I was cruising thru the mountains yesterday and I believe I cooked the fluid. At 60 with the brakes to the floor abs didn't engage and I'm on stock tires on the wear bar and they were about 3lbs low on air... needless to say the following immediate right was interesting... so do these cars cook the stock pads or the fluid first? I'm considering some hawk hp+ since I liked the hps pads I had on my previous car

 

I took mine to two track days in 90+ degrees when I first got the car with stock pads, tires and fluid and never had severe fade like that. Maybe would need to take it easy for a couple corners every other lap towards the end of a session. I cant see them fading on a mountain road in 65 degrees. I have felt some inconsistency in the braking on loose surfaces. Maybe some gravel and the ABS freaked out?

 

The HP+ will have a lot more dust than the HPS and have a bit more of a squeel. I will say that noise doesnt bug me and the extra bite that i have got from the HP+ over the HPS is awesome!!

I did a track day with my STI on HP+ and tho i woulnt use HP+ on a long track day at road america again they would be fine for street driving and great for autoX.

I started swapping pads at the track for track days but that gets $$$ fast.

 

abs didnt freak out... this was fresh pavement you can hear the tires squeal in normal driving welllll before you normally would. abs didnt engage at ALL the pedal was too the floor. these corners are close enough that im coming out of a corner with it too the flor and run out 2nd and could get up to 75 or so then be back on the brakes and this could go for probably 8 turns in a row or so... after talking to other people locally i think i just glazed the pads having to drag the brakes when a normal car would engine brake is what i think helped kill them...

also i've had a "service brakes soon" indicator flash on my DIC before after beating on it down this same stretch of road but ABS was working fine and everything was okay... hasnt happened since and no weird stuff untill this event.

 

If you got the brake light on, then that says to me that your pads are low, so the fluid is low. This also causes the fluid to heat up faster, because there's less pad as a heat shield. Sounds like you toasted the fluid.

Change your pads, flush the fluid with something decent, like Valvoline synthetic, or ATE. Stock pads are pretty good on the TC. You can run titanium shims too, like I do, but honestly, I only use those for track work.

 

That's what I figured. Pads are fine and fluid is fine... I'm just guessing I boiled the fluid and now have air....

 

wang, where did you get your shims, I'm starting to dislike my random chatter.

 

I doubt the titanium shims would help with noise. They cover the entire back of the pad.

DH548 Titanium Brake Backing Plate for Chevrolet Cobalt SS Brembo [TS-T-DH0548] : TiSpeed Titanium Brake Backing Plate Heat Shields, Improve Brake Performance, Reduce Brake Fade and Extend Brake Fluid Life

Code "tfa1010" will get you a few bucks off.

 

What's the advantage to these shims?

 

Titanium is a relatively poor thermal conductor, so it acts like a heat shield, to prevent the caliper boots and fluid from overheating.

 

Ahh I see, as for the stock fluid in these cars is it ok for "spirited driving" (i.e. Canyon Passes and Auto-x)? Or would you stillr ecommend flushing the brake fluid every year? I'm assuming for track days you would want something with a higher boiling temp and some stainless steel lines right?

 

If it's a daily driver, once a year will suffice. If it's getting track time, you need to bleed more often, and yes, you need to run higher temp fluid. If you're really going fast, you need to swap the pads to race pads up front, like Cobalt Friction XR1, or Hawk DTC60/70.

Daily driver? Stock fluid, Valvoline synthetic, or Castrol LMA are all sufficient.

 

It's DOT 4 Our cars run I think right? Which fluid would be best for a DD, Auto-x type car? Do you bleed your own brakes or take it to dealer for them to flush the system?

 

Yes, we have DOT 4, which is what most people will want to stick with. Some of us run race brake fluid, but if you don't track heavily, don't do it, because it just means you'll have to bleed the brakes more often (doesn't have corrosion inhibitors like standard brake fluid).

I stand by my above suggestions for DD/autox cars. Add ATE type 200 or ATE Super Blue to the list, if you want something that's a little more high performance.

I do the tried and true 2 man brake bleeding method. Look it up online.

 

Thanks, I know how to bleed brakes just wasn't sure if you recommend a flush or not. I've heard good things about ATE Super Blue so I may try that + some SS Lines.

 

i might bleed my brakes today just because i can do it with the wheel on lol