Cheap & easy brake cooling mod

SPOHN

What is considered high temps for are brakes anyways?

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Philipp

Sphon,
The highest i got on my left side was 532F. This is after half a track warn down lap + pit lane entry time + me stopping at entrance to park + me running to my box to get the laser reader. This equals to about 120-140 seconds after the last serious braking zone.
On the other side, my laser temp reader couldn't read my friend M3 since it was maxed out at 608F... Don't forget that i: parked, ran, recorded my temps way before it took a reading of his rotors... I can't even imagine the initial heat these things had to sustain.
Notes on the 2010 BMW temps:
- car is new and has less than 8k miles;
- owner: is a national karting competiter.
Cheers,
Phil

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2009 370z, MT & Sport package.
DynoPack (stock): 268.8WHP & 224.4 Torque//K&N filters//Air cabin filter//HPS Tubes//Tune to come when VVEL...

cossie1600

Stock pad, probably 800-1000F, higher for race pads. You have to worry about fluid boiling too.

Philipp

Cossie, any idea on high temps for the stock rotor?

__________________
2009 370z, MT & Sport package.
DynoPack (stock): 268.8WHP & 224.4 Torque//K&N filters//Air cabin filter//HPS Tubes//Tune to come when VVEL...

cossie1600

nada. unlike most people here, brake cooling is the least of my concern as i have tracked cars that are faster with smaller brakes. they all seem to stop fine with the one exception to the 350. for a 20 minute hpde session, i am not sure how much the ducts help. i look at it as one of those things that help, but not really big enough for me to worry about. you are better off spending money on better pads, better brake fluid and cryo treat your rotors. this is a bigger problem for guys who race their cars side by side.......

Philipp

Cossie,
Already went into that route. I was running on StopTechs on all corners with Castrol LMA.
Phil

__________________
2009 370z, MT & Sport package.
DynoPack (stock): 268.8WHP & 224.4 Torque//K&N filters//Air cabin filter//HPS Tubes//Tune to come when VVEL...

cossie1600

try Castrol SRF, much better fluid

SeattleLion

I have read all of the brake cooling threads here that I could find. I could use a little help understanding what really might help. It's obvious that our brakes overheat, particularly the fronts. After my first day at the track you could smell my brakes for 100ft. So there is no doubt our brakes could use some cooling.

When I look at other sports cars, I see massive vents front and rear to ventilate the wheel well. As others have pointed out, a small flex duct from the fangs seems like a relatively small amount of help.

That brings me to my question. If we can add some marginal cooling, like a duct from the fangs, will that be noticable in HPDE? Also, if we upgrade the pads to Carbotech, etc., will the upgrade just make the heating issue worse?

I am not an automotive engineer so I have no real basis to draw conclusions. It does seem to me that Nissan performed a balancing act between power, coefficient of friction for the body, and braking ability. I have the sport with the Akimbo brakes, which certainly should have plenty of power to stop the car. In my short track experience, they do a good job. Clearly the more aggressive I get, the more likely they will overheat and fade.

This is a classic mod issue. If you increase performance of any system, do you risk introducing unwanted effects in another? In this case, is there a practical way to reduce brake heating enough to improve performance? Does just giving the brakes more stopping ability (pads, rotors, caliper changes) really improve the car's performance over a 30 or 60 minute track session?

So, if I understand this thread (and others) correctly, I can dramatically improve brake performance by trading the stock pads for high performance pads designed to work at very high temperatures. I can also reduce the risk of brake fluid boil by trading out the DOT 3 for DOT 4 or DOT 5.1 brake fluid. I can increase pedal response with SS brake lines. I get all that. But if I do make the brakes more aggressive, do I reduce the time I can safely use them? After 10 hot laps will the brakes fade dangerously? Most importantly, has anyone figured out how to keep the brakes cool under hot lap conditions?

Thanks for you help.