Brake fluid question

[ga.spyder]

Ok,all you ''Ricky Racers''.I had the Spider on track at VIR last week.I ran it hard(still couldnt keep up with the Abarths )There is a long straight where I was close to 100mph,then a hard right where you need to slow down to 30-35mph.Hard braking! After about 4 laps in each of my 20 minute stints,I was suffering bad brake fade.Today I put on an agressive pad and vented slotted rotors.From the condition of my old pads and rotors,they are not my problem.I am sure I was boiling the fluid(stock dot3).Any reccomendations on a quality high temp fluid that will be compatible with my stock system? I plan to drain the system and change the fluid completely.

[Weelan]

that seems like it'd be really hard to do. Do you already have braided stainless brake hoses? That would have been my bet after the pads and rotors. Maybe some water in the brake fluid though?

[bradartigue]

Ok,all you ''Ricky Racers''.I had the Spider on track at VIR last week.I ran it hard(still couldnt keep up with the Abarths )There is a long straight where I was close to 100mph,then a hard right where you need to slow down to 30-35mph.Hard braking! After about 4 laps in each of my 20 minute stints,I was suffering bad brake fade.Today I put on an agressive pad and vented slotted rotors.From the condition of my old pads and rotors,they are not my problem.I am sure I was boiling the fluid(stock dot3).Any reccomendations on a quality high temp fluid that will be compatible with my stock system? I plan to drain the system and change the fluid completely.

Get some ATE Super Blue brake fluid. Bleed every brake until all you see is blue fluid.

This achieves two things: (1) You will know with absolute certainty that all fluid has been replaced because this stuff is blue. (2) Super Blue won't boil at nearly the low temps of other fluids.

[kmead]

I use Valvoline synthetic DOT4 in all my cars now and am happy with it. I used to only use Castrol LMA.

The boiling of fluid is an issue, my practice has always been to replace the fluid before any track event and then afterwords.

In regards to fade I think it is more the disks and the pads, vented discs make a huge difference in my experience. A track type pad is important for the track and likely not very good for the street. Given how easy is to change the pads on a Fiat I would change them for the event and back for day to day road use.

The drilled discs sure do look good

[Ramzi]

What brakes are you using which accommodate vented / slotted rotors?

What aggressive pad compound are you running?

When I ran H-Prod... fade was generally Pads although we did us synthetic Dot 4. And would bleed between races.

[ga.spyder]

Thanks for the feedback guys.Im sure the vented rotors and auto-x pads will help.I am going to put the stock pads back on after the auto-x at Fiatfest.They were in excellent shape.
ATE Super Blue it is.Thanks Brad.That was the brand I was leaning toward,but wasnt sure that it was compatible with our brake system.I have one of the Power Bleeders so it is a snap to drain and refill the system.
Hey Ramzi.I am using the stock brakes,and bought a couple vented,slotted rotors in the stock size.I am using a EBC pad in the street/performance compound(I think they were 'green').I will eventually go with one of the high performance big brake setups.It isnt in the budget right now,so this seemed my next best option.I only do a few track day/auto-x a year.

[kmead]

What brakes are you using which accommodate vented / slotted rotors?

My apologies, the change to vented discs was on my old A2 Golf, it made a huge difference. I ran Metalmaster pads, I don't recall now which one.

I have been looking at changing my 124 and my X over to the VW Kelsey Hayes caliper and vented rotor which fits under a 13" rim (cheap reliable and effective). I have been eyeing some of the caliper setups from the new 500, there have been enough of them crashed that parts are showing up on some of the junk yard web sites.

Karl

[bradartigue]

Thanks for the feedback guys.Im sure the vented rotors and auto-x pads will help.I am going to put the stock pads back on after the auto-x at Fiatfest.They were in excellent shape.
ATE Super Blue it is.Thanks Brad.That was the brand I was leaning toward,but wasnt sure that it was compatible with our brake system.I have one of the Power Bleeders so it is a snap to drain and refill the system.
Hey Ramzi.I am using the stock brakes,and bought a couple vented,slotted rotors in the stock size.I am using a EBC pad in the street/performance compound(I think they were 'green').I will eventually go with one of the high performance big brake setups.It isnt in the budget right now,so this seemed my next best option.I only do a few track day/auto-x a year.

Yes and next time you bleed use the ATE gold. Then the time after that the blue again. It is amazing how well you get them flushed out when you can see the color change.

[Ramzi]

Craig,

Others may differ in opinion but hers my 2 cents... Drilled (not vented) rotors were designed to help with off gassing of older style brake pads. This is no longer an issue with newer compounds. And any racer will tell you that the more surface are the pads have to hold onto.. The more stopping power you have. In fact we all struggled for larger rotors to gain more area. We no longer carry driller rotor in fact.

If you plan on taking your spider on the trackage at 100mph... Look at porterfield for pads and go back to a solid rotor.

That said I'm sure others will have more input

R

[kmead]

Craig,

Others may differ in opinion but hers my 2 cents... Drilled (not vented) rotors were designed to help with off gassing of older style brake pads. This is no longer an issue with newer compounds. And any racer will tell you that the more surface are the pads have to hold onto.. The more stopping power you have. In fact we all struggled for larger rotors to gain more area. We no longer carry driller rotor in fact.

If you plan on taking your spider on the trackage at 100mph... Look at porterfield for pads and go back to a solid rotor.

That said I'm sure others will have more input

R

Agreed.

Karl

[ga.spyder]

Good stuff ,guys Thanks for all the feedback.I will eventually go with a big brake system for the Spider.That makes perfect sense re. the surface area of the rotor.We had a discussion at FFO about using the Abarth brakes on the Spider.I can tell you from driving in one on track,they have outstanding brakes! I have 15'' rims on my Spider,so I could definitely go with bigger rotors.