Overheating pads? S197 content

Changed a wheel bearing on my 05GT yesterday (super easy and cheap to do) While I was @ it I pulled off the Hawk HPS pads i put on the car last spring.. I will get pacs tonight.

Well it looks like the pads were literally put into a fire. The black paint is long gone and the metal is so corroded from heat that it was almost holed through.

The pads themselves were in ok shape with the front side still slightly showing the wear line and the rears (backside) worn down 3/4.

Is this normal? I abuse the car, but if anything I don't brake hard enough. I replaced the pads with the identical set and the improvement is night and day. I have been frustrated at the last few events at how early I have had to brake..thinking "well it's a heavy car"

any thoughts, insights or ideas to improve are greatly appreciated :)

j

Are you putting it on a road course or just autoX? Are your calipers stuck?

Regardless, look into brake ducting. Steeda makes a nice kit that's ready to install.

I have been doing both. The inner pads are nearly holed through the backing plate.

How many track days did you have on the pads? You might want to look into using a separate set of pads for hot-lapping.

And you really need brake cooling ducts: http://www.steeda.com/store/steeda-brake-cooling-kits-for-ford-mustang.html

Rear pads? If you leave the traction control on for track or auto-x driving it'll just destroy the rear pads...

HPS pads aren't good enough for track duty on a car that heavy. Go get some real track pads. Try HT10 or HT-14 if you like Hawk. I like Carbotech so I'll recomend XP-8 or XP-10.

docwyte wrote: Rear pads? If you leave the traction control on for track or auto-x driving it'll just destroy the rear pads...

On S197s, stability control uses brakes; traction control retards engine timing and/or closes the throttle plate. There's a difference between the two on this platform.