Cobalt Friction brakes

Zauskycop

Well, since I run them in my SM, and have a feel for them...I decided to try them on the track. First of all, the squeal like a pig on the street, so if you are looking for a quiet set for dual use...probably not them. Unfortunately, not a lot has been documented about these pads so I was sort of on my own to get the compound correct.

Using the XR series of pads, and with my knowledge of them with both the Chump Car, and the SM, we decided to start by trying XR2 fronts, and XR3 rears. Let's just say...grabby. I think if you had an upgraded suspension, and sticky tires (Hoosiers?) these pads would work fine. For a stock tire clad Z, they were too grabby. You could barely touch them and get a nice drag, but the pads had zero modulation, and quickly progressed to full on ABS. If you worked on it and tried hard to find that middle point, you could really get the feel for a HUGE braking load...but it was just too fine of a point to consistently hit, and spent most of my time in ABS. The tires were just overwhelmed. That said, they performed flawlessly, and didn't experience any of the ice mode that I have heard about. I DID boil the crap out of the brake fluid on my last lap however (planned last lap, so no scary surprises!).

I have now ordered a step down in the pads (XR3 front/XR4 rear) for my next track day in mid August, and hopefully this will resolve the modulation problem. I will report what I find.

Tracy Ramsey