brake cooking

[jett20]

i went on a down hill sprint the other day for fun in my very standard 93 festiva.
about half way down and after some scetchy corners i noticed my brakes had basically stopped working. when i got to the bottom i could smell my brakes really bad and pulled over. when i looked at them they smoking off there nut. lol.
but i let them cool down and now they seem to be ok again.

So i was wondering if any one has made cooling ducts for the front brakes and did make much difference??
thanks

[packrat427]

Just how long of a hill was this ?

You can over heat them for sure , they are not real heavy duty .

You may have had a caliper stick , causing it to keep applying and overheat it , then it freed itself .

Was both sides smoking , or just one ?

[Pu241]

I presume these were the new pads you just installed?
When you swapped them out,did you bleed the brake fluid and replace with fresh?
If not you might want to do that now.
Fresh fluid will contain less water and might holdup better under those kind of conditions giving you braking ability were you had little or none.
Certainly is better for your braking system than the old stuff!
What color is your brake fluid in the reservoir?

[WmWatt]

You might pump the brakes or even gear down if it's a manual shift.
Now that's it winter here in the north I brake less and gear down instead.

Since you just changed the pads I assume you sanded the pins they slide
on so they won't stick. I had to scrape and sand mine last fall because
the brakes were making a grinding noise when I started out on every trip,
letting me know they needed attention.

[packrat427]

I read this several times just to make sure it was not my eyes .. But I see nothing in his post about him replacing his pads ??

Maybe my display is not showing it all to me .LOL :p:p

[Pu241]

There is not!
Separate post, that I remember him having squealing issue with his brakes and he posted he had replaced the front pads.

[neanderpaul]

You might pump the brakes or even gear down if it's a manual shift.
Now that's it winter here in the north I brake less and gear down instead.

Brakes are cheaper to replace than engines, clutches and transmissions.

[packrat427]

Ahh.. I was afraid of that , I did not remember that post .

So with new pads so recent , I guess a caliper could get stuck or cocked in the bore and stick . I had that happen the last time I replaced mine .
I had to replace my caliper with a set I got from Skeeter .

[Pu241]

also possible that pads haven't "bedded in yet" and old brake fluid boiled because of water or degradation.
Thus my suggestion of new fluid DOT 4 (U.S. designation of higher performance brake fluid than standard DOT 3 fluid) higher boiling point.

[ejp2fast]

too much of that and your rotors will be toast. for hills, never have constant pressure all the way down... like PU said, your brake fluid probably boiled..

[jett20]

hi all thanks for all ur replies. the hill is about two km long and pretty steep. towards the end of the hill the corners become much sharper and thats when i cooked the brakes, i had to apply them much harder and after every corner they became significantly worse till i just had slow cruise down the last two. when i got of the car both brakes were smoking. No i havent changed the fluid yet but will definately before i go on anther run anywhere. The fluid is dark green, id say at the end of its life. oh and its the middle of summer here.
I've been doing the repairs myself from the haynes repair manual (i think thats the brand of the book) and it didnt have anything about sanding that i saw so i didn't sand the pins but next time i change the brakes i will see if that helps. i probably will do the brakes again soonish because i didnt get the rotors machined because i was just seeing if i could change the pads myself, but next time i think ill buy new rotors and and install them and new pads (more pricey pads).
the brakes feel fine again so im not too worried. but i will definatly change the fluid soon.

thanks for all ur help guys.
i think ill still give the cooling ducts ago and back to you if it works..

[Pu241]

Your not going to install rotors unless you're ready to replace bearings, if your '93 festiva is the same model as the US model the rotors and bearing are presed on.

[jglutz]

I change pads and shoes regulary...they're so cheap.

Anyway...I go thru some hard braking stints at time and have never had a problem...I would belive that their is either a mechanical or hydraulic problem causing one of the wheel to the majaroity of the breaking causing it to over heat. I would review and check all of the components.

[elcamino1]

Check to make sure the rear brakes are grabing,your fronts may be your only brakes stopping your car!

[Festarossa]

Is there any way to remove the rotor from the hub WITHOUT a press? Thanks.