The Impossible Evo Part 5: The Brakes

I purchased the necessary 2-piece Brembo rotor hardware and installed the 2-piece rotors up front with a set of 4000 series DBA 1-piece rotors in the rear. The same ones we still use on the Pro Awe Time Attack Evo VIII. While I had everything disassembled, I installed extended wheel studs to make life easier when mounting and removing wheels at the track. Before anyone asks, no, I didn’t aesthetically refurbish the calipers. The seals and dust boots were in good condition and hopefully the calipers will take on the overheated and darkened Brownbo color that masks the fading paint and clear coat failure. A side benefit is that it lets other track rats know I’m part of the club.

Next, I was given a smorgasbord of brake pads by Hawk with a promise to provide them with a bunch of data. This is where optimization comes in, which I am banking on will give me great feeling brakes, with immense stopping power, vs. the mediocrity that I’ve previously experienced. In all honesty, I have never had luck knowing what pad compound to use or if I had the pad at proper operating temperature or if I bedded them correctly, etc. etc. Even the aforementioned Pro Awe Evo VIII had disappointing brakes until recently. We made some minuscule changes that unexpectedly transformed the braking force, yet we still aren’t 100% sure why. Now, I will test, swap, and test again, until we’re dialed in.

I mentioned providing data to Hawk in exchange for the pads and this is how I will do it. Years and years back I stumbled upon a mislabeled and dirt cheap AIM MXL 2 dash on eBay that is able to read CAN data directly from the OEM Mitsubishi ECU. This includes wheel speeds, throttle position, steering wheel angle and much more! Additionally, the MXL 2 can datalog just about any aftermarket sensor at insane rates, so while it’s keeping tabs on the factory data, I am also going to use brake pad thermocouple sensors to measure temperatures. My goal is to ensure I am using the right pads, for the right job and at the right temperatures! I’ll send the info back to Hawk and their engineers can help me dial in the brakes better than I could with my usual guess and check methodology.