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BRAKE FADE experienced with 1144's & 048's


Tim_H

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*eek*

I wasn't expecting to have to post this, after fitting the 1144 pads. (never had this trouble on my Cosworth after fitting the similar material)

 

Live Axle 1600XF car, Standard disks & calipers, and 048 tyres.

 

Out for a couple of quite 'serious' blats, through my favourite L - R - L - R etc, road, and I can feel the brakes starting to fade, and last night, accompanied by the famous brake pad smell ☹️

 

What to do next? and will they last up to a trackday next week? - bearing in mind that there's more distance between the corners @ Brands!

 

First thing to try, - change the fluid? - I am unsure of it's age, and have possibly boiled it.

 

Tim

L7 EVN - on the upgradealator

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I've had fade from 1144s at Lydden towards the end of a secession, but have never had a problem with them on the road, or at any other track days. Lots of the Caterham racers use 1144s so they should be OK, best bet is to change the brake fluid first.

 

The pads needed changing recently and I have now changed them for RS15s which don't fad till they reach 900c.

 

Andy.

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So can I - but I've only had them on for a handful of miles...

 

I didn't experience much in the way of fade with 1144s - apart from (IIRC) a trackday at Snetterton (might have been on different pads - it was a long time ago...)

 

The fluid certainly took a pounding at Anglesey - and the pedal went quite soft - but the pads held on.

 

Pad-fade on the road is unusual - unless you live up a mountain, I'd have thought..

 

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Pad-fade on the road is unusual - unless you live up a mountain

 

LOL - or drive like a Driving God, like me 😬 😬

 

Yep, the pads are well bedded in, with plenty of brake dust between washes.

 

suppose a fluid change is in order. (it is normally more of a squashy pedal, than smelly pads) -( oo er missus *confused*)

 

Tim

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Edited by - Tim_H on 14 Jun 2005 18:30:27

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you'd have to be going pretty hard to boil the fluid on the road *eek* I boiled mine on an airfield - in a 2.0VX with full AP racing brake upgrade; and I was killing the brakes at the time.

 

Out of interest how long were you out? Brake fade towards the end of a track session (say half an hour?) is common. If you were driving hard for say 2 hours, I wouldn't be surprised to see a bit of fade on the road. How are the brakes now? If they start a bit strange and then back to normal you're fine.

 

BTW when I boiled the fluid I changed to AP600, and had no further problems. Relatively not that dear either. Just watch its compatibility (rather lack thereof) with Dot4.1, 5.1 etc.

 

Andrew

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Jason had fade on 1144 on big brakes so not surprised on standard kit. I don't rate them as a track pad.

If your braking effeciently is dramatically affected by fade then it's the fronts. They do most of the work.

Try Pagid on the fronts.

 

The standard AP big brake front pads were Ferodo race and they are excellent both road and track.

 

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Edited by - stevefoster on 15 Jun 2005 16:41:41

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BTW when I boiled the fluid I changed to AP600, and had no further problems. Relatively not that dear either. Just watch its compatibility (rather lack thereof) with Dot4.1, 5.1 etc.

 

ISTR that AP600 is Dot 4 compatible - and so will only cause issues with Dot 5 (no .1)

 

Dot 4.1 doesn't exist AFAIK.

 

Confusingly, being as few applications run 'Dot 5', most ordinairy mechanics seem to refer to Dot 5.1 as 'Dot 5'... *mad*

 

Project Scope-Creep is live...

 

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you'd have to be going pretty hard to boil the fluid on the road

 

- Yep. *thumbup* - i've managed it in quite a few cars in the past.

 

Basically if you get to a 90' L R L R L combination, with say 75 - 100 yards between each corner, have a car that'll accelerate like hell between each corner, and stand on the brakes before each corner, you can easily induce brake fade.

Fade is not normally easy to do in a slower car, as the speed doesn't build up enough. (that's why you see LOW GEAR NOW signs on long steep hills, to assist your brakes, as if you're on them to the bottom, they'll have faded to nothing)

 

Brake fade (ie squishy pedal) is the fluid boiling isn't it?

 

Fade can come in two flavours - where the pad material has become so hot, that it doesn't work, (and smells), or boiling the fluid, as it heats up, and becomes ineffective, and the pedal is, yes, squishy.

 

Normally, if you're lucky you can feel fade coming on, so after a slow down for a minute or so, the brakes will normally come back, if you're unlucky, it'll happen at the corner, and you're hedgebound.

 

Fluid is hygroscopic, and absorbs water over time, which helps to lower the boiling point, therefore

reducing braking effort to push the pads against the disks.

 

LIve axle? do you have drums at the back? If you do, could these be a contribution to the fade effect?

Not really, - nearly all the braking is done at the front wheels, as the weight is thrown forwards under deceleration. If there was any significant braking being done at the rear at this time, it would just lock them up, due to the lack of weight on them.

 

 

So - To changing fuid.

I've never done it before. - is the method:

1) Pipette as much as poss out of the resevoir, and replace with new.

2) Bleed through to each wheel for 5 or 6 pedal presses.

3) Top up reservoir.

???

 

Many thanks for your continued interest in this thread. *thumbup*

 

 

Tim

L7 EVN - on the upgradealator

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I know that the main focus of this thread has been on the squishy pedal/boiling fluid aspect, but just wanted to give a thumbs up to the EBC TurboGroove disks as a way of avoiding the hard/ineffective pedal/gas buildup effect.

 

A whole bunch of us have just come back from the Pyrenees where we've been up and down mountain passes all day long. Most of us have std brakes, with 1144 pads but run the EBC TurboGroove disk. Pleased to report that we suffered no fade whatsoever despite some VERY hard driving on occasions.

 

A bit more expensive than the std disks at ~£100 a pair, but in terms of bang for your buck we can't fault them.

 

Kevin Thomas

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Mark, No we didn't but a few of the guys have previously experienced issues under less extreme conditions. So I can't guarantee they had a positive effect but the general concensus of the 4 of us that were running them was that they were beneficial

 

Kevin Thomas

The 7 Gallery... with added BBCi

 

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