Brakes - avoiding brake fade

[lofty]

i had a long race with a heavily modded suzuki swift GTi earlier, and i had to bottle it because i started to lose loads of brake power, this is Brake fade i assume? caused by the discs/pads getting very hot, i wouldlike to resolve this, preferably using the standard discs, anyone (Benr particularly) reccomend a good alternative, (i assume im running staard pads on the front, i put the rears in my self and they are standard but im not worried about the rears)

thanks in advance

lofty

P.S i dont want to have to wave past a 1300 jap crap car again!!

 

[BenR]

the only time i have experienced brake fade was when i was in a megane convertable with 3 other blokes in all about 200lbs. Steaming along a downhill road for about 3 miles with lots of tight corners after long straights. The brakes got too hot, baked themselves, and wheni got to the roundabout, i just shot across....dangerous....no brakes at all. But you really shouldnt experience brake fade too easily....maybe you were being a bit harsh on them.
But, standard discs are fine, its the pads that make the real differnce, but its the discs job to get rid of the heat. SO, anything along the lines of mintex 1144 or ferodo ds2000 or if you want ds2500. All good pads and will help prevent fade.

 

[lofty]

they were put under exceptional stress, the incident was on the ring road between frenchay and lomgwell green, where its dual carriagway and roundabouts every mile or so, I was constantly flat out up to 125 then hard back down to get round the round abouts, on the 8th or 9th roundabout i struggled to stop, although its going to be a very rare problem it is a serious problem.

Wheres the cheapest place to get the pads ben? hoopers? or is there a cheap on line retailer?

thanks for your help

lofty

 

[telford_mike]

Blimey Ben, 3 adult passengers in a Megane convertible??? I can barely fit a 6-pack in the back of mine! The back seats were so useless I bought a roadbox which replaces them most of the time.

 

[paddie]

You can also try using DOT5 or 5.1 brake fluid. Its more resistant to boiling than the standard DOT4 stuff in the car. Very often a soggy pedal after hard driving is caused by the brake fluid boiling.

 

[telford_mike]

So why dont they put DOT 5 in as standard? Cost?

 

[BenR]

Mikeot 5 absorbes atmospheric moisture faster and becomes more dangerous as it loweres the boiling point. Dot 4 is fine, try the castrol synthetic stuff as it doesnt absorb moisture as fast.
The people in the back of the megane were almost standing!!!!!
a total of almost 800 lbs of weight!!!!

Its more likely that it was the pads not the fluid as there was no braking, not just a soggy pedal. Your pads might also be baked on the outside which means drive carefully till the crispy layer is off.
Loftys thats road the one on the way to double D tyres?

 

[BenR]

bloody things, faces are meant to be semi colons.

 

[lofty]

Ben, yeah, the frenchay to keynsham/bath ring road, get up there its fantastic,

i think i will bleed the brakes and fit some uprated pads, which should give me more direct improved braking.

 

[Ben H]

Lofty - I went on that road a few weeks ago and its OK - but what you really need to do is come over to Wales. Go to mid-Wales, and i can tell you where all the magazines do their tests.

P.S. I thought that my car was feeling a bit slow when I went on those roads to keynsham. I thought it was the hot air. turned out that one of the fuel lines to my power boost valve was loose and was leaking petrol everywhere - lucky escape eh??!!