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      06-08-2012, 11:15 AM   #36
mdh
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Drives: E60 M5
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Midwest

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Good that they're not available. A ridiculous option for any street car.

All you need to do with the brakes for track duty is to replace the pads with Pagid Yellows and replace the fluid with a good race fluid. If you're still driving hard enough to fade the brakes, you'll need a new set of tires after a few sessions.

Ceramic brakes on a street car are noisy, expensive, fragile, and simply don't work as well as a good set of steel brakes. If you get silicone spray or Armor All on the rotors, you'll need to replace them. I don't believe there is a perceptible difference in ride quality or handling. The car's handling and ride was designed and optimized for standard steel brakes. Of course, if you've spent almost $10K on something, there's a powerful motivation to feel a number of benefits and advantages. Here's some more expert opinion:

One of the EVO mag contributors, Simon George, is involved in a supercar driving experience business (www.6thgeardrivingexperienceeurope.co.uk) and wrote a piece replacing the carbon ceramic brakes with steel for a new acquisition. The quote was along the lines of 'There is no place for carbon ceramic brakes on a road car'. A brief seach turns up this exerpt from the 6th gear blog...
---quote---
Take our Lamborghini LP640 for instance. We ordered this car back in May 2007 and specifically requested it wasn’t fitted with ceramics. The reason for this is standard steel brakes are much more progressive with far better ‘feel’ than ceramics. Jump behind the wheel of a Supercar with cold ceramic brakes and attempt to stop and you could be in for a nasty shock. The steel brakes on the LP640 are superb hot or cold. So we decided to replace all our ceramic braked equipped supercars this winter with bespoke steel alternatives.
---end quote---
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