hot brakes

I put on new rotors and pads in August. The car has only two hundred miles or less since then.

But today I went down a long hill, for about 3-4 minutes. It isn't Pikes
Peak, but I had to apply the brakes lightly the whole time.

Afterwards, I could very definitely detect the smell of the brakes coming into the car. When I parked, the wheel was hot to the touch.

Is this normal for new rotors and pads? Thanks.

It's called brake fade. Do a websearch on the subject, it's a big issue. Basically, it's the phenomenon of brakes becoming less effective as they get hot, i.e. fading. Just what happens. When people upgrade or modify their brakes, one of the main goals is to reduce fade.

that's called brake fade, a sign that your brakes were in fact overheating and probably starting to glaze. the heat decreases the friction between your pads, requiring you to work harder to get the same braking power. being that you were going down a long hill riding your brakes would explain it.

Thanks to all. Yes, I knew heat would build up but had never experienced such a powerful smell before I had changed the brakes/rotors. So I will happily take it that it is not some extraordinary heat buildup, but rather the new parts causing the strong smell.

But there is an important followup: I also had noticed reduced braking power while the smell was present. After the brakes had time to cool off, normal braking power returned. What would account for that? It had me quite concerned while the condition existed.

I agree with the other responders .....as long as both front brakes seem to be getting equally hot.
I've had a problem since doing my pads and rotors where one side got hot enough to turn the rotor a slightly blue color, and the other side was at room temperature. It was an intermittent problem due to the caliper slides or caliper piston hanging up on one side. I think I have cured it ..but still watching.
I sure got the brake smell as well when it was acting up. Thought I felt just a little something in the steering wheel at 55 the other day ..so may have gotten some warpage in the new rotor due to the heat too. Darn.

this is normal for ANY pads and rotors. if you're going down a long hill, or even if you're slowing down to get off an exit ramp, downshift and let the engine do the work so you don't overheat and warp the rotors. this works with automatic or manual transmissions and will lengthen your brake life.

"Mike Romain" wrote

Hey, did you ever go 4X4ing out at Mclean creek or
Waiperous?

I was in the Canadian Rockies and don't recognize those names.

Now I wasn't usually with any locals so I could have but not known it?
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

the sum of all energy in any system is always equal, though their forms may change. when you are moving forward, you have kinetic energy. when you want to slow down, you have to change that kinetic energy into something else.

the purpose of your braking system is to change that kinetic energy into heat through friction. the harder you step on the brake, the more friction and heat builds up. the heat then dissipates into the rest of your brake, suspension, and wheel components and eventually into the air. your brakes go through this every time you step on the brakes while in motion.

over time, if this occurs too often at too high a temperature (beyond their design capacity), the rotors may warp, or your pads may glaze. this is typically caused by riding the brakes (old people or two-footers), or frequent hard stops (young people or mailmen).

You should pulse the brakes and/or use a lower gear on long down hills.

Keeping a steady pressure on them can lead to total pedal failure if they get hot enough to boil the fluid. It happens, but usually only with heavy vehicles and serious long hills.

That goes for any age brakes.

I lived in the Rockies and when I hit a hill that had a truck warning on it, I would drop a gear in a manual and lots of times drop to 2 in the automatic.

If I was doing 65 mph on a good road, I would let it climb in drive to
70 or 75, depending on how straight it was, then hit the brakes and drop it to 65 or 60 pretty fast, then let it slowly climb back up and do it all over again. If it climbed too fast, it was gear down time when I hit the 60 mark.

Doing that lets them cool off.
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

"Mike Romain" wrote

Those places are in the Canadian Rockies, just west of Calgary where
I live. If you were off roading west of Calgary at all, then those would be the places. I don't go offroading myself, (other then when I drive into a ditch), but I've been out camping in those areas and have seen lots of trucks running around...actually, maybe too many of them.

My experience has been the same. Brakes get hot if you ride them and hot new brakes will give off more of a smell more than old hot brakes.