NoOne

I have a track event coming up Tuesday at Grattan Raceway in Michigan. Its a big track that is hard on brakes and includes a long straight where I'd expect to just touch 135mph or so.

I put the Black's on, along with Motul fluid and took it out for bedding.

I made 6 runs upto 90mph and down to 30mph in a row, I tried to not use the brakes as I turned around and did 6 more runs identical to the first 6. I drove around for about 5 minutes without using the brakes and did 5 more runs, then drove it for 5 minutes with no brakes and parked it with no brake use at all.

The next time I drive the car stopping performance should improve, correct?

I'm assuming I did the bedding process correctly.

My initial impressions are that they are not as bad cold as I would have thought. Besides the fact they'd chew up your rotors when cool/cold there is no real reason I could find not to drive these to the track and back.

There stopping performance was good, I expect it to get better after they cool from the bedding. They were amazingly consistent, every single stop felt like the previous one or better and the car stopped much straighter than with the stock pads. I expected to have to struggle a bit with the wheel not having power steering but it was super simple to drive under hard braking.

Initial bite wasn't what I expected, thought they would grab harder, but they are so consistent that it didn't really bother me, and the next time I drive them after the bedding I assume the bite will get better.

They did smell pretty bad after the first stops and I blued the interior of the rotors, that normal?

Overall pretty happy so far, if they won't fade at Grattan and remain nice and consistent then I'll be satisfied with them.

I'll find out Tuesday.

maxcooper

Drive home at night and you'll get some fun sparks flying off the pad/rotor. I agree that track pads (definitely Blacks, and in general) are safe on the street, but just eat rotors. I used Blacks at Laguna Seca once and they felt great.

-Max

Ned M

iTrader: (6)

I used Hawk Blacks for a couple of years before switching to KFP Gold and found them reasonable enough for street as long as you don't mind the schoolbus-like sounds emanating from your brakes. Never had a problem with them on track except a momentary case of green fade the first time they were used on track after being bedded in. Hope they worked well for you.

Oh yeah, I have 2 unused sets of the HB-158 Hawk Black rears for 3rd gen (and almost all 2nd gen) if you're interested, just PM me.

Rx7@Rocketship.com

Word of caution... you don't want the dust left by the Blacks to get wet and then dry again. This applies to the wheels and to the sides of the car.

The stuff is corrosive and will require surfaces to be buffed out with mild polish.

David

NoOne

I took it to the track today and the brakes are fantastic.

They gained me 12mph in the straight away, before I was hitting 125 and braking, I hit a top of 137mph and could have probably gone 138 if I had the guts to stay in it a second or two longer, but the large wall of brick and rocks at the end got the better of me

Zero fade, absolutely reliable stopping and amazing repeatability. Yes they did sound like a school bus also. Grattan is a big track and people could hear me warming them up on the far side of the track from the paddock.

They dusted pretty decent, honestly not all that bad and I did 4 hard 15-20 minute sessions, came home and washed the wheels with soap and water clean.

This was on street tires, I'm wondering what they would do on slicks.

I do think I had a bit of air in the line, I'd get some initial pedal sinking and a second tap was rock hard. I didn't have good lighting when doing it but for me experience level it really didn't make all that big of a difference.

Very happy with them, those along with the new suspension made massive improvements in my day today.

Section8

iTrader: (6)

I've been having this problem for a while myself, even after using a power bleeder, and also bleeding from the ABS unit. Still fighting with it at the moment.

connor@tirerack

You may want to consider flushing your brake system and upgrading to a DOT 5 racing brake fluid. There are a few reasons why i say this.

1) DOT5 brake fluid does not absorb moisture from the air where as DOT 3 and 4 do.
2) DOT5 handles heat build up and compression better.
3) DOT5 is not corrosive to paint or finish parts.

The only down side is that DOT5 cannot be mixed with DOT 3 or 4 so you would need to make sure your brake system is completely clean out.

You might also want to try the old fashion bleeding method. The power bleeding tools such as the the "mity-vac" vacuum pump or the fluid draw draw type pumps use a check valve to control flow. If any type of contamintion gets into that check valve it can let small amounts of air back through the bleeder. I have had this problem in the past. I thought it might help you.

Section8

iTrader: (6)

Thanks Connor, I'll try the DOT 5 upgrade. I'm currently using DOT4 fluid as I haven't done any HPDE events yet.

I usually do a manual bleed using my speed bleeders, but I bought the Motive power bleeder in an attempt to push out any air bubbles that may have settled in the master cylinder after a bleeding snafu when I first got the car (long story) The system has been completely flushed already though, I don't think the fluid had ever been bled before I bought the car!