Performance Friction 06 Pads - Review

[jamesclay]

From the corporate office, so I will keep it factual instead of fluffy.

The Event
VIR 13 Hour Race, Nov 1, 2008

The Car
E36 326i ITE car - limited prep ITS build with big front brakes and 25 extra gallons (~162 pounds) of fuel to lug around and stop with 4 major braking zones and several other less severe braking areas.

The Brake Pads
New PFC 06 Compound - now available in all BMW and most common big brake shapes from BimmerWorld (not fluf, so it stays)

The Result
Through the duration of the race that the car took first overall:

Front pad 0447.06.17.44

• Average new friction material thickness 0.4335
• Average 13 hour used material thickness 0.2738

Rear pad 396.06.17.44

• Average new friction material thickness 0.4258
• Average 13 hour used material thickness 0.3125

Data Summary
Not so shabby. Performance is excellent, wear was 40% front, 25% rear through 13 STRAIGHT hours of racing (not just driving, and not including more than a handful of double-yellow laps). Compare that to an average 3x30 or 4x20 sessions per day of DE (including out and in laps), or approximately 2 hours of hard running. And there was still plenty of pad left!

Conclusion
The pad that has raced and won in ALMS and Rolex (not to mention the much acclaimed VIR 13 Hour) now has economies of wear that means it may find itself onto your DE car.

Discussion ensues.

[saem3]

Hmm, very interesting. I have only tried one set of PF pads in the past and didn't like them as well as the Hawks and Pagids that I was familiar with. But with that kind of wear..... wow, you can not ignore that kind of endurance.. Thanks James.

Steve E.

[thejlevie]

How did those pads feel/work as compared to the 01 compound?

[jamesclay]

How did those pads feel/work as compared to the 01 compound?

I would say close but no cigar, but we didn't get a great chance for true back to back testing. They don't have quite the torque or bite of the 01. I think most hardcore racers will stick with 01 and these will be good enduro pads and pads for DE guys or racers that want to strech life instead of getting the last 5% of performance.

[RangerGress]

More brake torque isn't clear better, just different. Lots of folks like the Hawk HT10 and they probably have less brake torque then the PFC01. Our braking distances aren't limited by brake torque.

I'd welcome buying fewer brake pads. Little rinky dinky E30 calipers go thru pads quickly. But I would like more info on how much increased longevity I can expect with 06's vs. 01's.

I'm about halfway thru my first set of PFC06's. So far so good.

[odortiz]

i assume that since they have less friction than the 01, they're more easy on the rotor as far as wear. do i assume correctly?

[jamesclay]

I'd welcome buying fewer brake pads. Little rinky dinky E30 calipers go thru pads quickly. But I would like more info on how much increased longevity I can expect with 06's vs. 01's.

We torch a set of 01s at CMP in a 3 hour enduro, but its not my car, so I don't attempt to make them last We are trying these in the 8 hour and they will be on another E30 or two there - that will be a big test for them. Certainly the life is better, but that is a big ask for an E30 pad.

i assume that since they have less friction than the 01, they're more easy on the rotor as far as wear. do i assume correctly?

Yes. They actually have a component in the material that adds some lubrication to the rotor - also helps the release characteristics. All in a part meant to grab - tricky, tricky...

[gobuffs]

(not to mention the much acclaimed VIR 13 Hour)

you missed some fluff...bad editor.

[rpob5t]

James,

how are these temp range wise vs the 01? Granted I'm track-tard and not a racer but I've had some issues keeping heat in the 01's; mostly at the glen, T1 and the bus stop, initial bite/application was vague, everywhere else the pedal felt fantastic on my E30. If the 06's come in a little sooner I'd definately like to give them a shot

[jamesclay]

I would say similar, but I have never noticed a bite issue with 01. It was 40 in the 13 Hour and we had no issues off the long straights.

[nick325xit 5spd]

James,

how are these temp range wise vs the 01? Granted I'm track-tard and not a racer but I've had some issues keeping heat in the 01's; mostly at the glen, T1 and the bus stop, initial bite/application was vague, everywhere else the pedal felt fantastic on my E30. If the 06's come in a little sooner I'd definately like to give them a shot

Are you sure that's a heat issue?

[RangerGress]

James,

how are these temp range wise vs the 01? Granted I'm track-tard and not a racer but I've had some issues keeping heat in the 01's; mostly at the glen, T1 and the bus stop, initial bite/application was vague, everywhere else the pedal felt fantastic on my E30. If the 06's come in a little sooner I'd definately like to give them a shot

It's not unusual for folks to talk about "keeping heat" in their brakes, but I have to wonder about it. There's a lot of metal down there and once it gets hot it's not going to cool below the pads operating range in a couple seconds. After a 1/2 lap cooldown the other day at CMP my F/R rotors were both just < 600deg in the paddock.

[HaroldC]

James,

how are these temp range wise vs the 01? Granted I'm track-tard and not a racer but I've had some issues keeping heat in the 01's; mostly at the glen, T1 and the bus stop, initial bite/application was vague, everywhere else the pedal felt fantastic on my E30. If the 06's come in a little sooner I'd definately like to give them a shot

Did you check to see if your pads are glazed? Properly working PF01s should be consistent with initial bite, even with the long back straight at the glen.

[jamesclay]

The standard answer I ALWAYS get from our PFC engineer at the track is cool the brakes as much as possible - a system operating at 1000deg doesn't care if it is 100 or 40 ambient.

[robjohnson]

What did the Acura team run on their car during the 13 hour??

I'd bet 01 rear and 06 front would be mad tite on an E30.

[jamesclay]

Hey Rob.

No idea and I am pretty sure you are right about 01 rear for my driving style but for some it will be too much.

[m3bs]

Of course, James gets great life out of any pads. He never uses the brakes!

[smeyer1116]

James: were the VIR results on Toyos, or some other tire with more bite? would that affect brake life?

[dmwhite]

James: were the VIR results on Toyos, or some other tire with more bite? would that affect brake life?

we ran nittos (nt01?) at the 13hr

[rpob5t]

Are you sure that's a heat issue?

that's the only thing I could chalk it up to the pedal feeling a bit vague after a long straight away (and yes I flush my brakes before every event w/ ATE super blue) and good everywhere else that and I chewed through the pads in ~3 DE days which seemed to me that they were not in their operating range (I'm an accountant and not a engineer but pad wear is increased when the pad is outside its intended range, hot or cold correct?); I'm not at all trying to trash the pads or ask an uneducated question (like I said under constant usage they felt fantastic and got the car stopped rather impressively)

To be honest it could have been a situation where I'm not working the brakes anywhere near as hard as I need to (as my first reply stated I just track at this point and am more than likely not up to braking ability of someone who races) or I wasn't used to how the pads felt or wore; I've used hawk DTC-60's and HT-10's prior, and to me the hawks felt a bit more progressive (also I was getting almost twice the life out of them) where the PFC's seemed to hit you all at once (but that all at once was amazing ).

The pads didn't look glazed at all (looked like every pad I've taken off at the end of the day and even with fresh rotors (I cracked a rotor mid day) they were feeling the same.

[osborni]

Anybody know when the 06s are going to show up in the Superlite pad shape (PFC 7751)?

[smeyer1116]

we ran nittos (nt01?) at the 13hr

did they last the entire race, or did you have to change tires? i am thinking about trying them, but few people have experience (except on the west coast)

[dmwhite]

did they last the entire race, or did you have to change tires? i am thinking about trying them, but few people have experience (except on the west coast)

we were changing one side per stop (to stay in a rotation) so we were putting 3+ hrs on the tires...there was definitely tread left but i'm not sure how much. james could probably answer that one...

[jamesclay]

We wore out pads at a quick rate when we were running the non-R comp Toyo T1-S in World Challenge a few years ago. Tire choice doesn't seem to have a huge bearing on pad wear, but certainly speed does. This car topped around 128 at VIR.

The Nittos were awesome. I don't have a really good wear rate for you because it was more important to us to get on a proper rotation than it was to get the ultimate life out of the tire. We definitely god good wear with the rears wearing fastest due to fuel load - the worst on the car was the right rear that stayed on for about 5 hours which still had good life left when it came off. Again though, this is straight running with all hot laps, which is different from a DE or typical race weekend.

[Greg S]

I got 2 race weekends from 255 NT-01's. My car weighs a little over 3150lbs...