QUOTE(givory @ Jan 13 2004, 04:39 AM)
So maybe it's the street pads? It just seems there should be more pedal travel, and less effort. Fortunately, MC's are cheap - unlike almost everything else to do with this hobby - so I'll try a 19mm and report back.
no, i don't think so. i don't mind a stiff pedal if the car is slowing down. hard pedal and no braking is a lose-lose situation!
i was wondering if you were on very hard racing pads (the infamous Ferodo DS-11, for instance ...)
soft street pads should give you very good braking, especially on cold rotors. the pad game is completely different than it used to be, so i have no contemporary experience (yet!) with the new exotic composite compounds. but it used to be that the claim to fame of the harder racing pads was that they didn't fade when hot, not that they necessarily stopped better, they'd just give you what they had, all day (at a commensurate cost in rotor life...) i know the new carbon and Kevlar compounds have changed this equation somewhat...
but i remember seeing an interview with a NASCAR crew chief that presented an interesting viewpoint. he was using soft pads for their fade-resistance. turns out their ability to slow the car was lots better than hard pads, so the car could be slowed later (more time on the gas) and harder (outbraking opportunity). that meant the driver could get -off- the brake sooner, and leave more time for them to cool.
if the net energy loss is the same, the more time available to cool the brakes will make them more fade resistant... kind of a win-win situation.
the tradeoff, i'm sure, is higher peak temps, because the net energy loss is -not- the same (you've spent more time on the gas, so yor corner entry speeds should be higher...) and since you're absorbing a lot of energy in a short time, the peak must be higher if the area under the curve remains the same. but the new pad materials seem to permit this.
interesting times indeed...
we'll do the first AX's and DE's on the pads i've got, but i'll be taking a spare set, and i'll need to do some research on what the best compromise pad is for the environment.