Porterfield Pads & Shoes

[BonzoHansen]

Anyone have experience with Porterfield pads & shoes? I have been looking for quality brake shoes (yes, I said shoes), and I found the Porterfield site. I am thinking about using their R-4S pads & shoes. My primary issue here is the shoes, as performance lined shoes seem to be few & far between.

Target is street use - not track.

Anyone have any experience, good or bad? Thanks-

[chicane67]

Yup. A lot.

I did some of the development of the R4, the R4-1 and much more specifically with the R4-S back in the early 90's while working for Guldstrand. An EXCELLENT pad/shoe for the money in my opinion. They do get a little dusty with hard street use (much less than the 4) but at least they wont kill your paint and/or wheels like the R4 can. I actually had the material bed into the Rally Wheel trim rings and lift the chrome.....

I do not recommend the R4 for any street use. You gotta keep the heat in these little buggers. I whittled 0.250" off a set of rotors in less than a month of street driving..... and just after that, the R4-S compound was born.

They require little to NO warm up and the coefficient is just right once you build some heat into them. They are linear and modulate very well on a chassis that weigh's in the mid 3000lb arena.

Your point of contact at Porterfield is going to be Tim.

[BonzoHansen]

Thanks. Finding quality rear shoes is a challenge.

[BRIAN]

I can't think of the name of the Co that sells the cryo drums and HP type shoes but they link off of Master Powers site. Maybe "Praise Dyno or Praise Shoes"

[BonzoHansen]

http://www.praisedynobrake.com/

[chicane67]

Thanks. Finding quality rear shoes is a challenge.

I hear ya on that. Another thing I did with the rear drum set-up..... was to swap the front shoe with the rear and drilled holes into the drum backing plate for better cooling efforts.

The shoe swap naturally changes the bias of the front to rear... it can help in fine tuning at some point.

[BonzoHansen]

So you just drilled holes in the backing plate? I can do that, i got a drill. :)

What did reversing the shoes do for you? The effect is not computing in my head.

Would you pick P/F pads over Hawk Performance Ceramic pads?

[coony]

just don't be suprised by teh sticker price, when I priced them out they were like $230 just for a set of front pads. I think they will be only usefull or worth the $$ if you are racing, and even then you can get some hawk or wilwood race pads for even less also. Carbotech also makes some good race pads.

[chicane67]

So you just drilled holes in the backing plate? I can do that, i got a drill. :)
What did reversing the shoes do for you? The effect is not computing in my head.
Would you pick P/F pads over Hawk Performance Ceramic pads?
I drilled 1.00" holes in places that I felt that would not harm the structural integrity of the backing plate itself.

The reversing of the shoes changes the amount of bias by changing the amount of swept area on the forward shoe. With drum brakes the forward shoe does 70% of the work of the drum system. As you apply the brakes, the forward shoe gets pulled away from the cylinder pin and is quicker to engauge. The wedging action, which has the effect of pressing the shoes into the drum with more force. Putting the smaller shoe on the forward side changes the initial bite and delays the effect of trail braking..... which is what you want. Once the initial hit of the brakes scrubs enough speed to slow the amount of weight transfer going to the front suspension/tires..... the added delay will help reduce lock up of the rear drums. Once the weight transfer change settles, the increased weight on the rear axle helps the drums plant the tire much reduced lockup.

I would try the Ferodo 2500's or the Hawk HP first. But can you find them in a shoe ??


just don't be suprised by the sticker price, when I priced them out they were like $230 just for a set of front pads. I think they will be only usefull or worth the $$ if you are racing, and even then you can get some hawk or wilwood race pads for even less also. Carbotech also makes some good race pads.

Not necessarily so. The cost vs performance is well worth the money. Its just that most people think it rediculous to spend that much.... right up until the time they actually try them.

And we are talking about a street pad..... not a race pad.

[BRIAN]

Doesn't CH Topping claim to have invented the drilled drum idea? I am interested as I would like to build a vintage set up on a rod using aluminum drums front and rear. Like the idea of modifying than buying the latest big bling idea. Somebody just released I think 11.5 or 12.0 aluminum drums for 9" Ford.

Ever check temps before and after drilling? Do they shed water or suck it in if you hit a puddle? Do you think a properly set up 4 wheel drum set up can stop after stop without fade and generate modern 60-0 times. I know other factors determine stopping distances so I guess just changing from disc to modded drum set up??


There is a add in Grassroots Mag about performance shoes.


Interesting topic.

[BonzoHansen]

Chicane, that is my issue - no one makes shoes! All I can find so far is P/F and the Praise Dynos listed above. And they don't list past 72, but the shoe part # is the same.

I may do PF rear & Hawk front. I tought I saw prices for the R4S on their site - not too bad. Less than $80 an axel. Hawks seem to be around 50.

[chicane67]

Ya know.... last time I checked, Andy can put virtually any pad compound onto a shoe or a pad backing plate.

Have you called yet and just talked to Tim or Andy concerning this ??

[BonzoHansen]

Not yet. I plan to on Tuesday.