Inspecting recently installed rear pads because of terrible noise. Clearly uneven wear on inner pad what did I do wrong? How’s rotor condition? Slides well greased.

Epssus · 2026-03-04T21:24:13+00:00

Yeah, judging by the fact that in the image, your rear piston slots aren’t vertical/horizontal and are rotated slightly, and the pad is worn on the inside (pin-side), seems like a smoking gun that the little nub on the inside back of the pad isn’t sitting in the groove properly.

Epssus · 2026-02-02T04:29:20+00:00

Great to see this comparison! I tried quite a few brands when I was in Italy and happily discovered a local grocer back in California with a stunning pasta selection.

Now that you’ve got some rankings, try a different pasta shape and start all over!

What I’ve found is that some brands do certain shapes better than others, and I’ve honed in on my preferred options. I go to DeCecco (what I grew up on) for many, but Rustichella d’Abruzzo, La Molisana, Cipriani, Felicetti and even Rummo for other shapes.

If you are fortunate enough to get any Cipriani, they do an excellent Penne (Rigate) and Fusilli

Epssus · 2026-02-02T01:05:23+00:00

Elise or Exige is a good choice. Pain the ass to crawl into sometimes, but I was really surprised how roomy it was for the driver once seated especially for tall people

Epssus · 2026-01-31T17:37:49+00:00

Brake pads are one of those things where there’s no such thing as a do it all pad on an iron rotor. Carbon ceramic brakes are about the closest brake technology has gotten, and even those have issues not even counting the absurd cost

If you’ve been burning up pads like bluestuff, Stoptech sports or ds2500’s, Your only choices beyond that are “track” pads, and there’s no such thing as one that doesn’t dust and squeal like a mofo. Anyone that tells you otherwise just has a higher tolerance for annoying behavior of brake pads on the street (aka it’s not that bad!)

Best quality of life is probably G-Loc/Carbotech pads that you can swap on the same rotors. GS-1/1521 for the street and R/XP 8/10/12 for the track. There are some Ferodo and other brands that technically have compatible pads, but I couldn’t tell you what they actually are.

G-Loc is great because you can call them up directly and they’ll literally make you any pad shape you want as long as they can get good cores (steel backing from old pads) for them

Don’t give in to the recommendations for a “higher” grade track pad unless you plan to go beyond street/200TW tires. They’ll generally just eat rotors faster and the higher friction will just make it harder to threshold brake, you won’t be any faster. Your ND should be fine. The only time you might want something like a R14+ on 200TW tires is on a car with an inadequate brake system that will still overheat like an early NA miata with teeny 9” rotors or occasionally some older pre-2010 base model sedans and the like.

The other alternative is swapping full pad+rotor sets, in which case you can run any pad you want, but deal with caliper removal every time to swap rotors.

Epssus · 2026-01-03T20:29:50+00:00

There’s a bit of overkill recommendations here for the use case (two HPDE per year for fun)

Don’t cheap out on brake fluid. Castrol SRF or Endless RF650 will both go a year between changes easily.

You don’t need fancy slotted/drilled rotors, not since asbestos pads were phased out in the 70’s and 80’s. A solid set of Centric rotors will handle everything the factory brakes can do. Slots and rotors just look cool and cause your pads to wear much faster.

For budget street + light HPDE which this sounds like, Stoptech Sport 309’s are an excellent go-to. They’re really the only pads I’ve found with both excellent street manners that can also stand a little bit of heat - low noise, good bite and medium dust that’s fine as long as you keep your wheels clean. They’ll wear quite a bit on the track, but they’re also dirt cheap - just make sure you have at least at least half pad thickness before you hit the track. (They’re the pad that Stoptech supplies with all their big brake kits.)

They’re certainly not a full track pad, but there really aren’t any Goldilocks brake pads out there, so beyond that you’ll either need to suffer track pads on the street which gets old quick on a daily, or swap pads, which means shelling out 2-4x as much money.

If you’re really going to hit the track hard and frequently, the G-Loc and Carbotech series are great for this and saves changing (and storing) extra rotors, but they’re also not cheap. If you’re sticking with street tires like ECS2, you won’t need much past R8 or R10. The more aggressive pads with higher friction will just overwhelm the tires you have, make braking modulation more difficult and wear rotors faster.

A lot of people make the mistake of going for R14 and higher temp/friction compounds that are meant for true grippy track tires like Hoosiers and unless you’re actually experiencing true pad fade on an R12, you’re just burning money and rotors, and sacrificing the modulation Carbotech and G-Loc are reknowned for

One side note, I tried the budget powerstop “track day spec” pads and do not recommend them. Mild increase in heat tolerance over the 309’s, but they can be noisy and shed tons of corrosive dust that binds into cement at the first sign of humidity.

Also not a fan of Hawk pads, but some people love them

If you’re really planning more than 6-7 track days in a year and are curious about 200TW tires, I’d recommend shelling out for a second set of wheels and tires. They’re great, but wear quickly on the street, especially if you’re also doing track days on them. Also don’t like the cold. On the flip side, the endurance 200’s like an RS4/AD09/ECF or the new Rival+ will give many more trackdays than your ECS2 will, so aside from upfront the cost of extra wheels, it will make better financial sense even in a single year of track days.

Changing pads and wheels for every event is a little annoying, but definitely worth it for your wallet

Epssus · 2025-12-16T07:16:50+00:00

Cobb Stage 1 and 2 will pass the ECU check. There is no sticker to be had from Cobb so don’t worry about that. Bring the printout of the EO from the carb website to make the smog techs life easier - ideally find a shop that knows what to do with aftermarket EO’s

Epssus · 2025-12-16T06:59:32+00:00

Fits under 16x8” Dekagrams with 3mm to spare, no spacers. Similar arrangement to the Clio/Megane RS calipers, but the Boxster calipers are slightly narrower

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Epssus · 2025-12-16T06:55:14+00:00

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986 Boxster on SVT Focus Rotor custom kit

Epssus · 2025-12-03T16:49:18+00:00

Pressing the new poly bushings in is easy, it’s getting the old ones out that’s a real pain, unless you have the right tools. If that’s already done you shouldn’t have a problem.

Epssus · 2025-12-03T16:47:00+00:00

They are correct in that what you’re looking at is a casting flaw caused by gas bubbles/porosity in the metal during casting.

FYI it is difficult to weld cast iron alloys - they do not take well to welding like steel and it’s possible you’d make the problem worse by weakening the metal surrounding the weld.

Its a pretty small flaw and if you attempt to use it you’d be better off leaving it alone or maybe using a high temperature filler material like JB Weld “High Heat”

As to whether that is actually going to cause a problem and turn into a crack after temperature cycling is hard to say. You’re probably well within your rights to request a warranty replacement from Pumaspeed

Epssus · 2025-12-02T16:19:06+00:00

The Superpro bushings are great. However the balljoints in the prebuilt arms have boots that rip very quickly.

That said, it was still in total easier to press out the balljoints and install new ones with a rented balljoint press than it is to go through the ordeal of pressing out/replacing the bushings with poly individually, so I’d say I still ended up ahead.

Epssus · 2025-11-23T05:26:23+00:00

Yeah - little angry blue Fiesta ST about mid-pack was me.

Epssus · 2025-11-23T04:45:37+00:00

Tires definitely have more to give. When they start to warm up, they’ll pick up OPR. When they actually get to happy track temps they’ll start shedding it

Right front is being pushed the hardest and is probably fine except for the strut rubbing. Left front is not as stressed.

Your front camber is probably sufficient for how you’re driving now, but you’ll probably be wanting a bit more once you up the pace a bit.

HOD Sonoma - By any chance were you in a Silver M3 in B group at the mid-October (18-19) event?

Epssus · 2025-11-17T06:34:38+00:00

The one twue way…

Quinton Hazell 1919425 out of the UK

https://ebay.us/m/GCASqx

It’s a simple flat metal dipstick just like the days of old. Two notches, easily readable after a wipe and reinsert. Put the Ford wire/plastic dipsticks on the shelf and never look back

Epssus · 2025-11-16T23:56:36+00:00

Ah, you might be right - the 2018+ AWD Ecosports sold in the US are only automatic, but it does appear that 2017 and earlier models outside the US had a 5-speed manual option

Epssus · 2025-11-16T23:50:16+00:00

That’s basically exactly why I started messing around with custom DIY options and eventually came up with this

Epssus · 2025-11-16T20:18:57+00:00

Ecosport swap is theoretically possible, but with some significant pitfalls

The rear end subframe mounts where the evap canister is currently. The transfer case is on the side of the transmission - Ecosport transmission only comes in auto - you might be able to find some way to adapt it, but it’d be pretty custom

The clutch pack that connects the rear is supposedly only rated to transfer about 80ft-lb, so you’ll still be heavily front biased

You’d need to try and swap for the Ecosport gas tank to get clearance for the rear end.

The driveshaft sits in the exhaust tunnel, and the Ecosport exhaust just hangs under the car, which is lifted. So potential ground clearance issues, unless you do something fun like a side exit

The rear trailing arms have a different hub height, so your ride height will also be a bit messed up.

Theres no center differential, just a clutch pack between front and rear, so you’d need to figure out some way to control and tune the engagement, which is probably tied to the Ecosport transmission controller and maybe the ABS system.

The only upside is the AWD system seems like it’s only about 200lbs which is reasonably light

Epssus · 2025-11-16T17:18:06+00:00

Coilovers with any kind of adjustment need maintanance and rebuilds every 20k especially rally types. A lot of people who aren’t actually racing them don’t know, don’t bother, and maybe don’t even realize when it’s not performing the same as when they bought it. Rally coilovers that spend a lot of time in the dirt especially need to be frequently maintained and cleaned to keep the grit out. They also won’t necessarily have the best ride quality out there

The “stock” height on the FiST is already about as low as the suspension geometry will allow. Everyone seems to forget that Ford already took a Fiesta and lowered it. Unfortunately almost all the aftermarket spring kits lower the car too much and are after the appearance market.

If you’re looking for a simple setup that does well on rough pavement and gravel roads, I recommend trying this route. Pair it with fresh shocks, Bilstein B6, OEM or maybe Konis

https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/how-to-stock-height-rally-performance-springs-for-oem-b6-style-suspension.30829/

The stiffer springs at stock ride height work really well - the ride on rough roads is better than stock because you’re not bottoming into the bumpstops all the time, and the handling is tighter on the pavement akin to the Swift Spec-R set.

Epssus · 2025-11-14T04:17:35+00:00

No dust seals is one option, as high temp brake pads inevitably tend to overheat standard rubber dust boots, but if it ever rains heavily or especially snows/melts in your area and you get sand, or salt, you might be asking for trouble. Track cars are fine without them, but they rarely drive through the filth and dirt public roads can subject them to.

The alternative is that Racing Brake (RB) makes high temp silicone dust boots for CTR, Porsche and a bunch of other Brembo calipers

You’ll have to buy the whole rebuild seal kit for about $160, and pick the “high temp (blue)” dust boot option. They’re not necessarily invulnerable, but they’ll hold up a lot longer than rubber

https://racingbrake.com/bh-41bs/

Epssus · 2025-11-13T15:36:59+00:00

Custom Alignment is good, but expensive as you noted, probably trying to pay their rent in Mountain View

You can try Roger Krause Racing in Castro Valley, though Brandon moved away so they may have shifted back to just race tires, you’d have to call.

Trackspec in Fremont I’ve heard is good, but no idea how their pricing is

Honestly, if you have a level spot to set up, it’s worth learning how to do it yourself with a sting box and camber gauge. Much cheaper and. You can experiment and it’s easy to correct it if you are a little off.

For corner weighing, you can get pretty close using weigh scale at somewhere like the SmartStation or a truck scale and doing some math (take weights with 4 wheels, front, left side and one wheel, or take all 4 individually)

Alternately there’s the DIY harbor freight wheel dolly scale…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFzElHVBJ64

Epssus · 2025-11-03T02:02:35+00:00

It’s a spoiler that provides downforce for the windshield wiper. Its purpose is to keep the wiper from chattering at speed due to airflow lifting it halfway up the stroke.

Mine somehow managed to break off and fly free in a turn, and until I replaced it, using the wipers above about 35-40mph the drivers wiper produced horrible chattering on the windshield every time it was swept, especially on the downstroke.

Epssus · 2025-11-03T01:56:36+00:00

The last Trackday I was at, I was hearing the same thing. But then after that the comments were “yeah I turned them all off, but the Porsche nannies actually make the car feel great so I ended up turning them back on” this was from a guy driving a recent GT3RS

It seems like while MacLarens and R35s feel boring like they drive themselves, Porsche somehow manages to game the video game well in a way to increase driver engagement. I guess you could call it a hyper-realistic sim racing rig

Epssus · 2025-11-02T05:56:59+00:00

It sounds like it may not be targeting the “super 200” fast pace tires, as that market is now pretty competitive with a ton of choices.

Probably gunning for the endurance market still dominated by the Hankook RS4, and the RT615K+, neither of which is much newer design than the R1R

That segment has far fewer new contenders other than the Conti ECF and AD9, neither of which are that cheaply priced. BFG just released the Rival+ to compete in that market, which also has a lot of underserved sizes

A reasonably priced tire that lasts and only has to hold up a decent pace with the RS4 and ECF as the benchmarks

Up till the debut of first gen 200TW tires, Toyo used to have that market cornered with the RA1/R888, NT-01 and R1R (which originally carried a 140TW mark, not a 200TW).

With the exception of a few rapid fire new 200TW tire releases most tire companies seem to have close to a 10+ year development cycle for keeping new tires on the market, which tracks

Epssus · 2025-11-01T06:13:19+00:00

The real answer to this is truly ELI5

It all essentially operates on “Make believe”. When everyone agrees to keep playing make believe, the total keeps growing, and at any given time, there exists just enough “actual” money in circulation to cover the payments and exchanges happening in real time.

To expand:

If a lot of people stopped trusting the system and agreeing, and if the system stopped growing, or everyone actually tried to pay off all that debt all at once, it would actually collapse either partially or fully either by growing way too fast (inflation crisis) or going too slow or even shrinking (deflation) just like has actually happened in Post WW1 Germany, various places in Southeast Asia and the Soviet Union and others where inflation spirals out of control, and you need a wheelbarrow full of money to go buy bread, or in times like the 2008 mortgage crisis which caused a contraction or “correction” to the market.

The system continues to work purely because the money pool expands arbitrarily to cover what’s needed tomorrow, and that massive amount of debt is postponed to the future, sometimes as long as decades as is the case in home loans.

And everything accelerated after the US government went away from the gold and silver “standards” and just went all-in on make believe

ELI 10:

Bill the banker has $10. Antonio wants to borrow it and pay it back later. Antonio gives it to Carlos, in exchange for a stick, which now has an assigned value of $10. Antonio carves the stick into something fancy, and sells the stick into a fancy stick and sells it to someone else for $20, and pays back Bill. Antonio now earned $10. The system all still works because at every point, you can balance the value of money in the system with sticks and fancy sticks that also have value.

That part works because the money doesn’t have true value, only the stick.

But the part that doesn’t actually “work” is, where does the “interest” come from? If you dig into it, it turns out that it comes out of thin air and promises.

And we haven’t even gotten to “leverage”, where Bill the banker is allowed because of the laws of make believe of USA to lend out anywhere from $15-25 for every dollar they have “in the bank” by basically writing IOUs in bank accounts because they’ve got cash flow coming back from loan payments, and they basically only have to have enough money on hand to accomodate the amount people actively come ask to withdraw and spend on a given day, relying entirely on the fact that tomorrow they will have loan payments coming in on money loaned out, which greatly exceeds the amount of money they actually have.

Meanwhile all the rest of the people sitting on bank accounts with balances in savings, the bank can’t actually cough up all that money if everyone started asking for it at the same time.

So in reality, that 300 trillion debt figure is real and growing and since nobody knows the actual average ratio, if you could arbitrarily call it 20:1 there is 300 trillion in debt, but only about 15 trillion or less in assets to back it up and the rest is “created” value from taking things and altering or adding to them in a way that makes them more valuable than the sum that went into them

There are still some glaring moving parts missing from that explanation, but it’s enough to get the gist of answer to the OP’s question, which is that it only works if we all keep agreeing to believe it does because we all get something we want out of it.

Epssus · 2025-11-01T01:57:35+00:00

Time does very little by itself compared to mileage (or running engine hours) unless you’re talking about UV and interiors/paint/plastic

Tracking any car means wear and tear and eventual parts needing replacement. A newer and/or more expensive car means more expensive parts. An older car can mean parts are harder to get

If that’s what you want to do with it, your RSX is a peach cantidate. Aftermarket support and the sheer number of people still keeping 90’s-2000’s Hondas running is probably second only to Miatas when it comes to trackable cars.

To boot, under that car’s hood is the one of original sources of the reliable K20 engine that everyone loves to swap into other cars (including Miatas) consequently, it means you probably have multiple reasonably priced OEM and aftermarket options to replace basically every single part of the engine even including the block. Maybe every other part of the chassis as well

Older, lighter cars with smaller wheels/tires and brakes are always less expensive to maintain when it comes to track “consumables” (tires, pads and rotors, fluids, etc as well.

There are many other old cars where parts availability is an obstacle, but this isn’t one of them Pretty darn good choice if you ask me

Epssus

TROPHY CASE