Cooking brakes - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

T_Terror · 10-11-2004, 06:57

I recently replaced all my brake gear withNulon brake fluid (i htink its DOT4), RDA disks and EBC pads on my EA s-pak.

Today i gave it a taste of some real action and did some pretty hard driving in my area.

Now the brakes are better than my old ZL Fairlane's, but not by much. After not more than 10 hard-braking stops i could smell the fluid cooking!!! I was pretty shocked, my car wouldnt last a lap at a track day! Id hate to imagine what pushing a AU 1 with the same brakes as mine would be like. Could the fluid really be that bad? Anyone else got some experiences with their Falcs?

fairmont1998 · 10-12-2004, 00:09

Are you sure it was the fluid you could smell and not the pads?

xbgs351 · 10-12-2004, 00:16

That is the pads that you smell.

Did you bed the pads in?

Even though you could smell the brakes, was the car still braking well? Did the pads feel greasy or the pedal migrate towards the floor?

T_Terror · 10-12-2004, 04:50

Well i didnt bed them in straight away as i finished the brakes before i got the engine running and i babied it for a day or 2 while i sorted out the little problems (i bought the car in pieces).

The brakes are working very in normal driving but they fade very quickly eg. any more than 5 on-the-limit hard stops. Yes, i could be wrong it may be the pads, ive got LTD rims so i cant tell without pulling off a wheel. But i touched the brake lines and fluid reservoir and they were damn HOT!

75Hardtop · 10-13-2004, 00:06

Yes, your fluid can be that bad but I'd suggest you need to pull off the pads, sand the surface with some garnet paper (must be garnet paper) - same with rotors, and bed them in properly. I assume you used new pads with new disks - that's probably why they seem to fade. If possible, you should bed old pads with new rotors and vice versa. Then when the new rotor and pad comes together there is more friction on the surfaces and the components can bed together better. Bedding does two things, it degasses the pad by heating it up and forcing the bonding agents to release gasses that are trapped in the pad during manufacturer and secondly it mates the surfaces of the friction components together. If one of these does not occur, then you brakes will underperform. But it could just be the EBCs.........

T_Terror · 10-13-2004, 05:48

Thanks 75Hardtop. I dont think its teh EBCs, everyone ive spoken to says theyre good, even against Bendix Ultimates. Im not so sure its a problem with the bedding in, they changed dramatically in performance when i started riding em to bed them in (1 week after assembly).

As i said, the brakes are very good initially, they just dont last as long as id like.

Anyway, ill be changing the fluid soon and ill sand the pad n disc surfaces when i do that.

Thanks all