clallo

Hello,

I'm a relatively new S2000 owner (~2years). I own a MY02 Spa and can't tell you how much I enjoy the car.

I recently took it to Summit Point for a Friday at the Track event. My car is completely stock, even down to the OEM S02s. I was completey blown away at how well it performed right out of the box without any modification. What's even more amazing is that you get this great track performance from a very livable, comfortable, daily driver.

My only concern is with the brakes. They certainly worked well enough...I could close up on pratically anyone under braking...but as the day progressed they developed a moderate to heavy vibration during the serious braking areas (particularly turn 1). They only faded once (down in turn 1) during one of my first flying laps and after that were fine. But the vibration became apparent after that and became progressively worse.

I have inspected the rotors and do not see any hairline cracks or fractures. I'm assuming the rotors are slightly warped due to heat and/or insufficient cooldown but I'm not sure. Also, the brakes now have less initial 'bite' while driving around town. The total stopping power is not reduced, they just require a little more pedal pressure than before. Does this mean the rotors/pads are 'glazed'?

Anyway, I'm scheduled to go back to the track in August and I'm wondering what my best options are. Just to be clear, I was absolutely impressed with the overall performance of the S2000 on the track including its brakes and am not looking to do any kind of serious upgrade. It's also my daily driver so I don't want any loud, squealing pads. From reading these forums it seems many people choose to stick with the OEM rotors which is what I would prefer to do anyway.

So should I just replace the rotors with OEM ones and expect to do so after every couple track events? If so, what is the best bedding procedure for track use? Are there some close-to-OEM (non-bling) rotors that resist heat warpage more than the stock ones? Are there some magic pads the will preserve the stock pedal feel, resist fade, not eat my rotors and run quietly on the street? Is ducting the answer? It seems like everyone has a different opinion about these things.

About the only thing I have had consensus on is upgrading my brake fluid to something that won't boil as easily.

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

Christian Lallo

mikegarrison

There are no magic pads. Just do like the rest of us, and swap out the street pads for track pads before the event and back again afterwards.

The rotors are not "warped". You overtemped your street pads, and some of the material from the pads got stuck onto the rotors. This is probably recoverable. If it doesn't go away on its own, there are ways to try and take care of it.

Upgrading the fluid is a good idea.

RACER

It's possible that "cementite" has occurred with your rotors. If not corrected, it will get progressively worse and worse.

Cementite could be caused by improper bedding-in of new brake pads.


There are several technique's that I have seen utilized to bed-in brake pads. Some people like to use short, hard stabs, while others like to use longer, but less harder brake applications. A set of full race pads could be fully bedded-in within 3-4 laps at a race track. They should then be allowed to cool for 15 minutes, and then they are done.

When I bedded my race pads, I utilized short, hard stabs and a few longer, but easier stabs. I would brake from low speed 7-8 times and then back off the brakes for about 5-6 minutes to let them cool and then repeated the same procedure. I then started to brake from higher speed. The important thing is to NOT stop at any time during the inital bedding process. If you stop, you could transfer pad material to a general location, thus causing a localized hot spot, thus "cementite".

Toward the end, I did some threshold braking from triple digits on the speedo. I did this about 5 times. Afterwards, I let the brakes cool for about 10 minutes by driving around at normal speed and NOT stopping. I then did this one last time, and when I was done, I again drove around for 10-15 minutes to let the brakes cool before parking to prevent pad transfer to a localized area.

Don't use the parking brake, or leave your foot on the brake pedal when you come to a stop.

Hope this helps.

TubeDriver

Summit is fairly hard on brakes. I use Carbotech panther + or XP8s and SS lines. These work fine and can be driven to and from the track. You may want to try the Panther + first, when you get R compounds you may wnat to step up the XP8 or XP9s.


You can try and reduce the pad deposits by braking some and making sure to stay off the brakes when you come to a stop. Also, at the track, use the cool down laps to cool your brakes and when you park your car just leave it in gear with no brakes engaged. If you glazed your pads, the glaze will usually wear off after a while with normal braking.

I use a set of carbotech blank rotors (OEM are fine too) and XP8s. I swap them on my car the week before an event and bleed my brakes as well. Than I simply swap rotors and pads back to my street setup after the track event (bleed brakes again too).

Nishant

At the recent hyperfest, I let my gf drive my car in HPDE 2. At first I was told I couldn't drive due to not having a roll bar. Then i saw a 350z convertible out there so I complained and was let into HPDE 2 the second day. I normally drive 3 so I let her drive. Sadly, I did not bring any of my brake/rotor, racing gear with me. She had to drive pretty much stock. She noticed brake fade about half way through the sessions. She was still able to stop but stock was not holding up as going into Turn 1 is pretty hard on brakes. She got into 6th gear and then broke hard.

I guess in your case, you can get some CObalt Gt sports which will work for the street as well as the track. The oem rotors will hold up fine, just make sure there are no grooves. Also, changing your brake fluid to ate superblue or motul will be good. I think most have covered all this already

333

sound like you glazed the pads and also transfered pad material to the rotor. pads that will stand up to higher temps are needed. i also use panther +. very dusty very noisy but work great for the street autox and track. get some better fluid too.

rlaifatt

Fluid and pads ae all that's needed (all I use). Your rotors are probably fine, and stick with the OEM or similar rotors if you ever change them. A good race pad (see Marketplace above) and some cold stops would probably remove any uneven deposits from the stock pads on your current rotors.

teamking

Sorry that this is a little off-topic, but were you able to run the S2000 at the FATT event at Summit Point without a roll bar? I read this on their website:

...and took it to mean no S2000's with the factory roll hoops. I'd love to hear that I was wrong!

333

you were wrong. enjoy

iammike

as has already been said, you did not warp your rotors, but instead have uneven pad deposits on them. i have yet to track my s (nor will i ever), but on my civic i just sand the rotors and it minimizes the shake.

i'd also recommend you get a set of dedicated pads and rotors for your track days. don't worry about slotted/drilled/bling rotors and just get some oem replacement from autozone. no sense in throwing lots of money in to wear items. as far as pads go, i swear by carbotech xp9s.