I've got hawk hp+ on the front of my 89 si STS car and stock in the rear. I have too much braking power in the front and am having a hard time not locking up the fronts right now. I would like to find a rear shoe that will give the rear some more braking power to even back out the brake bias. Is anybody using any kind of rear brake shoe or does anybody know of places that can make them for me?

 

Quit ham-footin the pedal

I know that the easiest way to mess with the bias is with pad compounds, but given the unpopularity/availability of drum race compounds:
1. Can you swap MC's?
2. Prop valve allowed?

With both of these you will get a MUCH bigger headache than just swapping compounds, but I guess it is good to have in the back of your mind if you cant find exactly what you are looking for.

 

Carbotech makes some if I recall correctly.

And unfortunately, locking up the front brakes is too easy with those cars in STS. Just wait until you drive it in the rain. Front wheels lock = motor stops running.

 

I use Hawk blues in the front and OEM shoes in the back and have no problem with lockup. If you're locking up the front only, I don't think adding braking power to the rear will help any. You just have to brake differently.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Todd00 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Carbotech makes some if I recall correctly.

And unfortunately, locking up the front brakes is too easy with those cars in STS. Just wait until you drive it in the rain. Front wheels lock = motor stops running.</TD></TR></TABLE>

We ran in the wet yesterday and i was still having the problem. I am only locking up one wheel at a time, whichever one is unloaded so its not stalling the motor.

I'll call up carbotech and see what they offer.
thanks

 

Are you using the stock front calipers? If yes, you may have another issue to resolve iE: air in the brake lines, etc that is not allowing you to lock the brakes.

OEM shoes in the rear will work great once you get this issue resolved.

 

i run OEM shoes in the rear... either because i'm too cheap to upgrade to new shoes or discs, or because i find they don't matter that much cuz whatever is in the rear will be out powered by the wilwoods up front.

but yea, wilwoods up front w/ integra booster and MC. braking is good, however lock-up is easy, especially w/ azenis. gotta learn to modulate that sucka. haven't tried it out on track yet w/ the new booster and MC, i'll find that out this weekend at my comp. school.

but to answer ur question, try to get an integra 4040 proportioning valve, it will send more power to the rear.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITC Racer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you using the stock front calipers? If yes, you may have another issue to resolve iE: air in the brake lines, etc that is not allowing you to lock the brakes.

OEM shoes in the rear will work great once you get this issue resolved.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm using stock calipers and proportioning valve is not allowed in the rules. Air in the system is not the issue as the system has been flushed twice now including two days ago.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ryan12321 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">proportioning valve is not allowed in the rules.</TD></TR></TABLE>

they won't know

what proportioning valve? what's that?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hunter &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

they won't know

what proportioning valve? what's that? </TD></TR></TABLE>

They might not know but I'm one of those rare people that actually would like to have a legal car even if it means I have to make up the extra time in my driving.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ryan12321 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

They might not know but I'm one of those rare people that actually would like to have a legal car even if it means I have to make up the extra time in my driving.</TD></TR></TABLE>

God forbid! to Ryan.
U got the skillz anywayz.

 

damn thing happens with my hatchy too
si calipers with hawks up front and oem in the back
i hate drum brakes

 

I used carbotech custom silver streak shoes, they were great the one weekend I autocrossed with them, pedal engaged sooner and with less slop, and the increased stopping power was noticable.

But I took them to cmp a few weeks later and they were destroyed. Between the self adjusters, the expanding pads, and the excessive heat they lasted less than an hour, I drove all sunday on the backing plates.

If I had an autocross only car then they might be the trick, but for one that will see the track a couple times a year, its not worth the effort to change the shoes out.

 

One thing that might help, at least on initial pedal feel, is to bump out the adjusters in the rear. I adjust it till I get about 1/4 rotation before stop with me spinning the drum with my hands. I adjust the rear's on my crx at almost every event as they will loosen up driving to and from the event (even more if you drive it on the street regularly). I noticed that if I didn't adjust them for part of a season I would start to lock up a front tire under hard braking. Once you are well into the braking area it won't help F/R bias, but when you first hit the pedal you are going to get a bit firmer feel and it will send a little bit of pressure to the rear. I think this is was helps with lockup as you grade onto the brake a bit easier (rather than stabbing it) becuase you feel the pressure from the rear pads.... I dunno, maybe it's just a thing in my head but it "seems" to help

Ian

 

ryan-i runt he same set-up (hp+ and stock shoes) and the lock up is there. i just learned how to threshold brake it and for the most part its not an issue. i drove an ek si and that think wouldnt lock the brakes for anything with falken azenis and stock brake pads.

-spenc

 

Re adjust the rears.. Or use 1 click on the ebrake..

 

I used IT-R Spec B in front with centric shoes in the rear, supposedly the same setup as OPM motorsports, got them from Andie at Cobalt

 

thanks for all the advice.

 

Quote, originally posted by Hunter »
they won't know


Yes "they" will. Actually, I have exactly the same setup and problem. I run the HP+ on front and stock rear shoes on my red hybrid STS car from this past year, and I get lockup too. It was a problem actually. I was under the impression that the best way to get rid of that issue is to run slightly less sticky pads in front, like the HPS. There's not other way to legally do it.
Chris
http://www.redshiftmotorsports.com