what is brake fade???? how do ya correct it??? or make it less likely to appear?

 

If I recall correctly it happens when your brakes heat up from a lot of braking.

To eliminate it upgrade to bigger drilled and slotted rotors.

 

ohhhh aiite thanx

 

Punkdork is right, hard use of brakes makes them build heat and start to brake less effectively. You can correct/reduce it in multiple ways. Rims designed to cool calipers and rotors. Larger rotors or vented and drilled items also reduce heat because swept area is larger and cool faster. Finally pads .....look at Performance Friction and others. They reduce heat by material (CARBON, KEVLAR, and other metals are used that don't contain as much heat as a normal semi metallic pad would......

 

And may I add that if you go over a puddle or something with hot brakes on your Maxima, they'll be warped for sure. It happened to me a few years ago.

 

Yuo can tell your brakes are fading when your pedal starts to feel mushy, and your putting a lot of effort with little results.

 

same thing when you are washing your car.....Don't get the wheels wet if your brakes are really hot.

 

Is it the heat in the pads or in the rotor that cause fade. I would suspect in the pad since swaping for Porterfields (high performance pads) seems to help braking alot.

Another possibility for fade and sponginess is heating of the brake fluid / brake line. We should all remember that liquids do not compress. So when the brake line heats up it expands more and the brake fluid can cause greater flexing in the line. I think this leads to the mushy feeling in the pedal.

A hot pad/rotor just causes a no-brake feeling, not necessarily a mushy feeling.

This is why a steel braided / all steel brake line helps performance. Steel bulges much less than rubber hosing.