evan

Imagine this scenario as a "friend" described it to me: You're on a long and straight country road cruising with both windows (or the top) down... of course you can't resist going fast on that straight road so you get the TT up around 100 mph, then moderately brake to 60 as you approach a friend's car ahead. Hours later in the day on the same road, you get the car up around 120, then brake moderately to 80 mph. Both periods of braking were say, five or six seconds (a guess.) A couple seconds after coming off the brakes, the cabin of your car is filled with the smell of HOT brakes. Later you park, and see that your front rotors have a blue stripe where they got really hot (see photo.) The car is equipped with EBC Greenstuff Kevlar pads.

Whoa, I told my "friend." I had no idea the brakes would heat up that much, that fast. The car has been on the track before without the same experience, but the braking was less severe (novice track event.) Mr. Friend also tells me that he doesn't normally use his brakes this hard, though a StopTech upgrade may be in his future before any more track time.

Some opinions, please. Normal for OEM/EBC combination?

<IMG SRC="http://www.evan.com/tt_pics/blue_rotor.jpg">

suw1p1n

Hi Evan.... how was Mt. Shasta??

Colonel Bogey

Not here, Evan. Does he have plenty of pad as EBC wears fast?

Lasse Norway

In situations like that I brake hard and short
to avoid the heat. Ahem.. It sounds a bit unlogic
since it is the same amount of energy which is
to be discarded... But I think the time is an issue.. Maybe.. Perhaps..

Larrytt

you were on the brakes too long and literally baked the rotors.

That is why when braking it is not supposed to be a gradual press of the pedal until you are slowed. I am NOT saying to slam on the brakes, but there is a middle ground so that you don't bake the rotors/pads. It is like riding the brakes down a mountain road. Something most people do then lose the brakes at the bottm or somewhere in the middle and don't understand why.

The TT does not dissipate heat very well from the brakes and needs a chance to cool the rotors. but having the pedal depressed from 120-80 and 100-60. If you were braking moderately as you said from those speeds to slow 40mph, it would take either a pretty long time, longer than 5 or 6 seconds or hitting the brakes fairly aggresively for 5 or 6 seconds to slow to those speeds. Either way, you had your foot on the brakes for a long period of time, you might have been just resting it there. How do the rears look? Or is this just the fronts?

How do the brakes stop now? Do you feel a shimmy in the pedal and the wheels? You might have warped the rotors, though you can't tell just from a picture. You can only tell that from using the brakes. How much pad material is left? Did the wheels discolor at all? How hot were the wheels to touch? These are also signs of overheated brakes.

squalo555

The reason for the smell is that you're burning off all the adhesive in the pads. That's actually why you break racing pads in. EBC Greens are probably good for the street if you're doing a lot of that kind of driving.
I just did a track event with my TT. I had track pads and was able to get them so hot that the calipers changed colors! I'm planning to do a brake upgrade to StopTechs or AP's or Brembos because I want them to be able to dissipate more heat.

MichaelTT

except 'bluing' band was almost entire width of the rotor...strong smell too...I always found this normal for this type of brake (eg non HIGH performance type) high speed braking and threshold braking will push the edge of the TT system even with performance pads and rotors. Blue appearance wears off quickly...

Colonel Bogey

Have an idiot friend from college (can't help but like the guy) who bull $hitted his way into a job trucking tomatoes into the Valley. He missed a shift and rode the runaway truck standing on the brakes the whole way down the mountain (first day on job).

Somehow he made it but there were no brakes left and the drums were red hot...so he took a garden hose to em' and popped the drums one by one (you can see where the idiot part comes in).

Needless to say it was his first and last day on that job.

Anyone know where Ed Burke of NYC is at? I've lost track.

Jason Chen

This happened a few time at 130->70mph. We need to find a better way to cool our brakes.

eharleq

The pad is only contacting the outer half of the disk! I'm sure that might have something to do with the gross overheating of the steel and some pad smoke.