Can anyone offer some advice to a novice?

To put it simply- is brakefade when the brakes get steadilly less reponsive following heavy breaking?

On my way home tonight i thought that i would see how good the brakes were in my octy vrs. From a totally legal 70 i stamped on the brakes and it stopped well. I did it again twice (it was an epty road!!) but the brakes seemed to get less responsive on the third time and also afterwards when i was driving on the rest of the way home - normally!

Is this brake fade. By the way I only have 800 miles on the car?

thanks for any advice

Ken

basically yes

brakefade comes when the pads get beyond their working temperature.They start to give off a gasfrom the working surface ,this gas forms between the disk and pad,as it then forces the two apart and there is yer brake fade...

drilled disks will help if its a problem or pads with a higher working temperate ie fast road or competition pads will get hotter before gassing. Some can get red hot when working - very impressive at some night races!

marc

IS this where uprated dot4.1 fluid comes in handy? (at least over normal stuff?)

sorry for my inept lack of car knowledge, but what is dots all about?

Is it brake fluid? and how would that help when it's the pad/disc that causes the fade?

One of the reasons you are experiencing fade is because the brake fluid gets hot and becomes less viscous. I believe the DOT rating is something to do with the fluids relative boiling point, among other things, but I stand to be corrected. My understanding is that better quality fluid will absorb more heat so the system continues to work for longer....

Chris

Quite right Chris.

Fluid isn't the only thing that can go wrong though. Pads have different friction coefficients at different temps as well.

Do a search on brake fade IIRC there is a descriptive thread on it.

So, pads (DS2500) fluid (super DOT 4) and that should really help. If you have the extra

And braided hoses

Chris

Not required.

Octavias have reinforced hoses with a rubber sheath over the top anyway

The thread is here: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2210&highlight=brake+fluid+fade

You're too modest, Jon

I thought Real had posted it, not me

Ho hum, hope it helps anyway