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Technical F.A.Q.

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Essential for Production Race Cars

Essential for Production Race Cars

I remember the days in the 80s and 90s, when one of the key skills in driving a production race car was keeping from bending your brake pad backers. ...
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Worked Great in Race Conditions

Worked Great in Race Conditions

With the Hard Brakes backing plates installed, we noticed overall improved braking performance in the H-Stock BMW 135i car immediately. With one of...
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Track Wisdom

"Very high [brake] temperatures can also cause the brake fluid to boil with a resultant increase in pedal travel. This should be detected immediately by the driver, as a very small quantity of boiling fluid is enough for the pedal to go right to the floor without any effect; in contrast to the liquid brake fluid, the boiling part is compressible. It is particularly important that when the car has been stopped for a short time -- up to 15 or 20 minutes after a drive in which the brakes have become very hot -- the pedal is depressed for a check. When the car is at rest, brakes act as a heat sink from which heat spreads to the fluid contained in the calipers; brakes which were fully operative when the car was driven may have become totally inefficient after it has stood awhile."

-- Paul Frere, Sports Car and Competition Driving

Why kind of titanium do you use?

Hard Brakes uses only the best available Titanium alloy for our brake heat shields. We use exclusively the 6AL-4V alloy (sometimes called "Grade 5"), which is actually a combination of Titanium blended with Aluminum and Vanadium. This specific alloy is chosen for its excellent thermal protection, light weight, structural integrity and resistance to corrosion. This 6AL/4V Titanium alloy provides far better thermal protection than other metal shim materials, and give roughly twice as much thermal protection as Stainless Steel. Thermal protection of our 6AL4V Titanium is 6 times better than other steels (like the stock backing plate on brake pads), and 30 times better than the Aluminum used in most brake caliper and piston constructions. Our Grade 5 Titanium is long lasting for use and reuse as you replace your brake pads, your heat shields should last you for as long as you own your car.

Beware of imitators offering lower grade titanium alloys, such as the inexpensive CP (Commercially Pure) titanium or Grade 2 titanium. These other types of titanium alloy, while cheaper to manufacture, do not provide the same levels of thermal protection and resistance to corrosion.