Brake Ducts

[eDub13]

I picked up my 2022 Si 2 months ago, primarily for fun reliable commuting, but would also be nice to have a car that I can track without doing anything to it. I've been doing a lot of reading and it seems the brakes are the weak point of the car and will get soft pretty quickly. Seems here are the existing options that people have used:

1.) Change to Carbotech brake pads and use higher temp brake fluid
- I don't want to deal with swapping pads back and forth between track days and commuting
- If I don't swap pads back and forth, I don't want to deal with the extra brake dust and squeal
2.) Change to BBK
- as much as I want to do this for the cool factor, what I'm trying to solve isn't stopping power, but thermal dissipation. I know BBK will have a bigger thermal mass and will help with what I'm after, but it seems like a pricey option.

This leads me to brake ducts. Has anyone done this? I don't see any of the typical vendors offering this solution yet.

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[madbikes]

Brake duct solution is often a do-it-yourself item and will help reduce brake temperature. You can modify the dummy fog light cover to draw air from there. Then you will need to determine how to bring the air towards the brakes. There is no specific way to jerry rig it, so take your time to come up with a design you like.

When you brake, your brake caliper, brake fluid and brake pads get hot. Any increase in thermal dissipation you can get to stay longer on a track day is worth it. The only thing is rotor/rotor ring replacements are not cheap

 

[eDub13]

Brake duct solution is often a do-it-yourself item and will help reduce brake temperature. You can modify the dummy fog light cover to draw air from there. Then you will need to determine how to bring the air towards the brakes. There is no specific way to jerry rig it, so take your time to come up with a design you like.

When you brake, your brake caliper, brake fluid and brake pads get hot. Any increase in thermal dissipation you can get to stay longer on a track day is worth it. The only thing is rotor/rotor ring replacements are not cheap

yeah I was hoping someone already has done it so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Would be nice if somebody developed a fog lamp funnel with hose attachment along with brake dust shield attachment.

 

[alhounos]

Brake ducts might help but they are not going to be a replacement for BBK, or even high temp pads and fluid.

I would try track pads and fluid and make sure you really need/want to drop big bucks on the BBK.

I swapped to Carbotech 1521 for street and XP10 for track with Motul fluid after my first track day. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to get the new pads on track yet. They are widely used in the Civic track community though.

 

[eDub13]

Brake ducts might help but they are not going to be a replacement for BBK, or even high temp pads and fluid.

I would try track pads and fluid and make sure you really need/want to drop big bucks on the BBK.

I swapped to Carbotech 1521 for street and XP10 for track with Motul fluid after my first track day. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to get the new pads on track yet. They are widely used in the Civic track community though.

I’m trying not to have to swap pads back and forth and hoping for something I can just drive to the track, have fun, and drive back.

I have a streetable Miata that I track and don’t want to spend that kind of effort on my commuter. If there’s no real easy solution, I may eventually just get BBK. Just want to explore cheaper options before I go that route.

 

[sackofcheese]

I’m trying not to have to swap pads back and forth and hoping for something I can just drive to the track, have fun, and drive back.

I have a streetable Miata that I track and don’t want to spend that kind of effort on my commuter. If there’s no real easy solution, I may eventually just get BBK. Just want to explore cheaper options before I go that route.

Even if you went the BBK route, you would still need to swap pads between track days and commuting. Otherwise you're going to have the same issues when it comes to street driving on the track pads. A BBK will really only help with the heat tolerance too, the stopping power isn't changed significantly. The upside to a BBK is the current pad availability is much better. You could run a more aggressive pad compound on the stock caliper that isn't a full blown track pad too once they're available. I ran the Hawk HPS on my GTI and they were good enough for a casual track day when my Miata was broken. A few guys I track with run a similar style pad on their 10th gens too. IMHO you could always just run the track pads on the street. I do this in my Miata. I'm waiting for more pad options to come out for the Si before I take it to a track day cause those Carbotechs are big money for relatively small pads.

As for brake ducting, the HPD TCA Si has holes cut in the front bumper for ducting, a more OE looking appearance would be cutting out the fog light area and ducting that back. Unfortunately its almost an entirely DIY setup at the moment since these cars are so new and hardly tracked.
https://hpd.honda.com/-/media/HPD-C...hash=7ED6611FC199B4AEAA5AEB05E69A3DCEADA7DC46

 

[st4xor]

I've done limited street driving (couple days before/after track days) on XP8, and they don't make a hateful amount of noise. More of a light "hiss" as opposed to squeeks. Id probably prefer not to drive around for weeks on end on XP*, but it is nice having a couple extra days of wiggle room on either side of track days to make swaps.

I've wrestled with this same set of decisions with my FC1, and I think I'm about to take the plunge and buy some 1521 front/rear pads to pair with XP* front/rear. I think not having to swap rotors will be worth the convenience cost of 1521. And it's actually the rears that are slightly more annoying to swap out rear pads than the front (due to EPB), which a front BBK wouldn't fix, anyhow.

The 2020 Si has windshield washer fluid bottle on the passenger side and Honda sensing radar on the driver side that present obstacles to brake ducts. Not sure what the 11th gens have hiding under the front bumper, but that would be something to consider.

I've also run a Powerstop "Track Day" compound on track (mixed results) both front and rear which did not make any noise on the street. Something else to watch out for availability. I say "mixed results" because they were great on the rear for two track days, and then on my third I blew through a fresh set of pads on the rear in two sessions. I suspect I was getting in to VSA more heavily--I've got some thoughts in my journal thread (sog). The Powerstop TD pads are known to wear quickly, but half a day was surprising to say the least.

Anyway, that's how I've landed on carbotech front/rear. Track days and commiting the time are expensive enough--i don't need my limited outings to be ruined by pads that let me down.

Anyway, hope you 11th gen peeps are able to sort it all out and get out there!

 

[Vincent@27WON]

Went the BBK route here and have no regrets. Car feels great. LIke said above though I personally still do a front pad swap for track days. But with the BBK it is much faster and only takes a couple of minutes.