[DHG-1934]

Is there any way that it could possibly be normal for my front brakes to smoke after *slightly* hard street usage?

Someone finally decided to step up on #1934 today, and although I knew what the outcome would be (it was a Grand Prix), I was happy to oblige. Story for another section. :smile:
Anyway, a small amount of hard braking was involved (probably 70mph to 20 in a fairly short distance), because honestly there was a bit too much traffic for even our short race. A couple of hard ones, no anti-lock activation that I could feel. 1/2 mile later I arrive at my girlfriend's house. As I pull up, I notice that unmistakable scorched brake smell. I get out, and there is SMOKE billowing from under both front fenders. WTF? Is there ANY way that this is normal?
I've noticed that the brakes would smell hot after a bit of getting on it before, and it worried me a bit, but SMOKE?
I hope it's just a case of "switch to XYZ pads and all will be well". Anyone?

Thanks!

Joe

 

[DHG-1934]

Thanks! Whew! :smile:

Joe

 

[rancorkeeper]

Mine have done it once after an hour or so of hard driving on the highway & in town. Nothing too serious, especially if you let them cool off for a bit.

 

[byronyamada]

Once the brakes pads over heat, pads will lose fade temp. will decrease so if happens again you might want to replace the front brake pads. Actually it should be replace right now if you want maximum braking.

 

[DHG-1934]

Sounds like it may be good advice, but I hope that the glaze answer was the right one, not true overheating. If these pads truly overheated, they have no business being on a performance car. There's no way that little bit of braking should have been all it took. Not that I'm any sort of expert, but the braking that was done, while hard, was WELL within the bounds of "normal" braking, IMHO. It's not like I was all over my brakes for 20 minutes, or driving an autocross course. It got one long hard stab and a couple of shorter hard stabs within in a 30 second period. If that's all it takes to damage a pair of hipo brake pads, I'm really dissappointed.

Joe

 

[ELEANOR]

The only material that was smoking was the primer on your rotor's,end of story.