I know this question has been asked a million times over the years, but in reading back over old threads I'm not sure the whole story was ever told. Pad compound is a large factor and several pads are frequently mentioned (Mintex, Brakeman, Hawk, etc.), but few to no people mention what tires they are running at the time, which I think could make a fairly noticeable difference. Ultimately speaking your brakes are only as good as your traction, so what came to mind for me is whether street tires can grip hard enough to generate the heat needed for race pads to work. I'm debating trying out a new pad for my upcoming track weekend in June. Now that I've been trailering my car to the event for the past few years instead of driving it up there, it crossed my mind to get a much more track focused pad. That being said, I still run on street tires and wasn't sure if some of the higher end pads would be a good match for them or not. Anyone have some advice regarding that? I've traditionally run the StopTech sport pads (309 series) and have liked them, but was thinking maybe the lower end of a full race pad would make more sense.
