Fading brakes on 2001 V70 t5

reinier claasen · Post by **reinier claasen** » 08 Jun 2009, 01:13

Hi guys. I'm sitting with a problem of my brakes fading majorly after a couple of hard brakes. After about 4 times of hard braking from about 160 km/h (100 miles/h) to about 60km/h(96miles/h) the brake become very spongy or soft, not braking well at all. What do you recommend. I heard that it could be the brake fluid becoming too hot and that the brake pads is getting too hot. What high performance pads and brake fluid do you recommend?

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 08 Jun 2009, 06:15

All of those things you mention could be related and yes, some performance pads (not necessarily rotors) could help such as the Euro Akebono pads, but after hard braking you're going to have some fading anyway. New fluid will also help. Make sure you use DOT4+. Don't use DOT5- it is silicone based and will gunk up your brake lines. What pads are you using now?

reinier claasen · Post by **reinier claasen** » 08 Jun 2009, 06:55

not sure. it's still the same that I bought it with two months ago. What pads do you reccomend

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 08 Jun 2009, 08:39

reinier claasen wrote:Hi guys. I'm sitting with a problem of my brakes fading majorly after a couple of hard brakes. After about 4 times of hard braking from about 160 km/h (100 miles/h) to about 60km/h(96miles/h) the brake become very spongy or soft, not braking well at all. What do you recommend. I heard that it could be the brake fluid becoming too hot and that the brake pads is getting too hot. What high performance pads and brake fluid do you recommend?

Are you racing the car?

It sounds like the fluid is boiling in the caliper. You might want to switch to a synthetic fluid to give an extra 100 degrees or so before boiling or at least change to new fluid as the old fluid may have absorbed some moisture which will reduce its boiling point. Do your wheels have plenty of opening for cooling air to get in? Are the vents on the discs clear?

You can switch to slotted and/or crossdrilled rotors to help with the cooling.

It could also be the pads. When some of the compounds get too hot, they emit a gas between the pad and disc and your braking power is lost. Akebono and ECB make some good aftermarket pads.

If necessary, you can rig up some air ducts to direct fresh air from the bottom of the car directly onto the brakes.

reinier claasen · Post by **reinier claasen** » 09 Jun 2009, 00:48

he he he... not racing officially but I do have a bit of a heavy foot. As you can see in the following photo, there is more than enough ventilation for the brakes. I think I will have to change the brake fluied and pads.