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Credit: F87Source



Introduction:

In this product review I will be taking an indepth look at the Paragon Caliper Temperature Indicator Strips (otherwise known as Brake Caliper Temperature Stickers), and go over why anyone who takes their car to the track must have these.

If you’d like to purchase some of these temperature indicator stickers here is a link to Paragon’s site: https://paragonbrakes.com/paragon-ca...icator-strips/



Disclaimer:

Damage/Injury Disclaimer: Any information, guidance, technical advice, coding advice, tuning advice, datalogging advice, installation instruction, calculation, experiment, safety information, or product installation demonstrated in my reviews is to be consumed and or done at your own risk. I will not be responsible for personal injuries, injuries to others or any living being, or any damage to your car, or any property damage.

Monetary disclaimer: I do not make commission, or profits or any kind of monetary gain from the sale of the Paragon Caliper Temperature Indicator Strips (Brake Caliper Temperature Stickers) .

Sponsorship disclaimer: The way my reviews work is that I determine what product that I want to buy and actually use on my own car, and during this process the product that I end up choosing is what I believe is the best option on the market. I then reach out to the company offering the product and ask them if they would be willing to sponsor me in a review, if the answer is yes then I write a review, if the answer is no I would end up buying the product (sometimes at a later date) but I would not make a large review about it. But the critical thing is that I reach out for a sponsorship and not the other way around, this means that the products I am reviewing are actually things I believe in and would use on my own car. This also means that I am not being paid to review something I do not care about. Would I do a review if a sponsor reached out to me? The answer would depend on if I believed in the product, and I would make it clear in my review if this were the case. But at the time of writing this review, such an interaction has not occurred yet.


Time of writing disclaimer: everything I am writing about in this review is described at the time of writing and may not be updated in the future, so there is a potential that things are no longer accurate in my comparisons as parts are changed and upgraded as time passes.


Bias and comparison disclaimer: Throughout this review I will attempt to be as unbiased as possible while drawing comparisons to other products.


Mistakes and Inaccuracies Disclaimer: Throughout my review I will try to be as factually accurate as possible, but there are always chances that I make mistakes and write things that are incorrect/false. If this is the case please point it out to me and if indeed it is true that I am incorrect, I will correct these mistakes and apologize for them. Afterall I am only human, so mistakes can and will inevitably happen.


Subjective Disclaimer: Please note, these reviews are also written in my own opinion, so when I am comparing different products to determine what I see as the best, there are many factors that I go through to form this opinion. Obviously there will be disagreements between people, so I will do my best to objectively determine what I deem to be the best, but at the end of the day it is still just my own opinion whether it be right or wrong. Take whatever I say in my reviews with a grain of salt.



Image Credits:

Images and videos used in this review are all property of their rightful owners as credited below each image, I am just using them for the purpose of this review but if you (the owner of the image) would like them removed please let me know via pm. Otherwise thanks to the respective image owners (I made sure to credit your online name and link where I found the photo) of the photos, without you this review would be so much more bland.



Review Disclaimer:

First and foremost I would like to thank Paragon Brakes for agreeing to sponsor me for this review. Despite this I will remain as unbiased as possible during the review. Please note, the dynamics of this relationship was that I reached out for a sponsorship review and not the other way around. This should demonstrate how I truly feel about these temperature stickers - in the sense that I truly believe it is incredibly useful in determining brake caliper temperatures and ensuring that the brakes stay in a safe operating temperature window. In fact I actually have these temperature stickers installed on my own m2 as of now, and I really like the added data they provide on the car that cannot be obtained from the existing sensors.




What are Brake Temperature Stickers?:


Credit: F87Source


So let’s begin with answering the question “what are brake temperature stickers?”. Brake temperature stickers are as the name suggests, and are essentially stickers that are stuck onto the brake calipers to measure the temperature of the calipers.

The way these stickers work is that they have small little segments on the sticker that correspond to specific temperature ranges. The Paragon stickers have temperature ranges for:

0) Below 121C which is too cool for track use and isn’t recorded on the sticker
1) 121C - 143C
2) 143C - 166C
3) 166C - 188C
4) 210C - 232C
5) 232C - 254C
6) 254C - 280C
7) 280C +

Each of these temperature segments are coated with a specific type of indicator that only undergoes a permanent color change (they go from orange to black) when heated to their specific temperature range. So for instance when the brake caliper reaches a temperature from 121C - 143C the first segment permanently changes from orange to black, and all other segments will stay orange. If the caliper reaches 143-166C then the first 2 segments will permanently change from orange to black while all other segments stay orange. And this trend will continue all across the temperature ranges that these stickers measure.



Why are they needed?:

The next thing to go over is the question: why are these stickers even needed?

Well there are numerous reasons to answer this question, so let's address them one by one:

1) Caliper servicing: The first reason why you should even consider brake temperature stickers is to determine if you require brake caliper servicing. Now not many people know this but brake calipers actually have an ideal operating temperature range for track use, if you exceed said temperature range then you start to deteriorate the dust boots and internal seals in the caliper and shorten their operating life before they must be replaced and the caliper serviced. If you ignore said service, then you risk the caliper leaking fluid if the internal seals fail or the dust boots fail and let debris inside and damage the internal seals, the result is potentially a complete brake system failure. You also risk the pistons jamming if the internal seals or external dust boots fail and end up getting stuck inside the piston bore and jamming the pistons. Both of these results would be disastrous on track or on the street.



For instance here are some examples of the BMW 4 pot blue calipers running extremely hot on track, the result in these cases was the caliper changed color from blue to green and the seals eventually failed. Fortunately in these cases the dust boots failed first, and these issues were caught before the internal seals failed.


Credit: K8_M235i https://www.2addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1747800



Credit: K8_M235i https://www.2addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1747800



Credit: jfritz27 https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...69&postcount=6



Credit: jfritz27 https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...69&postcount=6



With brake caliper temperature stickers you will be able to monitor your brake caliper temperatures after track days and based on the temperature data you get, you will be able to see if you need to service your calipers soon or not. Here is Paragon’s general brake Caliper temperature guidelines:


Credit: Paragon Brakes https://paragonbrakes.com/paragon-ca...icator-strips/



2) Brake fluid determination: Temperature stickers will allow you to determine how hot your calipers get, and thus determine what kind of brake fluid you require.

Now I keep seeing this a lot on the forums and on facebook where people always say “get Castrol SRF it’s the best brake fluid out there”, without any consideration if SRF is even needed - they just know it has the highest dry and wet boiling points of any fluid and that’s it. Well the problem with this advice is that you may not always require Castrol SRF fluid, for example your vehicle usage might not have such extreme braking temperatures that warrant SRF or even racing brake fluid. For example if you Auto X your car and find that your brake caliper temperatures are in a range that is suitable for something like ATE Typ 200, you could save yourself a lot of money by using this fluid instead of SRF or racing brake fluids (you could replace your fluid ~6 times with ATE Typ 200 for a single SRF flush). The same applies if you could use a cheaper racing brake fluid over SRF.

Also note, that SRF is a hydrophobic brake fluid meaning it doesn’t absorb any water leading to its extremely high wet boiling point. But this is also a double edge sword, while you are able to use SRF for longer, you must also note that SRF usage can potentially leave small pockets of water droplets in your braking system that cannot be flushed out by the hydrophobic SRF. So every so often if you use SRF brake fluid it is recommended that you flush the braking system with normal brake fluid which is hygroscopic and can absorb all the water droplets in your braking system and properly remove it. So SRF is also quite high maintenance because you have to do this extra throw away flush of brake fluid to remove the water build up - which can cause issues with boiling if you let it accumulate.

So overall brake temperature stickers can help determine what brake fluid to use on track and thus save you money.



3) Pad determination: Just like with brake fluid, brake temperature stickers can help you determine what brake pad compound to use - and once again, buying the most extreme race pad isn’t always ideal. If your caliper is running on the hotter side you should get a brake pad that operates in that hotter temperature range. If your caliper is running cold you can find a brake pad that operates in the colder temperature range. This extra knowledge will give the best brake performance, because if you aren’t in the brake pad’s operating temperature range you will either risk having: extremely weak brakes (pad is too cold and the coefficient of friction is extremely low resulting in very little “bite”), or extreme brake fade due to an over heating pad.


4) Brake ducting determination: Now we have discussed the potential of running your calipers too hot on track and causing damage to the seals, but there is a different concern with brakes as well and that is running too cold. A lot of car enthusiasts may think running the maximum amount of brake cooling via ducting air to the brake discs and the calipers is always a good thing. But depending on what type of performance driving you do (maybe auto x, maybe track, etc), you might not be generating enough brake temperature to warrant having all of these brake ducts. So the result is you are actually over cooling your braking system resulting in poor braking performance because the brake pad compound is too cold and out of its optimal temperature operating range for sufficient “bite” or coefficient of friction. So having brake temperature stickers will be very useful to see if you require additional brake ducting or not, and this will allow you to create the best possible setup based on your own use case. This will also potentially save you money because you aren’t buying things that you don’t need.

5) Better than laser thermometers: Brake temperature stickers can also be significantly more useful than laser thermometers. Because by the time you pull over into the pits to measure your caliper temperatures, the brake calipers would have already cooled down and dissipated some heat. The resulting measurement will be lower than actual temperatures you have seen on track.


So these are the 5 reasons why anyone who drives their car on the track should have brake temperature stickers.



Paragon Brake Temperature Stickers:

Next let's go over the Paragon brake temperature stickers specifically, and why I think they have the best offering on the market.



Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source


So Paragon offers their brake temperature stickers in sets of 10, that means you have enough stickers for 2 applications on all 4 brake calipers + 2 spares. This means if you find that your brakes are overheating you can make changes to your braking system and replace the stickers to see if the changes helped lower your temperatures. Each set is also only $35.00 USD, which is the lowest I have ever seen for brake temperature stickers. I have never seen another vendor sell as many stickers for as cheap as Paragon, so this is a big reason why Paragon has the best offering on the market.

Edit - It has been brought to me attention that there is another offering out there for a lower price, I believe racetech manufactures them. This alternate option has a bunch of different temperature windows so make sure you select an applicable one.


Next I want to go over the sticker’s dimensions, each sticker is approximately 1.6 cm wide X 4.3 cm tall, so they are very small and compact and will be able to fit on almost every BMW brake caliper in existence.


The Paragon brake temperature stickers are made in the UK by a world leading temperature monitoring products manufacturer, as a result each sticker has an accuracy rating within 1% and is resistant to water and oil. This means that they are accurate, high quality, and durable so you don’t have to worry about them falling off on track or the readings being inaccurate.


Overall when you factor in the price, the quality, and the quantity you get - the Paragon brake temperature stickers are in my opinion undoubtedly the best on the market.



Where are these Stickers Installed?:

Ok moving on, the next topic to discuss is where are these stickers installed? To answer that question they are installed on the brake calipers in 2 specific locations. You can either install them on the face of the brake caliper right above the piston face or on the side of the caliper on the piston bore. Here are images of exactly what I mean:



Credit: F87Source

So in the image above you will see the front brake assembly on the Bmw m2 and other F8X cars with the blue m sport brakes (the calipers will be shared across all Bmw’s with the same 4 pot m sport brakes regardless of color, but not the rotors), I took this picture at my dealership. In the red box that I drew on the face of the brake caliper is where you can place the brake temperature sticker - but it must be above one of the pistons (so you can choose either the left or the right one on either side of the ///M logo).



Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source

In these next 2 images are the top and bottom of the front brake caliper. If you look at the red boxes in these 2 images that is where you can place the brake temperature sticker if you choose to place it on the piston bore. But make sure you place it around the bore itself - so the rounded part (there are 2 bores so you can choose either one) and not the flat spot between the 2 pistons.


The final spot is on the back face of the caliper, but I don’t recommend placing the sticker there because it will be hard to see, and the brake hose coming out the back takes up some space.



The same applies to the rear calipers but there is only one piston, so it is either right in the middle of the face or on the single bore.



Installation Instructions:

Next let's discuss some installation tips. These brake temperature stickers must be installed on an oil and grease free surface - in other words a perfectly clean surface, so a lot of surface prep must be done to ensure these stickers have a clean surface to stick onto.


1) The first step is to clean the brake caliper with soap and water to get rid of any dirt and brake dust. If you ceramic coated the brake caliper you will need to remove that with some sort of a silicone remover (because ceramic coating will negatively affect the ability of the sticker to adhere), obviously you will need to test and ensure it will not damage the caliper paint.

2) The second step is to clay bar the surface of the caliper because the paint is exposed to a lot of brake dust which could have embedded itself into the clear coat.

3) The third step is to rewash the brake caliper with soap and water to remove any remaining brake dust. Make sure to finish off by rinsing with plain water.

4) Use isopropyl alcohol and a microfiber towel to clean the surface where you want to place the sticker. This will ensure any residue from the soap won’t cause any adherence issues.

5) Stick the sticker onto your desired surface (piston face or piston bore) and leave it alone for a few hours before driving again.


That should be it!



Note: If needed, you are able to cut the brake temperature stickers smaller - so essentially you can cut off one of the measurement scales (Fahrenheit or Celsius whichever one you want) from the side and the paragon logo at the bottom. This will make the sticker smaller and open up more mounting spots on the caliper. Just do not damage the orange temperature measurement segments in the middle. If you wanted you technically could cut off the entire sticker and just leave the middle segments, but that is not recommended.



Images on my own M2:

Finally, here are some images of these brake temperature stickers on my personal 2017 BMW M2 with the blue M sport calipers.


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source



Summary:

So overall brake temperature stickers are an incredibly useful tool to determine what: the servicing intervals for your calipers, what brake fluid to use, what brake pads to use, and if additional brake ducting should be added to your car. So anyone who tracks their car should absolutely have some.

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