Thread: Track brakes thread

I havent pulled the trigger just yet,as I need a little more funds...but I have pretty much decided to go with the Carbotech XP8 fronts with Centric Semi-metallic rears on new rotors,Motul Fluid

Guys what do you think of my brake setup and how do you think will fare at AMP?
94.5 B13 Sentra LE GA16DE
Wilwood 11" 4-piston front kit on drilled/slotted rotors
Wilwood Dynalite BP20 150-9413K pads for the track day
Wilwood Dynalite BP10 150-8850K pads for daily use
stock GA16DE rear drum setup with new Nissan shoes and wheel cylinders
ATE Super-Blue brake fluid.

Reason I ask is because I did a track day at Barber back in October on the stock 1.6L front brakes with Carbotec XP10 fronts and ATE Super-Blue and it held up fine, but the right front rotor and caliper failed on the last lap of the last session (35 minute session non-stop). After that I decided to upgrade to the Wilwoods like I had on my NX2000 back in the day (2004-2006).
Other mods include:
16x8 Enkei RPF-1
5mm rear spacer and Nismo 50mm studs on rear
215/40R16 Yokohama S-Drives
ST swaybars
Whiteline caster bushings
ES steering rack bushings
Whiteline 4-point front subframe brace
Whiteline front strut tower bar
Whiteline camber bolts front and rear
GT-R oem lightweight battery

Only power adder is a K&N panel filter on a GA16DE 5-speed.


OH yeah, the Carbotec XP10 will dust like a mother-effer, and if the dust is left on for a few days, it will damage the finish of the wheels. Ask me how I know.

Found a dandy chart for the Wilwood pads in terms of temp vs friction.
http://wilwood.com/BrakePads/BrakePadsProd.aspx?itemno=150-8850K
http://wilwood.com/BrakePads/BrakePadsProd.aspx?itemno=150-9413K
http://wilwood.com/PDF/Flyers/fl227.pdf

Uh, I'm surely not an expert on B13 braking systems but I'm not sure I would ever hook up a Wilwood 11" 4 piston setup with rear drums on what you probably have as a stock master cylinder for a GA16 powered B13 setup. Especially for track duty. Not sure how demanding AMP is on suspensions & brakes but as hard as I drive on the track I'm not too positive that your setup is optimal for the situation. One thing in your favor is that with the GA16 you probably won't go fast enough to overpower your braking setup but I'm cringing about the drum setup in the rears. Probably works but an NX2K setup with MC, front calipers & rotors AND stock rear disc setup would be the ideal ticket IMO. Probably would be a better setup if you at least upgrade the rears & get at minimum the NX MC. Your pad and brake fluid setup should hold up well. Remember heat is both a friend & enemy when it comes to driving hard on the track. When at the right operating temps they work wonders and do the job with the proper pads. Too high and you're playing Russian Roulette. Things can go wrong very quickly as you found out.

Yeah, heat killed the rotor so bad it spider cracked everywhere on the inboard side, and luckily it pulsated under braking immediately to let me know to get my ass of the track lol. The caliper piston seal and the dust boot melted and caused the piston to stick.


Before I swapped to new tires the other day I did some very hard back roads and mountain driving on the Wilwood setup. Fronts still lock up before the rears on the regular Wilwood BP10 front pads. I did lock up the fronts in a dicey manuever to avoid another car at Barber on the front stockers. So far, with the stock 1.6L BMC, brake feel and bias still seems to be about the same as stock. Even the brake pedal travel feels the same with no grabby-ness in the front, or rear. I do have a U13U Altima BMC laying around for when I can find a SE-R/NX2000 rear disc conversion.

When I called Carbotec back in Sept about my stock brake setup trying to determine which pads to use, they did tell me they do offer Carbotec shoes for drum brake setups, including GA16 Sentras. But, I don't plan on doing that.

I guess AMP will really show me if I made a retard decision or an ok-but-why decision. I do plan on having rear discs before the next Barber track in October and Talladega GP track day in September.

I don't too many people who are going to have any advice about how the drums are going to do. I do know that back in the old days, the Neon series guys preferred them because it saved unsprung weight and having calipers really didn't subtract any stopping distance. A Neon is pretty much in the same category in terms of weight to haul down as our little Sentras. Keep in mind you don't have to brake 10/10ths every lap. Although, in GA car you're going get run over if you don't....lol

If you are melting stuff you need ducting not larger brakes...

Around here I don't know any low power guys overheating brakes either... Might want to make sure you aren't dragging the brakes.

Ducting works wonders, ask me how I know lol....

You flipped a coin? And ducting won?

Science be damned!

GA16 front rotors are around 9" diameter and around 16mm thickness. Not very much mass for heat dissapation, especially when you have 3 sessions that last 35-40 minutes nonstop. Larger and thicker rotor will hold more heat before failure, but everyone knows that. I also completely removed the rotor spash shields to give the rotors more "fresh air".

We shall see!!

Cool story.

You still missed step 1.