Brake Temperatures
At what temperature do your brake pads start to work? At what temperature do they stop working? When was the last time you checked your brake temperatures? You are monitoring your brake temperatures aren’t you? Temperature range is one of the primary considerations for brake pad selection. This is especially true if you run 30-minute sprint races where you won’t wear the friction material down to the backing plate. Everyone worries about high temperatures but your brake pads can also run too cool. If your pads don’t get up to their optimum temperature you’ll have uneven pad transfer. The original brake pads that came with your production car operated best in the 100° to 650° range. Race pads operate best in the 600° to 1500° range. Race pads are just getting effective at roughly the same point where the OEM pads are becoming useless. Core vs. Peak Temperatures: When you take brake disc temperatures on pit lane with an infrared scan gun you’re measuring core temperatures. These can be ...