Can the stock rotors and pads hold up to light auto-x duty?
 

going to start doing a bit of auto-x for fun and I haven't made any break system modifications to this point. Can the stock rotors and pads hold up to 5-6 spaced out runs? I'm a novice at this point so I'm not going to be 10/10ths around the course.

stock brake system has held up well for spirited canyon driving for me. Never done any autoX yet. Also need to consider your track layout. Are there long straights where the brakes can cool or is it all corners?

I've had my BRZ on the stock rotors, pads, and fluid for 14 months and have about 20 Autocrosses and 11,000 miles under my belt. I've never experienced brake fade and my pads and rotors are holding up fine.

You won't be going fast enough or running long enough on a typical AutoX course to worry the brakes too much, so just go out there and have fun!

100% yes, I've done 4-5 events with my car with zero issues.

The biggest issue with the stock system is that the pads fade, you wont get them hot enough at auto-x to make them fade.

thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

Yeah, normal autocrosses won't tax the stock brakes at all. I ran mine several events last season, and have done 5 or 6 this season, most with a co-driver, sometimes with a 3rd driver in another class, and the brakes have held up very well. Only time at an autocross type event where they might start to give you problems is at a test and tune or driver's school where you might be going back out for repeated back to back runs (and I'm talking dozens of runs over the course of the day).

Yes, you should have no problems with the stock pads and rotors for autocross. For HPDE events I would recommend at least a brake fluid change and brake pad change.

What if any downsides exist to switching to higher performance brake fluid? The only thing my research has shown is dot 5 is less able to absorb water. Does it have any other negative daily driving effects?

Use DOT4.

You'd need to change the fluid more regularly, but what this really means, is that unless you boil it, you need to religiously change it once a year.

I've had a little bit of fade one time when my car had 3 drivers at one event, otherwise no issues. I think a mild pad upgrade (like a stoptech street pad) will be beneficial if you are running a higher grip road tire, but it's certainly not a necessary upgrade.

I have 327 Autocross runs on my car between the two seasons. Still on stock pads and fluid and run a co-driver all the time. 15kmiles. Pads are still strong. No issues.

With Dot 4 do you need to change it every year or just Dot 5?