Hi all: Well, my Daytona is really taking shape and I am enjoying it very much. I wanted to ask other owners what they have done to improve or maximize the braking system. I would like to keep the car looking stock but do not object to making it perform better. Has anyone had any luck with different brake pads or do you have any other advice on how to improve the stopping of this powerful beast. Please let me know. Joe Seminetta
Pad compounds have improved greatly with time since your car was originally made. We use Porterfield R4-S compound pads. They have great stopping power and are very easy on the brake rotors. Brian B. Patrick Ottis Co.
On my Daytona the brakes were prone to fake with hard use and before putting the far on the track at the '04 FFQC I wanted a solution. Based on lots of advice I ended up converting the fluid to ATE Super Blue racing fluid and going with the Porterfield RS-4 hard compound pads. I got zero fade even with repeated hard use on the track. Unless our going to flat out race the car I feel the above solutions is fine. The only downside is the pads do squeek a bit from time to time. Terry
My Daytona is fitted with AP racing front rotors and calipers. They are fantastic. I had the car on the Shanghai F1 track and the long straight allows the car to really stretch its legs before a hairpin corner. The brakes were amazing for such a heavy car. It took a lot of adjustment to get the system to work properly but in the end it was worth it. Nothing is visible but I guess this is a point loser in the land of concours. i don't care
Leave the rotors & calipers alone and just use Porterfield R4-S pads for street work and MBZ brake fluid. My R4-S pads never squeaked. The R-4 pads do. For track work, or just spirited street driving, use the Raybestos ST41 pads front, ST43 pads rear. They'll never give up the ghost. You will boil your brake fluid first. If you want to go racing, fine, then start upgrading the brake system. I've used all the Motul 600, ATE Blue & Amber, Castrol, MBZ, etc. fluid on my cars. The Motul was the best in resisting temperature when new (less than 3 months). But, that's the rub, Motul is meant to be changed after each track event or about every 3 months of street use. I first tried the MBZ brake fluid when Ferrari, as in the Ferrari factory, recommended the MBZ brake fluid be used in F40s when we were having brake problems in the US (fluid overheating). If it was good enough for Ferrari, it was good enough for me. It worked fine in my F40 and I've been using it in all my Ferraris for street use since. I do use Motul for track events in my cars. But, I flush my brake fluid after every track event so it is not an issue of fluid not being changed frequently enough. I've never noticed a difference between the above mentioned brake fluids in street use when comparing them apples to apples (flushing at the same intervals). The Motul, though, degrades quickly over time. Steve
They regular old ATE brake lines work fine. I've tried various types of stainless steel brake lines. None made a difference in braking performance. In all my years and miles driving Ferraris (over 400K miles and counting) I've never, ever had a brake hose fail. Of course, I'm pretty diligent about maintenance so I tend to replace things before they fail. Now, if I were racing, I'd go with the narliest set up I could find as things tend to get stressed under racing conditions. Steve
