mayhem

iTrader: (9)

I spent the weekend at Putnam Park road course having LOTS of fun. It was my first time doing anything like this ever in any car. As I began to gain confindence and really push the car I noticed almost a popping sounds when pushing the brakes to their max. Is this ABS kicking in? When I heard the pop it didn't feel like braking power dimishing, rather it stayed constant but the popping sounds like something just collapsed.

Also, anybody else notice the rear end getting a little loose when applying 100% brakes on a track? It was never anything that couldn't be controlled...or needed to be controlled but you could feel the rear end moving around on ya. To me it felt like the rear always wanted to kick out to the right a little bit.

Lastly, the brake pedal doesn't feel the same anymore after the track event. Maybe I burned off a large portion of pad in a short time, but the pedal seems to need more force and a deeper push for regular stops now.

Diesel

iTrader: (8)

was the pedal vibrating against your foot when you heard the "popping" noises...? if so, then it was the ABS...

Just a question for other track guys...

Isn't it anadvantageous to apply the brakes that hard that the ABS kicks in...? I always thought that you wanted to break near the limit, but still keep enough control so ABS did not assist...?

mayhem

iTrader: (9)

the pedal feel did temporarily change. felt like it went down then up just once real quick. if it was ABS then it came on just long enough to keep me gripping.

erioshi

I've done a few track days also, and on the first couple got to know the feel of my ABS comming on pretty well. What you are describing sounds alot like what I was feeling when the ABS kicked in - a bit of tire noise then the "squirm" that goes with ABS, sticky tires and AWD. I think part of that squirm may be the ABS and the AWD both having opposite goals; AWD = 4 smoothly spinning wheels, ABS = 4 rapidly pulsing brakes.

If your brake pedal is still soft, you may have overheated your brake fluid. If that's the case you may want to replace it with one of the fluids designed for this kind of use. I don't have a link handy, but if you plan to autocross or track regularly it would be a good move.

mayhem

iTrader: (9)

The fluid may have boiled. A lot of good those dealer installed brake air guides did! I drove it yesterday and the rotors are warped...gimmee a break! I've got a Pitpass coming up and I'm going to try to have them resurface the rotors. Maybe I have the pad transfer that's been mentioned in other threads.

How about Valvoline Synpower fluid? It has a dry BP of 500F. Doesn't match Motuls (550 I believe). It's also a lot easier to get a hold of. Taking a wild guess but I'm betting those higher BP fluids absorb water very quickly and need changing more often.

mayhem

iTrader: (9)

Well initially my rotors seemed warped. But now they seemed to have smoothed back out after a few days of normal driving. What could have caused this? Is it the brake pad transfer I've been hearing of?

IzenGreyEvo7

iTrader: (3)

The stock pads tend to really come apart at the track. The surface of the pads becomes really uneven and pitted and that causes some vibrations. I experienced it too. Thought the rotors were warped. Put in new pads and I was fine again.

If you plan on attending a lot of track days go with Motul RBF600. It absorbs water faster so you may need to change it twice a year. If not then Castrol GTLMA is a good fluid.

I'll be trying out the Endless CC-X pads soon. Those should be more track friendly.

mayhem

iTrader: (9)

Changing the brake fluid will be step #1 for me. Your explanation of the pads might be exactly what happened. Seems like pedal vibration just got worse as the day went on. That compounded with fluid boil made for nasty brakes...still out braked everyone else though...
Keep us updated on the Endless pads!

Diesel

iTrader: (8)

you would know if you had pad transfer... it would be sticking to the rotor...

not likely this is what happened, as this is really only common on break in of the pads... if the pads are bedded correctly, this shouldn't be the issue...

i'm figuring your rotors are warped from the heat... these are NOT Brembo rotors... they are run of the mill Mitsu rotors, and everyone knows how ****ty they are...

TurboZ

dosn't the abs act different since this is 4 channel abs? and as for brake fluid dot 3 is standard on most cars.. look for dot 4 or 5. igher the DOT rating teh better the fluid(higher boiling point mainly)

mayhem

iTrader: (9)

I would have to highly recommend not putting Dot 5, silicon, into your brake lines.
1- it is not compatible with DOT 3/4
2- very high maintenance and has problems with water once it begins to enter the lines.
3- not readily available

IzenGreyEvo7

iTrader: (3)

That's funny, I wasn't given that memo. They are in fact great rotors. The pads are the dissapointing part of the whole system. I finally cleaned up my original pads from my track day. They are seriously glazed over. These pads just don't like the operating temps of track use. They're great street/canyon/mountain pads though.

Diesel

iTrader: (8)

Mitsu rotors, good...?

that's front page news there...

3GPhil

Mine were warped horribly at 3K miles, had them resurfaced.

Once again warped again at 10K miles, had them resurfaced.

Warped again at 11K miles, bought a Baer Track Kit.

IzenGreyEvo7

iTrader: (3)

Your Eclipse rotors are nowhere near as thick or as large in radius as the EVO rotors though. It's not a fair assesment to say the EVO rotors warp easily when you don't have the EVO's rotors.