" front setup...

txwerks: aren't you running the porterfield R4?

 

One car has Cobalt GT-S pads in the rear and the Brake Man BBK up front (with #3 pads)... As soon as the GT-S pads bite the dirt, we'll swap on R4's in the rear.

The other car (primarily track only) has a Wilwood 11.75 kit (B's for track, E's for driving to the track) and R4's in the rear...

 

So why is it that the rears wear before the fronts? This doesn't make logical sense to me - my rears were replaced at around 35k, and my fronts at 50k.

mb

 

txwerks: i'm switching to b's in the front for my next track outing. will the R4 pads in the rear give me a good brake bias. i switched to 225/40/17 hoosier R6's for the last event. before this switch, on Ra-1's, the car was very unsettled under hard braking. i'm looking to keep the balance of the BP-20 front/oem rear in a package w/ more torque.

 

Yes, the R4's are the biggity BOMB with B's loaded up front in the Wilwood's!

 

Personally, I feel the Mini's rear brakes have too much bias. There are only two areas where my 99Si is better than the Mini; better front end geometry and braking deep into a turn. The Si kills my Mini braking deep. It's all a trade-off.

bean,

The observation you made betwen the Hoosiers and RA1s is very interesting. I use RA1s and my experience is exactly the same.

 

meb: i played w/ damper settings and still couldn't get the car to feel comfortable w/ the RA-1's. in talking w/ more experienced track drivers that had bbk's, they all experienced the same thing. they said "live with it and don't trail brake". i didn't like the feeling. with no suspension changes, the car was rock steady under threshold braking with the hoosiers. i'll try the porterfield R4 in the rear w/ poly b's in the front, but be prepared to switch back to oem rears if i loose that good feeling.....

 

I went through rears in about 18000 miles I think the DSC is much more active than we realize and is constantly on the rear brakes Juust my humble un educated impression

 

...but I don't have DSC. ASC is turned off at the track.

Do the Porterfields posses more bite, or less? My car is always loose during threshold braking - stock or modified. And so, I've never attempted to trail brake.

My Wilwoods are the 12.4" race kit with Poly B pads...the spring and damper kit I have may also be part of the problem...

 

the porterfields will have more torque. i'm hoping that the increase from oem is propotional to the increase from BP-20's to poly B's. does anyone else out there have this same issue? it is not comfortable, at all. i inadvertantly trail braked in the center of turn 17, during the 4-3 shift (a long, high speed 180). the car rotated immediately. i nailed the go pedal and came flying out of the turn faster than i had ever managed before. if i had the skill to do this every lap, that would be my line. i stumbled across a solution with the switch from RA-1's to Hoosier 225/40/17 R6's. i played w/ damper settings w/ the RA-1's, but never got to the point where i changed spring rates. DSC was a non-issue for me, as it only kicked in on turn 7 (hairpin) at sebring. i turned if off after becoming comfortable with the handling of the hoosiers. it was my security blanket for a few laps.

 

I think the DSC is a smart option until you get comfortable...top side down is not so comfortable