Brake cooking 944t

[james s]

Had my 944t (1986 car) out at Silverstone last night. It ran well but the brakes got hot and lots of fade after about 25 mins (despite the fact I was as slow as ever!)

In addition to making sure I am more careful to cool them with a slow lap is there anything else anyone would recommend. I am using standard pads and disks, 'normal' fresh, brake fluid and the calipers have been recently stripped. It is running cup 2 type wheels so plenty of air should be getting in compared to the original teledials.


Any simple upgrades I should do

cheers

James

[jerrold]

Could use some uprated brake fluid, pads and maybe some steel braided hoses (I expect they'd cool faster than the std rubber ones)

~Jerrold

[Merritt]

Hi James,

I was there last night too... Great fun

Brake wise, there is a few things you can try:

- Use a higher spec brake fluid which is resistant to high temps. Castrol SRF is expensive but works wonders at high temps

- try using an enduro racing brake pad - these are generally softer compound but much more capable of dealing with high temps and are resistant to brake fade. I use Pagid RS29s on the GT3 and they are superb. The GT3 is a heavy car so the brakes get a lot of abuse and I don't get any fade

- Is there an aftermarket brake 'air duct' kit you can fit to the car? This can make a big difference..


Cheers

Steve

[diver944]

ATE blue brake fluid is 'nearly' as good with temperature as Castrol SRF but costs about a 1/3 of the price.

Another thing to consider is fitting the brake deflectors from a 968 - they bolt on to the wishbone and direct air towards the brake disk. You can also run a 3" duct from the front bumper right to the back of the disk which really helps.

Finally (and I really don't want to appear rude ) but have you considered it may be your braking method and maybe an instructor could point you in the right direction. When I first started trackdays an instructor told me I was braking far too early, too long and too gently. This is inefficient and could cause more heat to build up than if I braked later, harder and for a shorter period of time. Obviously there is a fine balance in this but my own 944T runs on slicks with standard disks and pads and has never had a heat related problem (touch wood )

[james S]

Thanks for the advice. I'll start with fluid, ducting and braided hoses and see how we get on.

Paul re. technique, if my braking technique is anything like as bad as the rest of my track skill then its likely to be a major contributer to the problem!!