brake fade!!!!

ALL car brakes fade badly after a bit of abuse unless you have HUGE vented disks inside 20 inch wheels... Never drove any car that you couldnt turn the brakes into a very smoky smelly mess after a bit of spirited driving on country roads.

Its caused by heat! The big heavy car being stopped by itsy bitsy cast iron non floating small disks... When they get hot enough the pads produce a kind of vapour (smoke?) and then glide hovercraft style along the disk as you press harder and harder!

Changing the fluid wont help fade!

Buy BIG brakes, loads of disk area, loads of pistons! Big (longer) pads for less localised heat...

As Burgerman says, soft pedal caused by boiling fluid isn't really brake fade, but often described as such.

Big lorry will act as brake if brakes fail...

Does the MR2 have vented disks? You could always see what brakes people put on the Supercharged MR2s and stick them on, or see if brakes from something like a Camry will fit in there. It'll probably be cheapest to find brakes from another Toyota that will fit, rather than buy aftermarket big brakes from Demontweeks etc. I expect the MR2 already has some ducting to chuck air at the brakes?

I plan to get vented discs from some of the Kas / Puma on my Ka as soon as I have cash. And possibly nitrous, which might be a bit hard of thinking of me.

hehe

Presumably drilled/grooved discs would fix the gliding hovercraft style problem but the pads would still melt.

Shaun

I got grooved discs for my Rover 400, made a good difference to the fade!

i seen grooved discs but they aint cheap! £118 a set for the front....hmm that actually aint too bad i guess. what £60 each?

plus some green stuff at £38 hmmmm

Are grooved discs anything special, or can I get the same effect with an angle grinder? They seem to cost a fair bit more than standard vented discs just for a few grooves. I suppose the grooves wouldn't need to be very deep to vent the gas so it would be quite easy to do, but would it be safe or would I be dicing with death?

Shaun

How did they work at matching the bpm, and can they do cross-fade as well as fade out/in?

I would guess they have to be balanced...

Burgerman waffled on in a quite bewildering manner to produce...

Bollocks it wont. Once you boil brake fluid it's knackered. Should be changed at least every 18 months. Brake fluid is hydroscopic (absorbs water from atmosphere). No point in putting massive great big 8 pot Brembos and

or alternatively just put decent brake pads in, change the fluid, and shove a set of braided hoses on. That'll stop it.

Pete M

So, braided hoses actually improve brake efficiency then ? And here was me thinking they were for improved feel and greater reliability - and for pose value on a 'bike or open wheeled car as well obviously.

I'd start with the EBC pads first. It sounds like they can drop to bits (!), but they don't fade at as low temps as normal pads. I'm not really convinced about grooved disks, didn't someone post pictures of theres here once, clogged with brake dust?

That was for slotted and drilled disks for the Ford, not the Ford component admittedly but essential for Alpine driving in an automatic vehicle that weighs over three tonnes all up.

Crikey.. I remember when I had my standard Rover 620SLi front discs replaced, Humphries (who incidentally, I wouldn't go near with a barge pole again) said "ooo, those are expensive - £90 each". The whole job was about £320 and they broke my bloody ABS sensor!

Bigus

Ah, didn't think of that. Would probably be handy.

Shaun

A set of EBC Greenstuff pads - they'll cost about £30. Good idea to replace your discs at the same time - your local Motorfactor will sell you a pair for about £30 again.

Agreed.

ROFL :)

All proper cars have vented discs :)