Brake bias question

oilwell1415

Well-known member
I've spent the last two evenings getting my truck ready for the track on Saturday. Tonight I put the track pads on the front and flushed the brakes with Motul, then I went out and tried them out.

The first thing I noticed (since it was dark when I finally went out and drove it) was that sparks came flying out of the wheels under braking until the brakes got hot. I don't know if it stopped because the brakes were hot, or because the pads were changed. The pads had previously been bedded in and I did not notice this then. The setup is the 13" Wilwoods from TCE with C pads. Normal?

The second thing was the brake bias. When they were cold I didn't notice this, but after they heated up it became obvious. The problem is that I get on the brakes about 50% and the front feels like it's just starting to grab good, but the back is already entering ABS mode. Will this be a problem, or will it go away when I stiffen up the shocks on the track?

The setup on the truck is RUSlow 1100 front coils, early Hotchkis rear leafs, QA1 shocks and the TCE brake kit. Rear pads are Wagner Thermoquiets.

Thanks for the input.
 
Not unusual for C pads or any serious track pad to spark. Those are truly a race pad and not some super street pad.

The ABS may be tripped by a couple of things; the torque results of the pads in use at either end, or the dynamics with the current suspension set ups. In part the reason for a lot of race trucks to run reverse rake in them.

Obviously this post is some month or so old. Updates?
 
It actually ended up working pretty well on the track. The first few laps were a little tail happy on entry, but once the rear brakes started fading it worked well. I was turning laps around Hallett in the 1:38-1:40 range on stock tires, which I thought was pretty good for my first time there. Most of the Mustangs seemed to be running in the low-mid 1:30's on track tires.

The brakes always worked well, but I do need to address the rear fading. I would like to take a little brake out of the rear without forcing them into fade to do it. I definitely need a different compound; most of the ceramic pads seem to be deposited on the rotors. I'll probably be in touch to get the rear kit after the holidays. I've made several large purchases lately and need to recover from that before I drop another $1300 on my truck.
 
Rears may not be that big of a gain (other than good pad options) but moving to Poly B or a bit more front for the track might balance things out more.
 
When I had my L I ran H pads in the front and whatever on the rear. I never had the problem you are talking about. Of course I would eat up a set of rotors in one weekend! I also ran the H pads on my C6 and they worked great and never ate the rotors up. I really like the feel of the H pad! I have a CMC Mustang now and I am going to try the H pads next season. This weekend is my last race for this season and the Hawk's that came with the car are almost gone.

Jerry
 
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