Some Autox Discussion
#41
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For autox, use properly bedded in stock pad.
I use ceramic (Bendix) pads. Good cold stops, great warm, lousy hot (track).
The great benefit of ceramics is little to no dust.
If you want a good all-around pad, and don't care about the dust, use "Plain Jane" semi-metallic. Autozone has Duralast for $25 per axle.
Track pads, like XP8, are for track only. Swap the rotors and pads before heading out to the track (or, better yet, right AT the track), and swap street setup before going home. This way, street rotors stay with street pads, and the two compounds shall not mix. (No, it doesn't matter if you mix the rotors).
STOP trying to figure out which pad will stop better on the autox course. Even on a 2-minute course, run on an abandoned airstrip, I've never seen the brakes even get to what could be called "luke warm".
Street pads for autox.
#43
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Well I guess i'm going to have to try some 25 dollar cheapo pads for next autox perhaps. The XP8s really aren't that bad though, they're just unpredictable when cold and like to lock up. I shouldn't be wasting them off track anyway.
#44
I’ve had good luck with Axxis ultimates. They are a ceramic carbon mix and seem to have good feel and the dust isn’t so corrosive as the pads with metal in them, the dust cleans up easily, and they are relatively cheap.
I have found the Carbotecs really don’t like sharing the rotor surface with any other pad compound and are a bit finicky about getting a proper bed in procedure. I have been swapping between Cobalt frictions for track however and other compounds for street and autocross use and the Cobalts just clean up the rotors and don’t leave a transfer layer behind that messes with other pads The Cobalt’s also don’t require any bed in before they just work as the rotor is relatively flat..
Bob
#45
I’ve had good luck with Axxis ultimates. They are a ceramic carbon mix and seem to have good feel and the dust isn’t so corrosive as the pads with metal in them, the dust cleans up easily, and they are relatively cheap.
I have found the Carbotecs really don’t like sharing the rotor surface with any other pad compound and are a bit finicky about getting a proper bed in procedure. I have been swapping between Cobalt frictions for track however and other compounds for street and autocross use and the Cobalts just clean up the rotors and don’t leave a transfer layer behind that messes with other pads The Cobalt’s also don’t require any bed in before they just work as long as the rotor is relatively flat.
Bob
#52
One other thing that can induce big understeer is the differential. If you have a very tight diff it wants to push the front end wide when you turn in. It refuses the let the inside wheel slow down. I know my Tomei Traxx 2 way had me upping the rear swaybar from soft to medium and changing the dampers from 6/10 off full hard front/rear to 6/8. That brought me back to neutral for circuit racing.
#53
My biggest issue of the day was the tight slalom. My little 5'2" girlfriend had an even harder time muscling my non-power steering car around. Stock miatas with power steering where 2+ seconds faster than us (one of them on snow tires) through the course. Now, i will admit that the drivers need more work for sure, we're slow drivers, but I think a lot of it has to do with power steering, or atleast the power steering ratio. I drove a 92 stock on the course and could not believe how quickly you can toss it around cones with the better steering ratio.
If you depower a power rack, then it'll just require more "muscle", but you won't have to turn the wheel as much.
I'd be more inclined to say that you're having trouble because of a balance issue, crappy springs/shocks, etc. Is your front sway bar binding? That can increase steering effort.
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