HPDE , upgrading tires and brake pads, advice? 914/4 Options

[ETMracing]

Car is currently setup for autocross and is my weekend driver. Going to be doing my first D.E and wanted to freshin up the tires and pads. Advice on what brake pads would be good for Drivers Education events, looking at thge Hawk autocross pads but any help woukd be great. Also a decent non street tire, I have designated 15x5.5 wheels. R888, Nt01?
Car has factory brakes on a 1973 914/4 2.0

[brant]

I've always preferred the KFP pads on a light weight car like a 914
the pagids are good too
I've found a lot of the common race pads like hawk to be designed for a heavier car and we don't need enough braking to really hit the temp ranges

tires, you can't go wrong with toyo or nitto for a pseudo dual purpose tire
the hoosiers are so much better, but get pricey and short lifed

[ETMracing]

Thanks! Looking at the KFP front Blue pads, seem pretty nice and the price is right. Hoping I can squeeze a 205/50/15 on the rim, the fenders are rolled a bit already. I have 195/55/15 on it now. Also picking up Kirkey Road race seats on saturday.

[brant]

Thanks! Looking at the KFP front Blue pads, seem pretty nice and the price is right. Hoping I can squeeze a 205/50/15 on the rim, the fenders are rolled a bit already. I have 195/55/15 on it now. Also picking up Kirkey Road race seats on saturday.

Your going to love it!
The kfp's will need to heat cycle once on track before they are broke in. Just anticipate it. About the 2nd lap when they get really hot they will feel sketchy 1 time. After that they are fine

Most of my experience is with golds but the blues should be great.

[Jetsetsurfshop]

I bet those tires will fit on the wheels. Your rear fenders my need slight adjusting.
I agree with what Brant said about the brakes. I run hawk dt-70 right now and there stop fine, but are really hard on the rotors. I called the hawk tech line and he thought my car was to light for those pads too.
I did want to add something, did you say this is your first DE? What tires do you have now? I ran some cooper Cobras at my first event. I upgraded after that, but I promise that good tires wouldn't have changed anything about my first event. Lots to learn and those high tread wear tires talked a lot!
Have fun! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[ThePaintedMan]

Eric pointed me to the Porterfield R4-1 vintage racing compound for the Chumpcar. Since our top speed is only about 90 mph anyway, we needed something that would get up to temp quickly and function well with such a light car.

After 10 hours of tracktime (yeah yeah, the race was 14 hours) they look brand new and the rotors are in great shape. A little squeaky driving around town, but still plenty of grip.

I'd highly recommend them, even in cars up to 200 HP or so or without a lot of extra weight (V8 conversions, etc).

[ChrisFoley]

I stock KFP gold and silver pads, and can get the blue.
I think the silver is a better choice for a street/occasional AX car.
They reach full grip at the lowest temperature and have less tendency to squeak.

[stownsen914]

Car is currently setup for autocross and is my weekend driver. Going to be doing my first D.E and wanted to freshin up the tires and pads.

If it's your first DE, honestly you'll probably be OK with whatever you have on the car. Unless of course they're worn out or the tires are more than several years old. Ungrading stuff is fun, and you'll probably want to do that if you decide to do more track events ... but probably not for your first one.

[ETMracing]

great advice, thanks all!

yes its my first DE and its 2 days. Also signed up for a 3 day event in the summer. The car has been setup for autocross most of its life and has all the goodies on it, just need some new tires since they have a good amount of years on em', just want to make sure this 40+ year old car is as safe for the instructor and the people around me. Got everything else up to date since I have run my own shop for 10 years,now its time to squeeze in some "me" time in the shop!

There are quite a few 914s listed in the DE coming up but all are /6. Hopefully I wont have my arm out the window the whole time (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

[wndsrfr]

There are quite a few 914s listed in the DE coming up but all are /6. Hopefully I wont have my arm out the window the whole time (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

I'm a DE-holic it seems....which event are you signed up for? This year for me will be VIR, Road Atlanta, Summit Point, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen & more VIR....welcome to the fun! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)
I started on Dunlop Star Spec's and still use them for street driving on my 16 inch wheels. On my 15 inch track wheels I'm using Toyo RA1's shaved and had great results with them--couldn't cord them in over 1500 miles of DE use on my /6 (obviously not pushing hard enough I guess). Trying out Toyo RR's this season--we'll see how they do. If you're going to street drive as well as DE's I'd vote for the Star Specs or RA-1's. I'll second the recommendation on the Porterfield R4-1's--just great pads and don't eat the rotors.