SPS

howdy all,

looking to replace the Hawk Black pads on the frt of my SW2 that I drive aggressively and take on the track from time to time.

Only problem is that they no longer seem to be available for my poor wittle car.

The SPS site lists the Hawk HPS, but when you go to the Tire Rack site, they don't list that pad for my application, and they're closed for the long weekend, so I can't call...need to order pads now!!!

SNAP!!!

I shoulda bought a couple of boxes when I still could!!!

so, what are peeps running for good, fade free stoppung performance in street applicaztions for S series?

slydrite wrote:

QUOTE:
and take on the track from time to time.

What kind of track exactly do you mean? Drag strip? Autocross? Road course?

If the first two, then temperature threshold is not really an issue. Any pad with a more aggressive initial bite will probably make you happy. IE Hawk HPS or Stillen Metal Matrix. (By the way, are you sure that Hawk HPS is not listed at Tire Rack? I could have sworn that I checked that when I made the link. I'll check it again...)

But if you are doing high speed lapping on a road course, then temperature will be an issue. In this case, you need to find a pad that will produce predictable friction coefficients at 1000+ degrees. When I was racing with the scR team, we used KFP Magnum pads. They worked well and used a ceramic barrier between the friction layer and the backing plate to limit heat transfer through the pad into the caliper.

Mike Kramer at ThunderSport felt that the Magnum pads were too greasy when they got hot. (The carbon filling will smear sometimes.) Mike preferred a pad made by Carbotech Engineering that used a ceramic filling. I don't know if Carbotech is still around - or if they still make their ceramic pads. Do a google search for Larry Narcus. They guy is a little bit crazy, but he made some good pad material.

slydrite wrote:

QUOTE:
The SPS site lists the Hawk HPS, but when you go to the Tire Rack site, they don't list that pad for my application

Sure enough! Sorry about that. I wonder if they maybe sold out recently?

I will go in right now and disable that link from the SPS site.

Thanks!

yeah, sorry, I guess I should have been more specific that just saying "track".

I use the car from time to time to do a handful of sighting laps of road race tracks, ahead of a day of instruction, or ahead of testing of other people's race cars.

But the main use is for me driving the piss out of the car on the thousands of miles of twisty, mountain roads we have here in the Bay Area.

As an example of my driving style, I bought the big fat rear sway bar from your site, but it on max stiffness, and the car does understeer a lot less and even will trail throttle or trail brake oversteer from time to time. In the wet the car is very neutral.

BUT, the downside is that I've broken 3 sets of sway bar brackets in the 3 years that I've been flogging this poor car to death. We finally bought a brand new set (instead of welding up the broken ones) and reinforced the weak areas of the flimsy, tack welded brackets

So anyway, what are the best hard usage street pads?

slydrite wrote:

QUOTE:
BUT, the downside is that I've broken 3 sets of sway bar brackets in the 3 years that I've been flogging this poor car to death.

That is a known issue with a big rear bar. On the ITA cars, we welded together 2 of the OE brackets on each side - so as to make one extra-thick bracket on each side.

slydrite wrote:

QUOTE:
So anyway, what are the best hard usage street pads?

Now that's a loaded question if I ever saw one.

You might try the Hawk HPS pads. We used to sell them at SPS and people liked them. Good quality, fair price, good tradeoffs between grip, noise, and dust.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IJLDBS?ie=UTF8&tag=saturperfosys-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000IJLDBS

Also remember that your rotors "should" be changed regardless of wear.

A premium set of rotors will set you back a fair amount but the fact that they are the primary heat sink and are what seperates you from dead it makes sense.