Looking for a sanity check from those with more track experience-

I have a base Dark Horse (non-HP) running the factory Brembo brakes and OEM brake pads.

Recently had the car at Ford service for oil change & safety inspection and they measured my pads at approximately 6 mm front and rear.

Shortly after that, I ran a track day at The Ridge. I completed about 4 x 20-minute sessions and was running what I'd consider a slower/intermediate pace, with lap times around 2:00 (faster groups were running about 1:50). Brakes felt fine.
Based on everything I'd read online, I expected to come home needing new pads. However, I recently got the car on a lift and measured the pads myself. I checked both the inner and outer pads and didn't see any significant wear. I'm still measuring approximately 6 mm front and rear.

• Does this level of pad wear sound reasonable for a Dark Horse on OEM pads after a track day?
• Am I likely just not using the brakes as hard as I think I am?

Just trying to understand whether my measurements are plausible or whether I should double-check method measuring pad thickness.

I can't specifically answer your question, but from my own experience and reading others with the Dark Horse here, these pads seem to last much longer than they should on track.

Gunslinger55 has a post discussing pads. I can't remember right now how many track days he got out of his pads, but it seemed to be quite a lot. Some of us have been waiting for his promised photographs of the back of his pads when he changes them out.

6 weekends (so 12 track days?) and 1300 miles, just to get the pads down to about the same thickness as yours.

I guess this sounds a little funny to me ( at my age I am easily amused ) but after decades of listening to drivers complain their pads are wearing way too fast it has me giggling , guffawing, chortling, snickering and more that folks are complaining their pads are wearing too long! Sorry not helpful, but come on this is a bit funny!

And my hair isn't falling out as fast as I would like it to.....................

Bill Pemberton said:

I guess this sounds a little funny to me ( at my age I am easily amused ) but after decades of listening to drivers complain their pads are wearing way to fast it has me giggling , guffawing, chortling, snickering and more that folks are complaining their pads are wearing too long! Sorry not helpful, but come on this is a bit funny!

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LOL, I am not sure it is a complaint, so much, as a surprised observation.

There are a couple of things going on here, though. One, the Dark Horse brakes are really good, both in performance and how long they appear to last. Two, everybody posting is probably really slow compared to most folks on the forum, so this can also account for some portion of how long the pads are lasting.

The biggest test for brake life I've had is a long weekend at Road America. Has anyone run there with a DH? I had a set of new pads trashed in two days.

Just as a point of non reference...........I still have the original factory brakes on my 2012 Boss302...........and they're still doing a fine job............I know, there's no correlation to what's being discussed here..............pardon the interuption

302BOB said:

Just as a point of non reference...........I still have the original factory brakes on my 2012 Boss302...........and they're still doing a fine job............I know, there's no correlation to what's being discussed here..............pardon the interuption

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Bob, I still have original front and rear brake pads and rotors for my Boss. Almost new…..and in a box.

Okay, In the box is one thing............But my Boss is still wearing theirs,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Would be interested to see how long DH brakes last at Sebring. My tiny 4 pot brembos eats brake pads there

99 Ford Mustang Cobra ( in 1999 ), Sunday runs at Road America, and it is a long drive home from Wisconsin to Nebraska metal on metal. RA eats pads for breakfast, lunch and dinner, bring extras!!!! Went through two fulls sets along with a set of front rotors on a 98 Viper many years back. There are other tracks I have run that like to eat those rotor stoppers , but none have taken the title from the Monster Eater in Elkhart, Wisconsin.

Not an exact but pretty close comparison. Gt350 brakes and stock pads on a 17GT at a constant accelerate, brake, accelerate track topping out at a measly 170kph or bit under 110mph. 2 days in the first picture.
In comparison to some Pagid RSL 29s, pretty sure this was one day at the same track.

And yes I use all the braking capacity.

I'd say brake wear is on an exponential wear scale. So backing off even what feels a small amount takes significant load off the brakes.
From our mate google.
It is easy to confuse brake force relationships with speed relationships. While brake force and distance have a linear relationship, speed and distance have a quadratic (exponential) relationship.Because of this, if you double your vehicle's speed, you have four times as much kinetic energy to dissipate.

Totally agree, the faster you go, the quicker they wear. Ounce you start braking from +145mph, the brakes really suffer.

Your pace just wasn’t quick enough is my guess. I was running 2 minute laps in my ND2 Miata with just wheels and tires. I’d imagine the dark horse in factory trim is every bit of a sub-1:50 car and at that pace you’d be going through pad much quicker.

Also, no telling if that ford tech actually took the time to take accurate measurements.