Electron Mike

The stock pads and iron brakes overall were surprisingly good with only an SRF fluid change, but I killed the pads in only two track days and needed replacements. The XP12's bedded in easily, took repeated abuse on track well with much better wear than stock, have nice modulation, good but not overly aggressive bite, and aren't even that noisy on the street. A really nice pad option for those tracking with iron brakes, and MUCH less expensive than the Ferodo pads I ran on previous cars recently.

Shout out to KNS brakes (no affiliation) who carries several options for the Z06 and had them shipped very quickly.




https://www.knsbrakes.com/products/c...ems/series/915

jwkeychain

Thank you for the review Mike! Will have my first event with the xp12s end of month. Bought 1521s to swap in between events. Sounds like it may not be necessary.

jswatek

Ferodo's are great but super noisy

Electron Mike

Let us know how you like them, I was pleased with their performance and they are streetable for me. The rotor wear on the street I'm sure will be higher than stock, but I'm going to try leaving them on during track season.

Yeah when I ran DS1.11, they made quite a bit of noise but still ok bite on the street. The DS3.12 for me were obnoxiously noisy on the street when cold, but still grabbed ok first thing in the morning. Great pads on the track, but cost double the Carbotechs!

Les

KNS is the best. Ken and his staff not only thoroughly know their product lines, but they also really take care of you after the purchase if needed.

I also use the Carbotech XP12s on the track (C6 Z06). It was an unusual off season for me, so I left them on this winter. Honestly though, once you've had some time away from the track they can get pretty noisy. Typically for the off season I'll swap them out for the AX6 pads, which are virtually squeal free but still offer much better initial bite vs. the 1521s.

Electron Mike

Gotcha, if they start making crazy noise after some street miles I may reconsider. I was also impressed that the Carbotechs didn't catch fire and heavily smoke this weekend like I have had happen with the Ferodos after several incidents caused them to bring us into the hot pits with no cooldown. The Z06 has good brake cooling, but I was worried as I had only 1-2 turns notice before having to pit in. How is the longevity on your C6 Z06? I have only done one track day with them, but wear looks really good so far.

Les

First of all, good for you for getting out there and using the car to its potential! I can get through a track season of 3-4...maybe 5 days with the same set of pads. It's hard to give you a worthwhile comparison though because my car comes in around 3150 lbs. Weight is a major factor on pad wear, so you'll just have to keep a close eye on them. Plus there can be a real difference in wear depending on the type of track and also driving style. I envy you because I keep hearing how well your Z06 comes off the corners, certainly with more composure than mine. Enjoy the beast!

Electron Mike

Thanks, that is decent wear. I had a C6 Z06 back in the day, so I can draw some rough estimates based on my track experience with both. Enjoy the C6 Z06, I still miss that LS7 with the manual!

cars

is there ferodo ds3.12 pads fit orm c8z caliper? I am not aware of that. on my c8 I run ap 9668 ds3.12 fronts and xp12 or cobalt xr2 in rears. I am still a big fan of ferodo and I can get about 15 track days on stingray and maybe 10 on c8z on ap calipers. the brake pads on both are same since I have ap 9668 on the fronts of both cars

Electron Mike

There is a DS3.12 for the front of the OEM iron Z06, but not the rear. 10 days is great on the C8Z. I only got 2 days on my oem pads. The XP12 are wearing much better after one day, but doubt I will get anywhere near 10 days.

cars

try ds3.12 as it is more aggressive than xp12 in front. the ap calipers pad is smaller than oem so I expect it to last even longer with same thickness. my is 25 mm pads and backing is 6 mm so 19 mm usable pad material. if oem is 16 and 6 mm backing, it is only 10 mm usable pad thickness. here is size difference of my ap pad vs my oem ccb pad.

RapidC84B

I just ran my 2nd track weekend w/ NASA this past weekend. My front pads are a smidge from the wear tabs, rears are shockingly fine, So that's 7 sessions in Feb and 6 sessions this past weekend (I usually don't do the end session on Sunday). My fronts have another session in them, but going to replace fronts and the rears can keep going. Running instructor group using sport in the first session of the day then Race2 w/ the rear cooling ducts in place.

Do you have the rear ducts in place? How are your rear pads wearing relative to fronts?

Are the CTs any thicker than OEM? The stock pads are only 3/8" thick (I already bought a spare set)

Ran 12s for years on my C5 racecar and C7.

Electron Mike

I have the rear ducts in place running with ESC and TC fully off. The OEM rear pads had plenty of meat left, but the fronts were low after 2 full days at COTA. The OEM fronts still have some meat left and would be ok for the street, but wouldn't make it through another whole track day with enough margin for me personally. I just kept them to swap in the offseason to run on the street.

I didn't measure either pad when new, but the XP12s visually are wearing much better after one track day even running in much higher ambient temps and with several track incidents that forced me to pit without a cooldown. Never ran Carbotech's before, but I'm pleasantly surprised so far especially given the price.

RapidC84B

Thanks... when you say ESC and TC fully off you mean true full off, or PTM Race2? I found that in Race2 in auto the car would cut power hard on the 2-3 upshift coming out of T1 at VIR. I ended up using manual mode and shifting at 8K instead of the PCM at 8.6K and it fixed it. I never tried full off as I was curious how the eDiff and what not would work. I think track, auto, full naked off would be the fastest regardless of what GM says.

Electron Mike

Yeah ESC and TC fully off. I tried PTM sport/race1/race2 and had the same power cut issues in several spots at COTA on the 2->3 shift as well. I thought it might be the shorter 19" tires I am running, but I took a friend's Z07 out for a couple laps that has stock size CUP2R and it does the same thing. One thing I haven't tried yet is track mode with just TC off and no PTM which keeps the ESC on, not sure how invasive just ESC will be with TC off but I will try it next time out.

RapidC84B

Interesting theory.... I think ESC will intervene too much in whatever the default track mode setting is, but would be interesting to try. I thought some of it might be my PS4S tires so interesting to hear a Z07 was doing it too.

C8gofast

“ I found that in Race2 in auto the car would cut power hard on the 2-3 upshift coming out of T1 at VIR.”

My ZO6 does the same coming out of the turn 8 corkscrew at Barber’s. Drives me batty….

RapidC84B

If you paddle shift it and shift a little early it won't do it... it seems like a "glitch" in the PTM programming when the car is really being pushed hard and about to want to rotate/yaw. Car thinks banging the shift will break the tire loose and cuts itself back hard. That said, I know when I'm not paddle shifting I'm more mentally focused on my line and using full available power so I think a max effort best lap, for me, would be auto with everything off.

JRRZR1

Have you tried track mode TC off without PTM yet?

Electron Mike

I haven't been back to the track yet to try it, will give it a go when back out there in May.