- Mid of April: Trackday at Padborg Park – Denmark: Shot my Brakes
- AP Racing Brake Upgrade
- Mid of May: Trackday at Bilster Berg – Brake Testing
- Beginning of June: Trackday at Bilster Berg – New PB, Shot my Tires
- Thermostat- and Coolant-Hose Party
- Next Steps
Hey y’all. Had a few busy weeks, so I wasn’t able to keep this thread up to date much.
Mid of April: Trackday at Padborg Park – Denmark: Shot my Brakes
Picking up from my last post, the first trackday of the season was at Padborg Park in Denmark. It’s a small but braking-intensive track which I learned the hard way. Went there with my Conti SC7 since the forecast was a bit mixed, but it stayed dry, so I was able to get a few fast laps in until my brakes decided it was time to go…
If you recall I had the DBA 4000 Series T3 Discs with the DBA Xtreme Performance Brake Pads on the car. But since the track was so braking intensive (its super short with 2 straights with hard braking points at the end), my disc temps reached 680°C – with my cooling setup that is. Those temperatures combined with my ABS kicking in because of the hard braking was too much for the pads and they were literally shredded away. That marked the end of that trackday for me
In the end I had to stop at buddy‘s place to get a set of used OEM pads that could get me home (big thanks to him!). The whole front axle was shaking when braking on the road, since there was no pad material left.
As you can see on the pics the pads were totally shot, but I was positively surprised by the DBA discs, since those looked waaayy better than I anticipated after such a bad beating.
AP Racing Brake Upgrade
The next logical step was a brake upgrade. I already ordered it at the end of last year, but didn’t have time to put it on. Well – until now I guess

With the next Trackday right around the corner I quickly mounted it and unfortunately only had Ferodo DS2500 at hand which had to survive this one Trackday until I would switch to a different set of pads.
Some facts:
- 4-pot calipers
- 355x32 2-piece discs
They do fit 18” wheels, although I had some very light scraping on my Autec Clubracing wheels where the balancing weights were placed. This won’t be an issue as it was only very light touching and I will upgrade the rims to ProTracks either way, which have a bit more space in that area.
The full brake kit does have German TÜV.
Mid of May: Trackday at Bilster Berg – Brake Testing
The next trackday was then at the Bilster Berg and it was more a shakedown of the brake. Since I was not happy with the OEM brake at any given time, I was very cautious with the new one. But after a few laps in I noticed the improved brake performance and especially how reliable it was – mainly because the temperatures stayed way down. Just for comparison, with the OEM brake I was only able to do 3-4 push laps on the Bilster Berg before the pads were at its limits and the braking performance would degrade. With the DS2500 pads on the AP Kit I did only experience super light fading after 10+ continuous push-laps (which you normally never do as the tires would overheat).
Beginning of June: Trackday at Bilster Berg – New PB, Shot my Tires
After the successful shakedown test the next visit to the Bilster Berg was in June and for that one I got the pads I wanted: Endless MX87. This is not a hardcore-track-focused pad, but it’s the “Street+” pad from Endless. But still, the braking performance was night and day compared to the Ferodo, unfortunately coupled with the improved braking performance came the temperatures. 10+ push laps were no longer possible but I now had to do a cooldown lap after 5 push laps already. I don’t even want to think about the temperatures pads such as the N39S would cause. Maybe I need even more cooling, maybe I am thinking about something already – who knows
Still, on this trackday I was able to put down a PB with 2:01:90 which is still slow compared to others, but it was fast to me. I’d say the car is easily capable of doing sub-2-mins, but on that day the tires were shot and I was not driving very well. Either way, shows the performances gains a BBK can give you!
Had a few mishaps on that day too: My ATH diffusor was tired
So I had to remove it. Looks like shit now

:
Tire was tired, too. Gonna now switch to Nankang AR-1, since the Zestino's are not produced anymore.
Thermostat- and Coolant-Hose Party
During those two Bilster Berg Trackdays I noticed that my coolant temps were a bit too high for my taste. 30-mins stints usually resulted in 102°C max coolant temp, longer sessions even had 105°C max coolant temp. Luckily I had a buddy who regularly visits South Korea, who could bring a VN South-Korea-Thermostat back home for me!
For those of you that don't know: The VN's thermostat has the identical measurements of the one in the i30N, since its the same engine.
But: Each market Hyundai sells those cars in has a different thermostat installed. The part numbers are identical, the thermostats are still different, depending on in which market you buy them.
The European (or German) version starts operating at 88°C coolant temp, the south-korean version starts at 82°C. Part numbers are identical between both versions - only way to get your hands on such a thermostat is to buy one from Hyundai in South Korea.
The coolant temps stay now at ~85°C during normal driving instead of 90°C. So it should give me a bit more time before the coolant gets too hot. With the time-limit on the stints it should fit the bill - I hope.
While the coolant was drained, I also swapped in the Forge Coolant Hoses with a buddy - thanks again for the help!
Next steps
This week I am gonna visit Stefan from SJ Exclusive to put the AP BBK in the papers, to retrieve my widened fenders and the new Protrack's with 255 (front) and 235 (rear) width Nankang AR-1's. I am still waiting for my carbon hood. If that arrives I can send all the parts to the paint shop and to PPF straight after.