Changing Brake Pads Back/Forth?
 

No, this is not another brake pad recommendation thread. I have come to accept I will never find a definitive answer on which pad is the 'best' for aggressive street and light track without trying them all :p

I will be trying out XP8's this summer and plan to run them F/R for street and track. If I find I don't like them for street, my ET500's have half their life left.

My question is, for guys that have changed from one pad brand to another (not just one compound to another), did you turn or replace your rotors? And as a follow up question, for the track guys that switch to track pads for the track then back after, I'm assuming you aren't turning/changing your rotors every time you switch, right?

There is a lot of info out there on the inter webs that suggests that you MUST replace or re-surface your rotors when switching to another pad type in order to properly remove the pad deposits the other pad left behind and allow the new ones to bed in properly. Now I totally get bedding in the pads, makes sense and I plan to continue doing that. But when I'm looking at my rotors, and they still look brand new with no real visible or tactile signs of pad deposit, I don't see the point in turning them just to kill them faster, when it seems likely to me that the bedding in process of the new pads will remove most if not all of the old pad material anyways. Also, I'm not even sure my open slot Racing Brake 2-piece rotors can even be turned, the rotor lathes seem like they could really screw up slotted rotors - maybe I'm just an idiot though!

Thoughts/experiences appreciated!

Definitely don't have to change the rotors when you change pads. My buddy that got me started with brake system work recommends scuffing up the rotors before the bedding process. My understanding is this removes the layer of existing pad deposit material.

You should have your rotors turned when changing pads.

^with that in mind, are you saying that if I'm heading to the track for a day to have them turned, then again after the track if I switch back? I would go through $1k rotors really quickly doing that, no?


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So some brake pads are non-transfer, others aren't.

My understanding is that most "sintered metal" pads aren't transfer and therefore you can switch between those and, for example, a ceramic pad at will without much issue as long as you re-bed with every switch.

Personally I suggest you grow a pair and run your track pads full time. :P

edit: Maybe CL RC5+'s, they're supposed to be tolerable on the street while still great on the track.

I switched between Carbotech pads for the track and back to stock pads for the street without issue. Just go through the rebedding process and you should be fine.

Or you can do what Shovelman suggests and run Carbotechs all the time. I was running them on the street until this past weekend, while doing a coilover install, I went ahead and changed the pads back. Plus I might as well of gotten black F14's if running Carbotechs full time as track pads dust like a mofo!

Cool, thanks for the info guys. I will probably just clean the rotors with some brake cleaner then and bed in the XP8's according to their instructions.
Lol my plan is to run the carbos for daily too I just want options if I can't live with the dust. Noise doesn't bother me as much.


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The Carbotech pads will wear quickly on the street. I've had no issues with swapping back and forth between the OEM pads and the Carbotechs. I use XP10 front and XP8 rear.

The CL pads wear very slowly on the street, for what it's worth.

I've put probably 10K street miles on my RC6's plus track and autocross time and they look practically brand new.

Recently installed Carbotech XP10s and they are so much better than even the nismo pads I had. Kinda worried now about other people hitting me if I had to stop quickly.

No. I thought this was a street car, my bads.

i dont usually turn the rotors on the first pad change. however, i usually just replace the rotors on the 2nd set of pads.

I would be more inclined to turn or replace them if the two piece racing brake front rotors weren't $1000 a pair lol. They look brand new after two seasons, just as much life as the day I bought them!
Can you even machine the slotted/open-slot rotors? I'll on probably wait until these rotors are visibly worn before getting new discs for them.


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You can turn rotors that are slotted/drilled. Just don't take a big bit for each pass. You can get chatter marks if you do.

My Racing Brake rotors have 6 trackdays on them. Still look great. ;) I'm ready to change out the YellowStuff pads for something else now.

I've never bothered machining rotors when changing pads.

I get 8-10 track days and 20-30,000 klicks per set of rotors, usually 2-4 sets pads per rotor change

I choose pads from Ferodo DS2500, Endless MX72 or PMU HC+ for combined street/track duty, but every year I run in a teams-based 6-hour enduro (each car gets around 1-hour in the event) and for that, I usually run Endless ME20 pads (unless it is wet, in whcih case I use my regular pads as keeping heat into ME20's in the rain is a challenge).

For me, it is all about bedding the pad to the rotor, let everything cool down, and get on it.

I might care a little more if there were serious bragging rights attached to a track-day outcome, but I leave that for the "proper" race car.