Originally Posted by CO_VaporGT_09

A guy on another thread confirmed you don't need new studs, just lugnuts -- different seat on the 302 wheels than the standard Mustang seat.

But he's right in that there are other options. All are pricey for that low of weight, though.

Originally Posted by Stinger1982

I recommend 275/35-18 on all 4 corners, its a common size so they are lower priced.
It’s plenty of tire.
Staggering tire size front to rear can easily lead to handling issues if you dont have adjustable suspension and good amount of setup knowledge
"Square" cars are great
its hip to be a square (sorry I know thats horribly corny but it's been a really stressful week)


I don’t like R comps

The level of grip they provide I don’t feel justifies their price.
If your gonna spend the $ go the extra small step and get real tires.

It should be said that if your new to open tracking start on street tires. R comps and slicks are not beginner friendly, they give you little to no warning at the limit the way a street tire does. You can get into trouble with these kinds of tires and not know it until its too late if you don’t know what your doing.



Good:
BFGoodrich G-force R1
Good grip, great durability

Better:

Hoosier R6
GREAT grip, ok-good durability (proper high cycling at break in make a big impact on tire life)
Can be found used, be picky!!!!!! Check for excessive shoulder wear.

Best:

Find a Grand Am Continental Tire team that sells used take off slicks.
Good grip, EXCELLENT durability (provided you bought a set that isn’t near death, ask!)
They are SUPER cheap.
We have sold all that we had (I am guilty of buying 5 of the sets myself, these are what I use for HPDE's and private track rentals)

Originally Posted by Stinger1982

Sorry for the extreme delay in my posting, it turns out that two jobs, an MBA program, buying a house that needs work and moving in all at once is a bit crazy.


ok everything that has been said by cloud9 and 06GT is golden advice.

The new 5.0 is easily capable of overwhelming its factory brake setup on a road course with good tires. I run Hoosier R6, A6 and Grand Am take off tires depending on what I am doing (competition or open track day for fun). With the A6 and R6 ABS getting to ABS engagement can be a struggle so the brakes are being fully utilized. My car has run in the low 150mph range on the back straight at Mid Ohio (psycho speed for a full weight street car) and weighs a staggering 3,910 with me in it in race trim with ½ tank of gas. That is a **** load of energy to be absorbed by the brakes. Now my car isn’t stock both power and suspension/tires so my speeds are not the same as a normal 5.0 plus I am a decent driver so I get onto the straight carrying good speed but you get the point of me bringing this up.


So my advice is as follows:

1. Don’t track with the stock pads and fluid PERIOD. (Great fluid = Brembo LCF 600 or equivalent)
One Brake pad (for the front) that hasn’t been mentioned and is a great pad is Performance Friction PFC-01. This has the stopping power of a DTC-70 but is easier on the rotor and I personally prefer the initial bite of the PFC over the Hawk (splitting hairs). We run PFC-01's on our Grand Am and NASA Race cars.

2. Don’t use the same rotors for the street that you use at the track. When you go to a more aggressive pad it is easy for that pad to bed into the rotor. HOWEVER when you go back to street pads its EXTREMLY hard for those pads to get a bite on the rotor since they are a wussier compound. Its amazing how badly your ability to panic stop is compromised on street pads after you have had track pads on the car, it borders on dangerous! (I almost learned the hard way some time ago).

3. Stock rotors are fine for open track days (they wont last as long as a 2 piece) if your only going to track less then say 5 times a year save your money and use factory rotors they are way cheaper (but have a dedicated track set and a dedicated street set). If you’re a track rat like me (actually competing not just open track days and 15-18 track “days” a year) step up to a two piece dedicated race rotor. To a point you get what you pay for. I recommend Brembo race rotors. We have used cheaper alternatives in the past and it’s just not worth the savings (life of rotor, stopping power, heat dissipation). Also more vanes = good. Remember brake rotor cooling vanes are directional (not applicable to stock rotors).

4. Remove all dust shields on all four corners, no exceptions (if you want to put them back after that’s up to you)

5. Cooling ducts are a good idea and for the extremely casual track guy can be done very cheaply and not permanently. Buy brake cooling hose (do NOT use house drier ducting it cant take the heat, I have seen fires because someone’s drier ducting which was plastic caught fire, dur) and zip tie it to the tie rod ends as close to the rotor as possible (its not the best solution but its better then nothing) and then zip tie them to the car all the way to the front fascia (be sure to leave slack so the ducting can turn with the wheels of course). Then remove them after the track day. If your serious about this invest in a proper setup (see my thread about fabbing in a setup to my Roush fascia or buy a FRPP or similar kit, the new FRPP Boss cooling kit = very good). Cooling ducts directed to the center of the rotor (hub area) also help to extend the life of the hub under track conditions (hubs are a wear item for road race cars and are replaced at intervals that are fractions of what a street car sees and heat is a part of the reason).

6. The factory Brembo calipers will discolor (no big deal) with track use.

7. To the really serious track guys if your budget and race (or TT in my case) class allow, stepping up to a more serious front caliper is a good idea (be aware that street compound pads are very hard to find for some race calipers). In my and Rehagen Racing's opinion the best brake kit for the money is a Brembo Pro Kit (yes it is very expensive) but its worth more then double what they charge, but there are plenty of options.

8. Stainless brake lines are not needed for the guy who might track the car a couple of times a year, but keep a close eye on them. Check for bulges and squishiness. Stainless lines are ALWAYS a good idea for everyone and must for track rats.

If any TMS member has specific questions they are always welcome to PM me and if I cant answer the question I can get it answered by someone at the shop or even contact venders if needed and would be happy to do so.

I should mention that we sell not only off the shelf brake kits and pads for Mustangs but also Kits that we manufacturer in house (or have made just for us) and most are listed on our website, just saying





This year we have fought heat issues in my car and the theme of the year was brake failure, first we thought it was rear caliper fluid, then pad temp issues and we now believe that my car has a defective master cylinder (new one is in hand and will be swapped out before the first event). After 8-9 laps at 10/10ths the brake pedal goes to the floor and the car does not slow down at all. I can’t even stop in the pits (the brake pedal seriously does nothing at all to stop the car). If the fluid in the front was boiling I would still have back brakes to stop the car and visa versa, so it’s not boiling fluid (plus when the fluid is bled there are no bubbles and when allowed to fully cool if not bled the brakes return to 100%). If it was pad temps you could still stop in the pits from sub 5mph, and none of those scenarios explain the completely free traveling pedal and the fact that the E-brake still stops the car (in the pits) just fine. I have spoken at great length to the Ford, Brembo and TRW engineers who developed this system and everyone is convinced that this is an isolated problem. The Ford guys have flogged the Boss’s just as hard for way longer and NEVER seen a failure like this (so don’t panic about your car, its fine).

The reason I mention this is, if you start to get a spongy pedal on track BACK OFF NOW. That is a general rule of track driving anyway, but just in case you experience an issue like me, back off early.

Originally Posted by CO_VaporGT_09

Hey Shaun,

I've got separate front disc's now, and could get some separate rears, to have a full separate track/street setup, but it's quite a bit of work swapping the discs out for each track event. I drive to/from the track (got a tire trailer recently that I have to get a trailer hitch installed for at some point, but wearing out some old tires first) and while that's not much road use on dedicated track pads/rotors, won't that simply remove the bedding as the race pads go into friction mode again?

Do you swap the rotors and pads at the track, or do that at home then drive there, or just trailer the car? I'm trying to think of a way to do this all and still fit it into tight weekend schedules -- though I know the track rat's answer is always have one car for the street, one for the track (I'll get there eventually, but not yet).

Originally Posted by Stinger1982

I know it is a PITA (I say that in an "I'm sorry" type of tone of voice). But ipromise its the better idea. the front are 100x's more important, so you have the big part already handled.

I swap at the track (pads and rotors). Its a lot of work when your a one man show (did it for years) and I am glad that I go to the track now with the team, the extra hands make everything go so much faster.

The only issues with driving to the track on race pad are as follows:

1. The pads dont work well at lower temps, you will have longer stopping distances.

2. The race pads will wear much faster then street pads at low temps (due to street driving) and race pads wear waaaay faster on the street then they do on the track

3. Its really easy to get full ABS engament when you would not expect on the street (aka hard to panic stop) and this can leave weird pad transfer on the rotor.