Cobalt Friction XR Series Pads

[Steve Scheifler]

I was given a set of Cobalts last year to try. I liked them OK. But I was faster and more comfortable with the Hawks. I believe it is easier to lock up the Cobalts than Carbotechs and even the hawk blues...

My guess would be that you had the same problem we were having.  Try again with the same compound both ends, the difference is amazing.  I can't figure out why they recommend softer rears.  Maybe the cars they tested with or the teams doing their testing have something different about them, but on our cars their recommendations suck.

[MBennett]

One of the things I find most interesting about brake pads is how their "bite" changes DURING the stop.  As drivers we may or may not perceive this, but the brake dyno will always show which compounds are most stable across a temperature range.  (Then the question is how close you are to that temperature range  - front AND rear - when you are trying to pass 5 cars into Road America T5 after not using the brakes very hard since Canada.)

The "recommendations" will often at least start from brake dyno results ... which may not apply to you and your car and your lazy (or jumpy) prop valve, etc.

Beyond the dyno results, the "test data" that drives the compound itself comes from a certain driver and team and whatever they drive ... almost certainly NOT an SM .... and once the compound is settled on, then they slap that compound on Miata backing plates (and any other applications that have commercial value) and develop further recommendations from there as vehicle-specific reports come in.

[Gatoratty]

Does anyone record rotor temps?  Hawk has asked me to record the front and rear temps on the new pads and I plan on using an IR gun, but someone else suggested using indicator paint.

[Dusty Bottoms]

Get some tempil http://www.tempil.com/index.asp

[seal]

So you run XR3, or 4's front and rear?  Or are you not running cobalts anymore? It's amazing I will go through nearly 3 sets of front pads, to a set of rears.  That's why I have a brake prop valve in my "non SM" miata. 

We've run both ways.  I prefer the 3s all around, especially at someplace hard on brakes like Blackhawk, but I ran 4s at both ends once at Road America and they were fine. If you do a lot of trail braking the 4s may give you a little better modulation.

It doesn't look like they make 4's for the front, or 3's for the rear according to their website?

[MBennett]

So you run XR3, or 4's front and rear?  Or are you not running cobalts anymore? It's amazing I will go through nearly 3 sets of front pads, to a set of rears.  That's why I have a brake prop valve in my "non SM" miata. 

Keep in mind, unless something bizarre is going on, you SHOULD be wearing out the fronts 2-8 times faster because the front axle is doing 2-8 times more braking than the rear when you are on the racetrack. Still, I agree an adjustable prop valve would be nice

I'm probably changing front pads about 5 times before I change the rear.

Gatoratty's experience is very unusual (in general) and it makes me think there is something very incompatible about the compounds front-rear or the temps front-rear.  I had a problem with Hawk Blue/Black on the 1.6 where I could only get 1.5 sessions out of the Black rears.  It was evident I was over-temping the pad (Edge chipping, and chipping out the centers too).

Gatoratty, don't be surprised if the brake pad guy finds your reports difficult to believe ... nobody ever believes that Spec Miatas can beat up a "Corvette compound", etc.  (Of course, they aren't thinking of how tiny the brakes are, no cooling, no bias bar or adjustable prop valve, etc.).

[John Mueller]

REMINDER:  Use "SMC10100" (no quotation marks) for 10% off your entire order (some restrictions apply)

Weekend-Racer.com retails COBALT http://www.weekend-racer.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=22

[seal]

I think I will be trying Cobalt Xr4's front and rear as my next pads.  I will post up what I find.