Just wanted to post up a vid from Audi Club Northwest Verloren Gehen 2012 track day at Oregon Raceway Park (sorry for the poor audio, messed up my mic gain on my Contour).

As many have said, the stock brakes are just not good enough for track duty. The start of this vid is 14 minutes into the session and my brakes are pretty much cooked (and it was a cold day) with a mushy pedal, rumbling noise and vibration (1:00 in the vid is a good example). I do have stainless lines and RBF600 fluid (thanks, Achtuning), everything else stock.

The Cayman was pressing me hard so I let him pass and then stuck on his tail until he let me pass him back. Was a ton of fun with the only problem being the brakes. If you listen, you can hear me backing of on some of the fast sections to keep the speeds down coming into the braking zones. When the brakes cooled, everything was back to normal with a firm pedal, no vibration, no noise.

Interested to get feedback from BBK users on their experiences. Another track junkie here has Stoptech 355's and they are giving him some trouble with heat checking of the rotors and cooking of the dust boots and seals. I don't want to rebuild calipers after every track day.

Is anyone 100% happy with an 18" friendly setup? What about 380's? How do they hold up?

Thanks for any feedback.

Stock brakes on the track

 

Leo, what part of Canada are you in and what track is that?

I was telling myself not to do mods and keep this car stock, but I plan on tracking, and seeing so many ppl saying the brakes arent good with heat makes me worry.

 

I love everything about the way this car drives, accelerates and handles from the factory. The brakes are not fit at all for track use, and two weekends at the track destroyed my fronts.

I went with the AP Racing 380mm kit from Stillen / Brakepros. First, do not even bother taking them on track with street or "performance street" pads. That was a mistake on my part. I'm switching to Pagid Yellow RS29 pads and will give it another go next month at Autoclub Speedway in LA.

I need some more time to evaluate the kit. I picked this one to try and only pay $3300 instead of $4400 for the Brembos, which are probably perfect. At this point I'm already into it for another $300 to get the new pads.

 

No stock brakes pads are fit for track use. Period.

With that out of the way, don't go jump into a BBK! First, get a decent pad and rotor combo just for the track. For HPDE's I recommend a pad that has a consistent coefficient of friction (like the Ferodo DS2500). I don't think you need to go full race pad. . . but it's up to you. Next you need a high quality slotted rotor. I love Disk Brake Australia. . . but others may be just a good.

Lastly, after you get comfortable with a dedicated track pad and rotor combo. . . .determine if you need to work on some cooling ducts. It actually doesn't take much. . . .you just need to get some air going in the direction of the front brakes.

If this ~$400 approach does not work for you. . . then spend the $$$ on a BBK.

Best of luck. . . The Instructor.

 

The Ferodo 2500 is the street pad I didn't like with the BBK.

I think the stock rotors are undersized for a car this heavy going this fast. On a BMW 325i they're fine to swap pads. On this car in the hands of an intermediate driver, I think more heat dissipation is needed.

 

I change pads and rotors before driving to the track, so yes they are aggressive street pads. . . but it really about feel and friction levels.

If heat dissipation is your primary concern, then a rotor with superior cooling and ducts may be the way to go. BBK look great however. . .

 

So on the left side of the car there's the oil cooler. There's literally only a couple of mm clearance on either side, and that's so the unit can vibrate around. Has anyone been able to concoct something that goes around that? The only thing I can think of is literally a piece you attach to the bottom of the car for track days only, that effectively takes away 1" of ground clearance for a snorkel.

 

On the front left, there's the secondary air pump. Between the two of them, it pretty much eliminates any "easy" way of tapping air from beside the fog lights. And all sorts of hoses running around on the inside of the car "beside" the ancillary cooler. Audi REALLY packed stuff in there...

I've approached a local motorsports store for a custom fabrication (they race prep porsches and mercedes - had a beautiful CLK63 AMG Black that was fully gutted and getting a custom roll cage - in process if getting built to a race car). Even they said it would be challenging (but "fun" - lol I'll take that as something good). They offered to relocate the secondary air pump but I told them I'd want it as unintrusive as possible (if I trade up to something else)

 

Ever considered just Stoptech Aero Two piece rotors with stock calipers and upgraded pads? Seems to be a cheaper way out for less weight, better heat dissipation..

I've only tried Stoptech St40s.. never used just their 2 piece rotors designed for oem calipers though.

 

The stock caliper is a single piston caliper. You'd want some increase in thermal capacity increase for the caliper as well so it doesn't boil the fluid as easily (not to mention holding a larger pad with a larger swept area).