Titanium Pad Backing Plates - Who Has Used Them?

[Beer Baron]

ok, I've been thinking about this for a while. one of my biggest problems with the old set-up on the 32 GTR was heat transfer into the brake fluid. I used good fluid, good pads, good rotors, braided lines, removed heat shiels etc, but I would always end up cooking the fluid during a track day. The car stopped fine with the stock gear, but it generated too much heat for my fluid to handle.

I have heard of people using titanium shims behind the pads to combat this. does it work? I seem to remember Roy uses them, anyone else?

http://www.takspeed.com/tispeed/index.php?...;products_id=40

[ferni]

Very interesting. I'm also interested in something like that... I don't think troy runs any shims.... Troy come share your wisdom!

[Scotsman]

Also interested to hear more feedback.

[Beer Baron]

well I currently have the stock 3 piece ones. one solid full size. one vented half size and one solid half size from memory. anyone who has seen them will know what I mean. I'm just wondering will these be better than the current shim sandwhich I have?

[ferni]

I'm hardcore, i run no shims.

[Beer Baron]

well they are basically $100AUD delivered for a set. the only thing that worries me is that they list the same part for "skyline GTR 89-95". I have GTR brembos on my 32 so I don't want to end up with a sumitomo pad sized shim as the brembo pads are taller.

[djr81]

well they are basically $100AUD delivered for a set. the only thing that worries me is that they list the same part for "skyline GTR 89-95". I have GTR brembos on my 32 so I don't want to end up with a sumitomo pad sized shim as the brembo pads are taller.

A few things:

They may be of some benefit if the thermal conductivity of the alloy is markedly less than say, that of the backing plate of the brake pad. So maybe check out what it is for the alloy in question versus steel. It should be measured in Watts per metre Kelvin or similar.

Make sure you have enough room to squeeze everything in!

If you can find some titanium plate (not too hard) & a friendly laser cutting shop (not hard) just email them an ACAD drawing of the profile you want. Then you can have as many as you want plus some spare titanium plate.

Lastly, not that I am a fan, but you could coat the outside of the pistons with ceramic or similar.

[Beer Baron]

yeah, I think the plan is I would ditch the current shim sandwhich and just run the ti shims. but is 1 ti shim better than 3 allu ones?

I would love to get some made here. but I don't know a friendly laser cutting shop (well my friends father owns one in japan). I don't know where to buy ti sheet, and I couldn't do a cad drawing to save my nuts.

[ferni]

I'm sure Troy could draw them up and probably knows a place to laser cut them... That's if they are worth it.

I emailed this place to see if they have them for GTR brembos.

[Beer Baron]

yeah troy, what have you done for me lately??!?!?!

I emailed them too this morning asking whether their backing plates are for GTR sumitomo or GTR brembo. my guess is that they will say "both". which is not very good.

[ferni]

They replied to me

We don't have that exact model listed in our catalog. Do you have a pad part # from one of the major manufacturers or a FMSI # for the pad outline? That's the surest way to see if we have something that fits. If we don't have it we can put it in the production queue.

We do ship to Australia via postal mail or UPS.

So I gave them to Ferodo DS3000 part number i use. And they have said they will research and get back to me.

[ferni]

Ok he's having trouble finding out...

Sorry, but I am having no luck tracking down those Ferodo numbers. I am guessing that the brembos you mentioned could be the same ones we cover on the 350Z. We have good coverage on the more popular brembo calipers. Do you happen to have the Brembo caliper model or another manufacturer model # for the pad?

Can anyone help?

[Beer Baron]

I got this info:

Hi,

Thanks for the information. We don't get many Skyline's over here so we were not aware that there were some sumitomo caliper applications there. Our D960 shim fits the brembo calipers. If you could give us some more specifics about the sumitomo (such as a major brake pad manufacturer's part #) we could look at making a shim for that.

We do ship to Australia, Priority Mail International is $21.95.

Regards,

-Alan

takspeed motorware /

tispeed performance braking division

On Oct 9, 2007, at 8:37 PM, Richard wrote:

From: Richard

------------------------------------------------------

Hi,

I am interested in your titanium brake shims for Nissan Skyline GTR: "D960

titanium brake heat shield, titanium shim". I notice that you just have one

part number which says 89-95 GTR, over those years (basically 1994 on) the

type of brake caliper being used was changed. Some models run sumitomo 4

piston calipers and some run Brembo 4 piston calipers, those different

calipers have a different pad size. Can you tell me which caliper is your

part suitable for?

Also, could you please give me a shipping price to Sydney, Australia.

Thank you,

Richard

[ferni]

Ok thinking about these shims some more....

They are ment to block heat getting into the caliper/pistons and then into the fluid right?

SO where does the heat go? It must stay in the pad/disc then right? Is this something we really want to do?

Or am i missing something here?

[Beer Baron]

yeah absolutely. pads and disks can withstand much more heat than any brake fluid. plus they have opportunity to shed that heat. where as once fluid is heated it's near impossible to quickly and effectively cool it down again.

fluid at it's best can only take about 300degrees, but in practice I'd say 250+ and things go bad. pads can go up to about 800 and rotors probably 5 or 600.

[Beer Baron]

well my finger is poised on the buy button. but before I blow $100 on the brake equivelant of magic beans does anyone else have something to add?

[ferni]

Good point. So what we want to do is shield the heat from the piston/caliper, keep it in the pad/disc since we can cool these down easier.

Before you buy have you found out for sure they are the right size? I'd wait for Troy to weigh in. I've emailed him the link to this thread.

[Ronin 09]

AFAIK they are the same shape pad as the 350z.

i rebuilt my rear GTR calipers using 350z seals from the US

[ferni]

Pete (bass junky) said if you give him an original shim he can get them drawn and cut out and will do a group buy....

[ferni]

Some links explaining the thermo properties of Titanium vs Aluminum... but it's from the same site that's selling them.

http://www.takspeed.com/shop/index.php?mai...1&chapter=1

And picture of front and back of shim after being used.

http://www.takspeed.com/shop/index.php?mai...3&chapter=1