advice needed on brake issue

boosted180

so it looks like a few, including travisjb and others, have had issues with the brakes failing (abs getting activated pre-maturely?) when driven hard at the track. i'm assuming it's not simply a problem of brake fade.

i'll be going to my first track event with this car in september and am pretty worried about this. streets of willow is a tight, technical track, very hard on brakes. i'll be using hawk hp+ pads, and installing some ducting when i do my oil cooler. i cant afford a bbk now. i certainly dont want to hurt my car going off b/c the brakes failed.

any advice? or comments on what this problem really is? i read travisjb's thread a few times, but still not clear about what's going on....

ResIpsa

The Nissan brake fluid is total crap. Swap some ATE Super Blue or comparable racing fluid.

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av370

What date is this in sept.? I dont live that far from W.S. and want to try the track out also.

boosted180

it's friday, 9/18.
SOW Sept 18th $105 - trackHQ.com - The Central Archives of Track Day Photos, Videos, and more........

the only thing is they dont have timing, which is a big minus for me. i really want to see what this car can run stock before i modify it, and to compare with other cars i've run on this track.

but the price is unbeatable.

travisjb

I had issues running with bone stock setup and later with ATE blue/gold and Hawk HP+ pads but stock sport calipers/rotors... the issue became progressively more noticeable during sessions, and only occurred at the end of the infield heading into a hairpin, while decelerating from ~100 to ~30. I definitely had enough advanced warning as it progressively got worse with each lap. I would say that I gained ~20-40% stopping distance, so it wasn't like I lost all brake pedal. ie I was never at any time at high risk of ending up in wall but at the same time I had to back down a be less aggressive once it started happening

Having said all that, I'm a lot more comfortable with brakes that work! hence the upgraded bbk

I'm very interested to find out if the ducting eliminates the issue for you... several of us have theorized that the problem with the stock setup is heating (duh!).... essentially calipers and surrounding materials getting excessively hot, not dissipating efficiently, and heat spreading to sensors that input to ABS cpu. As a result, the ABS is pulsing at a very slow rate and causing an ABS-like braking condition but with much longer stopping distances. It feels like stopping on ice with ABS, which is why some have described it as 'icing' or whatever

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boosted180

thanks for the clear explanation. on sunday after the auto-x, i did multiple hard stops from about 60-70mph, trying to get as much heat as i can into the brakes. i did a total of 7 stops, no breaks in b/t. each one stopping as quick as i could, jsut on the threshold of locking up. i could feel no difference in brake effectiveness from fist stop to 7th stop (in fact the later stops were probably better). i wish i had a brake pyrometer to measure actual temps, but my friend didnt bring his.

maybe the problem may still show up at the track, but maybe this is just a "freak problem" on *some* unlucky cars?? LOL. wishful thinking.....

i'll find out when i'm at streets of willow next month.