*The FL5 Track Junkie Thread*

[CG13]

I run Ferodo DS1.11 pads front and rear on track. They make a lot of noise in street driving and don’t warm up easily.

I switch to Ferodo DS2500 street pads on the front. I run AP Racing Radical rotors/calipers on the front that I purchased from Essex. I reached out in advance and they advised there would be no issue swapping back and forth on the same rotors.

I leave the DS1.11 pads on the rear for street and track. I don’t use the rear brakes much so have seen no negative impact.

Sponsored

 

[chadwicke619]

Would you mind sharing your experience with the pads: Im in similar spot coming from m2/miata. FL5 is dual duty - 10k daily miles a year in Denver with planning 5-6 track days a year.

Im prepping the car (mostly stock on 200tw track set) and cant decide what to run. All these posts make me think CSG CP or P3 front full time since im not going 10+ times or chasing laptimes. But is that pretty safe for an intermediate driver? also considering doing more aggressive pads (C1X/CP or R5/P3) and just doing swaps each time - (never have done this - kept miata on gloc R10/r8) - but then I read you have to sand and rebed the rotors with each swap. What an effort. Or swap rotors with pads to not rebed, thats too much. Whats the answer here. How are you guys managing these aggressive pads and swapping to stock and managing rotors/safety? I live in cold climate and cant daily a race pad year round, trying to keep front end in 1 piece.

You don’t need to swap rotors. If you track with an aggressive pad, when you leave the track, the pads will no longer be at temp and they’ll just start to scrub the transfer material off your rotor. As long as you have a decent little drive between track and home, by the time you get home, your rotor will be clean and shiny - then you can just swap the pads. This is what I do. Swap to track pads, drive to track, do my thing, drive home, swap back.

 

[mistople]

My C1Xbs were passable in terms of noise before bedding. Once I wore the transfer layer off driving home from the track they got pretty loud. I wouldn’t want to daily them. I think it’s fine to swap pads. Swapping rotors is overkill imo.

 

[petrik]

Thank you guys, makes sense - read more about the pads scrubbing clean on the way home, seems reasonable. So many different takes, wonder how much marketting is involved just to purchase more stuff. Ds1.11 is no joke at $700 for the fronts.

 

[petrik]

Seems like consesus across different types if cars agrees. … first slow lap beds the track pad, drive home cleans rotors…

Question
DS1.11 front and stock rear then both back to stock ok? Or is that too much front bias? Why the move to 2500s for daily?

Also CSG CP seems promising for dual(non competitive) duty

 

[mistople]

I personally would not run mismatched pads on track but some do. I know the rears are kinda underused on this platform but I’d guess having an aggressive rear helps spread the load even a little bit. Not to mention avoiding smearing and cooking a stock-ish pad.

CP is a good pad but I wouldn’t recommend it outside of beginner or very light track use. I’ve run it 3 days on my GR86 and it survives with a BBK but barely. And that’s on low grip tires. It doesn’t have the best cold bite either in my experience so it’s kind of a hybrid pad for niche use cases. I think I said earlier in the thread that it’s probably the best canyon or backroad pad where you have a bit of temp going. I’ll try it on my FL5 brembos since it’s the same pad shape for me and I can just swap over to see how it fares on a different brake system.

In my experience there is no do it all solution. You just have to accept that you need two different setups for two very different scenarios. Otherwise we would all drive race cars around to work and school pickups!

 

[petrik]

@mistople solid wisdom there, i appreciate it. Ok i think answer is ds1.11 front and rear and switch back to stock pads for daily - at least ill stay in same family if im swapping. If the car had CSG CS for street then ide go C1 but i think stock is totally great for street/little canyon.

haha good point in highschool i figured full race car everywhere 1 day. Swapping some pads nbd, this car is truly exceptional already.

 

[m3bs]

DS3.12 front, DS1.11 rear on mine. I leave them on full time. Dusty and probably a bit hard on rotors doing that, but I don't drive it much on the street. I get some noise in reverse, but not forward braking.

 

[MooMoo]

Would you mind sharing your experience with the pads: Im in similar spot coming from m2/miata. FL5 is dual duty - 10k daily miles a year in Denver with planning 5-6 track days a year.

Im prepping the car (mostly stock on 200tw track set) and cant decide what to run. All these posts make me think CSG CP or P3 front full time since im not going 10+ times or chasing laptimes. But is that pretty safe for an intermediate driver? also considering doing more aggressive pads (C1X/CP or R5/P3) and just doing swaps each time - (never have done this - kept miata on gloc R10/r8) - but then I read you have to sand and rebed the rotors with each swap. What an effort. Or swap rotors with pads to not rebed, thats too much. Whats the answer here. How are you guys managing these aggressive pads and swapping to stock and managing rotors/safety? I live in cold climate and cant daily a race pad year round, trying to keep front end in 1 piece.

Id not consider paragon pads myself (been there was not happy) but I did have the CPs and they were not enough on track for me. I know some make them work which is why I gave em a try, why not have a pad that works on street and then track, sounds wonderful.

The CP is an amazing pad, on the street is pretty great (although cold could use more bite) and very quite, then on track is quite capable. I ran a few tracks days with it and never once I needed more brakes. However I got left with a ton of deposits unfortunately. a few different tracks and I would clean the rotors and do some light sanding and be better and then deposits would be back after a track day. I talked to CSG and they told me what I already knew haha.
I am now on the C1XB and these pads are the real deal. There is a bit more bite than the CPs but still tons of good modulation. Not only they cleaned the deposits the CPs left but left no more so far. They really are fantastic. Yes they are expensive but they are great and if you have decent pace I would go with them over the CPS.

Ferodos are great too and I had em on my m2, great pad and it has been too long so can't really compare to CSG but as of right now I am a CSG convert and will only be buying that.

Out back I am currently using EBC blue and its fine, eventually will match the CSG. Its tough because they are so expensive for a tiny pad and after all said and done its $1000 pad setup.
I do hope they last a long time. I had EBC SR11 and they lasted forever and were cheap but had no modulation what so ever so I don't recommend them anymore

Sponsored