Track Day Best Practices - MUST READ

SurfDog

I did not see what was looking for with the obligatory search...

Question: (I've run a few setups with brakes at the track but am still a bit of a tech noob.)

I'll be changing my pads from hawk ceramics (which I run for DD) to hawk plus pads for my track day this week.

1. Do I need to "resurface" my rotors when I change my pads and how do I do it... (a bit of light sanding??) Or can I just swap and do a few quick "pad bedding" maneuvers to get my pads ready to run?

2. It's been about 6 months since my last fluid bleed. I have a few bottles of RBF 600 on hand. How do I know when I've bled out all the old fluid and have new dry fluid all the way through the lines? (I hear new dry fluid is a good safety tip to avoid boil off/fade)

I could have some brake shop do this stuff for me, but I'd actually like to start doing it at the track between heats (if i notice my pads wearing down on track weekends) and be able to swap my pads at home. (before and after track days.)

__________________
09 6spd Berk CBE, JWT cams, ZSpeed CSC, Stillen (25 row oil, brake cooling, sways, gen3 CAI), Passport (9500ci), Quaife LSD, Z1 400 hp kit, ss lines, pads, rotors, clutch etc, Phunk's pan and fuel starve fix

wstar

You probably don't need to muck with the rotors. Technically it would be more-ideal to kill the previous transfer layer first, but honestly you're more likely to do harm than good trying in many cases. Definitely don't have a shop put them on a lathe. If you do decide to try it, just scrub the surfaces with garnet paper (not sand paper), ~200 grit.

Bedding the new pads will be important. The mfg will have directions for how to do it, and with HP+ you can definitely do it on the street before you get to the event.

If you fully bled the fluid 6 months ago, you'd probably be ok to just bleed the calipers this time around. If you really want to flush the whole thing, just guestimate and use about a bottle per corner as you bleed the calipers (more in the rear than the front; longer lines). If the fluid's truly aged, you'll see the color change from darker to lighter when you start pumping out new fluid.

Swapping pads on our cars is relatively easy. Doing it yourself is always better if you can, because nobody cares about your car more than you do (especially not some random dude at a brake shop).

__________________
7AT Track Car!
Journal thread / Car setup details