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Main causes of brake fade
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- Created on Friday, 24 August 2012 20:00
- Last Updated on Sunday, 21 July 2019 16:58
- Written by Site Admin
- Hits: 22011
Experiencing fading brakes? Brake fade is a reduction (or total absence) of the stopping power of your brake system that occurs as a result of overheated brake pads. Simply put, it's when you push on pedal and the vehicle doesn't slow like you planned. No amount of additional foot pressure can make you stop quicker. While it is most commonly associated with race cars and heavy trucks that put high demands on the braking system, as you'll read below it can occur on any vehicle that uses friction based deceleration.
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It's a particularly significant issue compared to other system failures because once the driver has hit the brakes - they've already committed to the event and there isn't much time to correct when it goes awry. Brake fade manifests itself with a very firm yet ineffective brake pedal. So if you're reading this and your braking issue is not accompanied by a firm or hard brake pedal - you don't have brake fade. You will need to look deeper for your issue.
So how do you know if you have brake fade?
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- Your brake pedal is firm (soft pedal is a different condition)
- Your brakes are not effective.
- Pumping the brake pedal does not help
- Once the system has cooled, performance usually returns (although permanently at a reduced effective level as you'll read later!).
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How do you solve this?
Cooling of the brakes is essential - particularly on 'heavy braking' circuits or events. The heat generated during braking is stored in the discs and must be dissipated by air-flow through and around the disc. Failure to do this will result in reducing brake efficiency and in the extreme, increasing brake pedal travel and loss of retardation. Brake heat is removed by using ducted air directed into the 'eye' of the disc, through the internal vanes - and across the braking faces. It is important to ensure that the heated air escapes from the wheel and wheel-arch - otherwise air-flow is restricted and temperatures will increase. This is very much vehicle specific, there are no general rules.
Grooves in the surface of a brake disc for high performance vehicles perform three basic functions:
