New owner brakes on fire!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thad1]

Just drove my 1999 T5 GT home, gave it the beans a few times, got home parked up front brakes almost on fire!!

It felt like the brakes were on as I drove up the road so deffo cooked them, may have warped the disks as well lol

What is the best course of action?

[dalhousie2008]

fit a porsche set up

[dalhousie2008]

but sounds like something is sticking, or your very heavy footed on brakes, must have had fade?

[thad1]

They were starting to fade yes, I was driving it very hard and abusing the brakes!

Feels like the front drivers side is sticking now!

[thad1]

I think I will let them cool down and go for a gentle drive!

It felt like the disks may have warped but I think that might be brake pad stuck to the disk!

[dalhousie2008]

strip them down inspect and re grease sliders and then take for a drive and see, youll notice if theres a warped disc. a judder on pedal when braking, also check it doesn't pull when braking.

[dalhousie2008]

to be honest the standard brakes arn't the best

[thad1]

seems the pad's have a very low temp range, destroyed at 400c lol

I used to have a Porsche 944 T cup with big red's, that was a proper setup!!

Old scooby had the Ap racing 330 kit on with ds3000 again awesome!

The volvo setup seems ok, I am guessing the pad's are the real weak point!

[Al115]

Heavy car, remember.

[thad1]

Just been out and all is back to normal!

Not sure why the coolant warning light is on though as it has not used any and it's still on max!?

[Wobbly Dave]

check the sensor connection to the expansion tank & ensure that the float is freely floating in there too.

Sticky calipers are not unknown.

[thad1]

check the sensor connection to the expansion tank & ensure that the float is freely floating in there too.

Sticky calipers are not unknown.

ok will do!

[JUDGENINJA]

Consider changing the fluid if you are going to inspect the brakes most of the mechanical stuff can be inspected, but if the fluid is old you'll get poor performance from premature over heating

[I want a T5]

I looked into this warping disc malarkey some while ago and found some interesting info somehwere that said that brake discs do not warp! You may get run out but that is more likely a cause of ill fitement or uneven wear.

Judder is more often caused by deposits left on the disc from uneven heat dissipation. This is often caused by standing on the brakes and then keeping the pressure on when the at a standstill so the discs actually bond to the pad surface which leaves a hardened deposit ingrained into the surface of the disc. Skimming can shift this but it seams that the cost of skimming is almost as much as a new set.

At least your discs seem ok now which is good and pardon my waffling on! Just an interesting point!

[thad1]

I looked into this warping disc malarkey some while ago and found some interesting info somehwere that said that brake discs do not warp! You may get run out but that is more likely a cause of ill fitement or uneven wear.

Judder is more often caused by deposits left on the disc from uneven heat dissipation. This is often caused by standing on the brakes and then keeping the pressure on when the at a standstill so the discs actually bond to the pad surface which leaves a hardened deposit ingrained into the surface of the disc. Skimming can shift this but it seams that the cost of skimming is almost as much as a new set.

At least your discs seem ok now which is good and pardon my waffling on! Just an interesting point!

I think you are right mate!

once I had used the breaks a few times the pad deposits cleared and they were fine again!

I just think the pad's have a very low tolerance to heat so basically start to fall apart if they get too hot!

I will invest in some performance pad's as soon as I can, to be honest though I probably wont drive it that hard again, I thought as I had just bought it I should give it some abuse and see what breaks (if anything)
Nothing did and even the coolant warning light has gone out now ha ha

[Porcine_Aviator]

Consider changing the fluid if you are going to inspect the brakes most of the mechanical stuff can be inspected, but if the fluid is old you'll get poor performance from premature over heating

I agree, brake fluid is hygroscopic and after a time it soaks up water, which makes the brakes feel spongy.

[thad1]

The car has a full history and was serviced 4k miles ago, pedal feels firm with good initial bite so fluid seems ok!

[SteveRuss]

The car has a full history and was serviced 4k miles ago, pedal feels firm with good initial bite so fluid seems ok!

The brakes on my Volvo C70 T5 (RIP) weren't great at all. Lots of brake fade etc.. The only way out is to fit a decent set of pads and disks at the same time. The stock ones are for normal sunday driving in my experience. Give it a couple of boots with hard stops and they give up.

Warping the disks under temperature is apparently nearly impossible. A lot of brake centres give that old story when they want to sell you some new discs but it's generally considered to be a load of bull...

[thad1]

ok that's great, I guessed it was the pad's as the disks are quite big and vented as well so thought it had to be the pad's. What are the best ones for fast road use, would DS2500 be about right?