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Rear brake pads wear out faster then front?

Joined
4 September 2002
Messages
517
Location
San Francisco, CA
I installed a set of Hawk HP+ last year. After 5 track days, my front pad still have 60% but only 40% on the rear? I believe the front pads wear faster since the fronts do more of the braking? Anyone have the same experiences?
 
how are you measuring the pads? would be my guess

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or using the e-brake during turns maybe
 
front pads should wear quicker.....next time out bring a pyrometer and check rotor temps.
 
In 13,000+ actual track miles, I went through 28 sets of front pads and 15 sets of rear pads, so rears averaged almost twice the life of the fronts. I typically got 400-600 track miles to a set of fronts. Lifespan of the rears varied more; most lasted 600-800 track miles, but three of the sets gave me over 1400 track miles each. And for whatever reason, there were a few individual sets of rears that didn't last as long as a few individual sets of rears.

Also, when comparing the thickness starting with new pads front and rear, remember when calculating your percentages that new front pads are thicker than new rear pads, 11 mm vs 9 mm.
 
If you have no heat shields on the front but heat shields on the rear you may be losing pads quicker due to the heat, are they the same compound pad?
 
I did removed the Splash Guards on the front and add Dail air deflectors. The rear are all stock. However, there are few turns on the tack that I didn't Heel and toe when downshifting. Maybe that will locking the rear brake more then the front?
 
Yep my rear pads were a-goner before fronts!

ac011 I'll relate my experience....... 2004 NSX six speed with ~ 29,500 miles on it (car teched O K), and on my fourth (ever) track day May, 2011, my OEM rear pads began to sing wear indicator(s). Fronts were still rocking fine. The on-site crew from Continental Autosports (Hinsdale, IL) changed out my rears the next morning to get me back out for day five....... looked at them and stated they were totally shot - went to a set of Project Mu streets for the rear, as I had taken a full set for the weekend just-in-case.
Personally I've never owned a car that used up rear pads before fronts, but I was born learnin' :smile:
 
Seems unusual. I usually experience rear brake wear similar to nsxtasy, about two to one front to rear.

How does the car feel on track? Does it seem like the rears wan't to lock first, does the car feel normal under braking?

Perhaps check the parking brake to see if it has a bit too much drag and needs to be adjusted?

I've also found it pretty easy to over temp HP+ pads, when you start going faster take a look at the XP12's from Carbotech.
 
I was just wondering about this question. My rear HP+ pads appear to be wearing faster than my front pads. I have two sets, which each went on new. Set one has 500 track miles and and set two has 463 track miles. Each also has about 1,000 street miles. In both sets, the rear is considerably more worn than the front. I haven't measured with calipers to compare with the thickness as new, but both look more than halfway worn. I'm headed to an event this weekend and expect to change the rear pads between the two days.

I have all the rock shields in place and larger cooling deflectors on the front suspension. The handbrake used to feel a bit tight (just a couple clicks from full down to tight) but seems normal now. Lately, with my foot softly on the brakes while reversing, I get a vibration from the rear brakes, something like a humming. It doesn't come up much but I found it strange. Dunno if it's related. I would love to figure out my brake-wear anomaly.
 
I had the same experience on my track only NSX. This came from the fact that I had a good air ducting front but none at the rear.
 
I had the same experience on my track only NSX. This came from the fact that I had a good air ducting front but none at the rear.
I had good air ducting in the front only, none at the rear, and as noted above, still wore out two sets of fronts for each set of rears.
shrug.gif
 
I typically am about 2 for 1 set of rears....

On my new car im about dead even since it has a Prop valve.
 
By way of comparison, on the Integra Type R, I've changed the front pads 20 times and the rears 6 times. Rotors, 9 times and once.
 
your rear calipers may be binding and in need of a service.
 
That would be my guess as well. It's also possible the parking brake may have been left engaged, either due to a malfunction or just unintentionally having it partway on. (The parking brake works only on the rear.)

For those who drive on the street and don't brake aggressively like on the track, I would expect the ratio to be closer to one to one. But not to have the rears actually wear out faster than the fronts.
 
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Just so I understand, I should be changing by brake pads 28 times of 13,000 miles of track use ?
I wish...

In 13,000+ actual track miles, I went through 28 sets of front pads and 15 sets of rear pads, so rears averaged almost twice the life of the fronts. I typically got 400-600 track miles to a set of fronts. Lifespan of the rears varied more; most lasted 600-800 track miles, but three of the sets gave me over 1400 track miles each. And for whatever reason, there were a few individual sets of rears that didn't last as long as a few individual sets of rears.

Also, when comparing the thickness starting with new pads front and rear, remember when calculating your percentages that new front pads are thicker than new rear pads, 11 mm vs 9 mm.
 
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Just so I understand, I should be changing by brake pads 28 times of 13,000 miles of track use ?
I wish...

I think Ken may have a braking advantage as he tracks his car at stock power levels, since you have the disadvantage of having a lot more power you will be forced to change the pads just a bit more than Ken.

Having said that my lovely 10 year old Tarox BBK only needs pads changed about every 15-20 track days depending on the track mix. For me that is about 1,400 miles per set of pads so in 28 sets of pads I could potencially get 40,000 track miles. Again it depends on the tracks I run at but that pad rate on an OEM power level would not surprise me.

Dave
 
Just so I understand, I should be changing by brake pads 28 times of 13,000 miles of track use ?
I wish...

Really depends on speed and driving style etc.

Coz you know we can turn down similar times on the track, but I'd wager I go through significantly less brake pads than you over the same period of time.

I think i've bought about 12 sets of rears and 15 sets of fronts since i've OWNED the car (101k so far) and we've logged approximately 22k on the track so far...

But I drive my car like a FWD momentum car as you know and am not using the brakes that much if possible. HOWEVER, to be on topic, I almost ALWAYS burn the fronts 20-30% faster.
 
Really depends on speed and driving style etc.
It also depends on what type of pads you use, what tracks you run, at what point you change the pads (i.e. do you change them when they're at 5 mm or 2 mm or 0 mm), etc. And on experience; for example, novice drivers often go through pads quicker because they overbrake and/or brake over longer distances.
 
It also depends on what type of pads you use, what tracks you run, at what point you change the pads (i.e. do you change them when they're at 5 mm or 2 mm or 0 mm), etc. And on experience; for example, novice drivers often go through pads quicker because they overbrake and/or brake over longer distances.


Good point!

I've determined that braking just slows you down and have abandoned the process nearly in its entirety :)

The nice thing is that COZ and I can directly compare as we run the same tracks and times (not speeds though - he goes way faster haha). I'm not sure what pads he uses but I am guessing something similar :)
 
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Realistically I've probably gone through 7 sets of fronts and 4 sets of rears in the last 5 years of TT racing and 30,000 miles of street driving.
But thats also doing 8 sessions a race weekend, 12+ times a year and I do change them out between 2 and 4mm depending on what track is coming up.
So actually Ken's numbers are pretty right on.
I used to run the Carbotech XP-10's in front and XP8's in the rear.
Recently stepped up to the XP-12 front and XP-10 rears.
They actually seem to be wearing better, time will tell.

Really depends on speed and driving style etc.
Coz you know we can turn down similar times on the track, but I'd wager I go through significantly less brake pads than you over the same period of time.
I think i've bought about 12 sets of rears and 15 sets of fronts since i've OWNED the car (101k so far) and we've logged approximately 22k on the track so far...
But I drive my car like a FWD momentum car as you know and am not using the brakes that much if possible. HOWEVER, to be on topic, I almost ALWAYS burn the fronts 20-30% faster.

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The last 3 times you were out in TT in your NSX was at FB West, you ran 1:09 and I ran 1:05, FB Main before that you ran 1:10 and I ran 1:06, then on FB East, you ran 1:08 and I ran 1:03.
Going faster usually results in better times and more brake pad usage depending when and how hard you brake, as you well know :)

Good point!
I've determined that braking just slows you down and have abandoned the process nearly in its entirety :)
The nice thing is that COZ and I can directly compare as we run the same tracks and times (not speeds though - he goes way faster haha). I'm not sure what pads he uses but I am guessing something similar :)
 
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