When is brake fade likely to happen

How important? Brakes are serious business. If you ever encounter brake fade, turn to a qualified technician to assess the situation. Brake fade that's due to excessive heat buildup is likely to go away once your brakes have cooled down, but some types of brake fade don't fade away with time.

At your local Tires Plus, we're ready to handle all of your brake needs, from inspection to repairs and maintenance. Schedule a quick brake check today. Our technicians will help banish brake fade worries! Blog Categories Blog Home. It stops on time—narrowly! That was a close one. What Is Brake Fade Brake fade describes what happens when you experience a sudden decrease in braking ability. What Causes Brake Fade To stop, cars with disc brakes rely on a system made up of calipers, pistons, pads, and rotors among other parts.

Other Types of Brake Fade Aside from the brake fade scenario mentioned above, there are two less common situations in which brake fade can happen. That overheated water boils into steam, which reduces the effectiveness of your brakes. Worn Brake Pads: The third type of brake fade happens when heat generated by braking causes the resin in certain brake pads to degrade. When resin breaks down, it releases gas which creates a film between the brake pads and rotors. During continuous or heavy braking, your drum brake or disc brake system may not have enough time to dissipate all the kinetic energy that gets converted into heat.

And this heat can add up to raise your brake temperature. As the brake temperature crosses a certain threshold, the friction material or brake lining on your brake shoe or brake pad could start to degrade. Essentially, your brake components will stop working as expected, and your braking performance takes a hit. If you notice this happening, have a professional mechanic inspect your braking system ASAP.

Here are five tips you can use to prevent or stall brake fade from happening to your vehicle:. Tip 1: Adopt better driving habits. Tip 2: For applications requiring heavy braking or high braking performance, ensure that you use only brake components from an original equipment manufacturer OEM or other reputed brands.

This is because stock brakes and stock pads are usually more reliable than most other aftermarket parts. Tip 3: Consider using a drilled brake drum set or drilled rotors in your vehicle for better heat dissipation.

Tip 4: Flush brake fluid regularly from your braking system to reduce the likelihood of brake fluid fade from moisture contamination. Tip 5: Make use of fade stop brake coolers to cool down your brake system effectively. While these tips can help you protect your brake system against fade, knowing what to do in situations where your braking force suddenly drops is also vital to stay safe on the road.

This is because driving with defective brakes can severely compromise your road safety. Just get in touch with RepairSmith — an accessible and convenient mobile auto repair solution.

Brake fade is where the brakes on a vehicle suddenly decrease in effectiveness. This reduction in stopping power usually occurs after sustained or repeated application of the brakes, particularly in high speed driving conditions. If you experience brake fade, you would immediately think there was something wrong with your brakes, pads or fluid.

It is absolutely a sensible idea to get your car checked out by a trained technician as soon as possible. But brake fade can have many causes, and can even happen immediately after new brake pads have been installed. When you touch the brake pedal, this activates calipers which cause pistons to press the brake pads against the brake rotors. Friction is what slows and stops the wheels. If there is not enough friction, the process of stopping is slowed down or made ineffective.

As you can imagine, a huge amount of heat is generated when brake pads press against spinning rotors. This excessive buildup of heat causes brakes to become less responsive. However, brake fade can also happen for another reason.

When you replace the brake pads in your car, you may experience brake fade at first until the friction materials have time to embed into the rotor face.

This again is caused by excessive heat buildup from friction at high speeds. Where possible, momentarily remove your foot from the brake pedal to allow the brakes a moment to cool. Avoid panicking and changing into too lower gear for the speed of the vehicle as you may risk damaging the engine.

If your vehicle is fully automatic, you should switch to a lower gear. To avoid colliding with other vehicles, look for escape routes. A grass verge will slow your vehicle faster. Brake Fade Explained. How Does Brake Fade Occur? Is Brake Fade Permanent? How to Prevent Brake Fade. So to try and prevent it, you should be aware of the circumstances in which it may develop, these include: Using cheap, untested brake components. Improperly fitted brake components. Running a vehicle with old brake fluid in the system.

Driving at excessive speeds with heavy brake use.