Drift_King

iTrader: (1)

I took my brother-in-law out for a quick blast yesterday during the 5 mile round jouney I happened to brake from silly speed down to a stop for a roundabout - almost didn't stop as the brakes gave in, luckily no one on the roundabout to cause me a 'red face' amonsgt other things. Daft I know! Anyway, didn't do much braking up to this point or afterwards, however got out to let him have a spin a min later and the front brakes had loads of smoke coming from them (I should have video'd it). I was papping it thinking they were going to catch fire. The discs/pads are 600miles old maybe (new tyres too). Does anyone think this will have done lasting damage? They seem to work OK today but still worried about them. Glad I didn't track it as I'd have been in trouble after one lap!

scoobynewbie72

iTrader: (1)

what pads are u using ?
I used some standard compound mintex on a old car I owned and they caught fire , well smoked well, once id got them hot a few times it stopped smoking.
hth
Brett

Drift_King

iTrader: (1)

I have DS2500 and Black Diamond discs. I used to hammer the stock ones but never had anything like this happen. 120-0 is not normal though

Shark Man

600miles is not enough to properly bed in pads - especially if the cars was previously driven sedatly or seen nothing but motorway/slow city use before being hammered....they'll still be gassing off. So yes they'll stink and can smoke.

Little tip when cooking brakes: avoid comming to a sudden halt - always keep moving, even if its a snails pace. As sitting stationary can cause spot deposits on the disks and you'll end up with brake judder. So if they get so hot that performance decreases, then they'll need 10 minutes of cruising without using them to cool them back down - not easy, I know, just try and totter about on the last bit of the journey.


I never forget the day I turned up late for work in my Nissan Sunny banger after hammering it to get there (with new pads). And when walking into the office a collegue points to the wheels saying "erm, I think your cars on fire"

Drift_King

iTrader: (1)

I liked this bit of you comment - "especially if the cars was previously driven sedatly" - does anyone drive an Impreza sedately? They have seen plenty of action from 200miles onwards. When I said I came to a stop, that was slightly incorrect as they wouldn't stop me so I crawled onto the roundabout, drove another couple of miles before getting out. I was so scared after this that I parked the car up in gear so no brakes would be involved. I hope this is to do with them being relatively new.

Has anyone had them set alight? Is it game-over at that point or once put out and cooled, are they likely to be OK again? Just wondering if new discs/pads required in those circumstances?

matchmaker

A bit of "spirited" driving can kill standard brakes quite quickly on many cars especially if they are marginal to begin with. I've had brake fade many times - worst time was on a Dolomite Sprint when I couldn't stop at a t-junction and ended up in a farmyard

The front discs were glowing red

On a track day at Knockhill I've had both front and rear brakes on my Octavia smoking, but with little loss of efficiency

amazingjames

when i had my evo 4 a few years back i left it parked up for a month and then drove it on a motorway. slowing down from around the hundred mark to standstill quite quick i noticed smoke coming from the front disks on both sides and got out to have a look. they were glowing oromge with plumes of smoke coming from them. i put it down to the rust that had grown on them and me rubbing it off by slamming on the brakes hard.. it never happened again but iv brohe harder at higher speeds since... i think its just burning cpap that gets builkt up on the disk and nothing to worry about..