The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

Base S550 Stock Brakes for Time Trial? Crazy?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

And I’m running the stock fluid as well. The time trial is six 20-minute sessions. The track is not very hard on brakes, apart from the end of the straight. I can exit to pits at any time or slow down for a couple laps to cool them, but I’m not one to push safety issues...at all. I’ve run a few track sprints/trackcrosses at speeds over 120, but obviously this is much different and there will be traffic as well.

Should I just scrap doing time trials until Ive got better brakes next season? Or can I manage the situation? I’d be happy if I got 4 laps per session, just getting off the track for the middle 10 minutes each session. I’m not going into it with a competitive attitude, but as a pure learning experience.

Any knowledge welcome. Thanks
 
539
687
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
SoCal
What do you mean by "stock brakes"? Is that stock calipers, pads, or rotors? I'm assuming all of the above. The base rotors are backwards and don't allow for any cooling. That's the first no-no. The base pads do not handle heat very well and will glaze quickly under track conditions. It's also a pretty consistent rule-of-thumb to flush out the fluid for something that was designed for track conditions.

Vorshlag has done some extensive testing with a completely stock base 2018. If I remember correctly, they boiled fluid on the first session and glazed the pads horribly.

If you're just looking to have some fun and are not concerned with lap times or even time on track to let things cool, then sure; have some fun with oem parts. Just stay away from walls if your fluid boils. That being said, I would highly recommend some non-inverted rotors and some decent track pads. At the very least, change out your fluid; it's cheap insurance.
 
539
687
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
SoCal
After looking at your car profile, you have a solid wheel/tire setup and some decent suspension mods. How have you gotten this far and not upgraded the brakes? Forget what I said above...buy the Brembo kit and go from there.
 
Thanks. Yes, I think the Vorshlag test had the brakes last only 8 continuous laps. I was thinking 2-3 then get off or cool down.

Your question is a fair one. The answer is I’ve only been doing autocross/trackcross/track sprints. The brakes aren’t great, but they’re adequate for that. Have been planning to add Brembos this off-season, but this time trial is my last chance to get road course seat time this year, so I thought I’d try to make it work if I can safely do so.
 

JDee

Ancient Racer
1,797
2,001
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
5 miles from Mosport
After looking at your car profile, you have a solid wheel/tire setup and some decent suspension mods. How have you gotten this far and not upgraded the brakes? Forget what I said above...buy the Brembo kit and go from there.

Have to agree with this and would also add to that you need cooling even with the Brembos. Vorshlag deflectors are easy to install but you will need tunnels in the splitter a la the PP1/PP2 splitters to feed them air. Or else 3" ducts, which are a pita to keep in good shape, but definitely you need cooling for the brakes.

I see you are planning on adding power. My advice would be don't worry about that until you get the driver mod sorted out, these cars are plenty fast with stock power, faster than most people can take to the limit on a road course. Once you're getting the car into some serious g's in corners and braking you might start thinking about adding power. But be aware that adding power means adding cooling everywhere in the driveline, so that's something you should plan on doing when you add power.
 
296
349
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
NC
I had a 2015 GT I used to run autocross and HPDE with the 4 piston calipers. I NEVER had a brake issue other than a few heat cracks in the rotors. I ran VIR Full and Grand courses and Carolina Motorsports Park. I think the track Vorshlag ran was just a brake eater
 

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
725
1,081
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
San Diego
Qualifying this with safety first, but generally speaking, you'll know when you have brake issues, and very quickly. It is somewhat course specific, as some courses just aren't that aggressive by their layouts, and the other contributor is your driving aggression/style. If you get to 120, but then have to slow to 80 for a turn, meh. If you get to 120 and have to slow to 40 for a turn, and then do that 2-3x a 2 minute lap, and then do 10 laps, that's a different story. My experience with a local track forced me to upgrade, but if yours doesn't and proves adequate, perhaps put that off for a touch longer.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Down here in Chile the S550 GT's only came with the base 14" brakes with the stupid inverted hat rotors. generally speaking we have seen that a fast driver on R7's can only get one or two good laps before loosing his brakes. We have been putting the S550 Brembos on pretty much all the track oriented S197 and S550 mustangs.

One car changed to the baer 2pc discs front and rear and it seems to have worked out ok, But switching to the 6pot brembos is the better way to go.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top