Hi Pete and list
Nice finish to the topic. I agree on the driving part wrt braking not
downshifting. BTW, I have experience at pad fade as well. Some bedding in
instructions for hi po pads REQUIRE that you "gas them" (or it wll happen
later on in a race more than likely). I experienced pad fade on a full race
240 Z (well, full race motor, stock everything else in the braking
department). Said Z uses the exact same calipers and drum size as TR6. The
acar in race trim was about 1800 lbs. It ran up to 130 mph on the road
course. A TR6 should only experience pad fade with cheap pads or in the
mountains - and preferably never.
GO GET SOME SEMI-METALLIC PADS FOR YOUR TR'S.
BTW, further on the rotor kick, my GT has Cross drilled rotors as well -
NEVER experienced pad fade OR fluid fade in a race even though they
discolored the silver manifold paint I used on the rear drums and caused the
Revolution alloy wheels to become so hot as to be untouchable. There. Said
it. However you do it, make sure your brakes get the cooling they need -
or make sure you're using modern components!
Dave T
-----Original Message-----
From: Pete & Aprille Chadwell <dynamic@transport.com>
To: triumphs@autox.team.net <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Date: May 5, 1999 9:22 AM
Subject: TR6 brakes and brake fade
>
>Just wanted to pass along my experience with brake fade in my TR6...
>
>First off, there are two kinds of brake fade. There's PAD fade and there's
>FLUID fade. When the pads have overheated, the bonding material in the
>pads is vaporized and forms a sort of barrier between the pad and the
>rotor. Result: no friction, no brakes. BUT... you still have a pedal.
>The pedal remains firm. Fluid fade is the result of boiling fluid, and
>results in the pedal away entirely. Still no friction, but in this case
>it's because there's no pressure squeezing the pads against the rotor
>anymore, and therefore no brakes.
>
>I've cooked the brakes on my TR6 twice. Neither incident resulted in an
>accident of any kind. (mostly just blind luck, to be honest!) But both
>instances were pad fade, not fluid fade. In both cases I was driving at
>about nine-tenths on roads in the foothills near Medford, Oregon.
>
>A while back I asked the list about the possibility of machining "wiping"
>grooves into the rotors to help evacuate the hot gasses from under the
>pads. You see grooves like this on motorcycles quite often. Now I see
>that Moss offers cross-drilled rotors for TR6 also... that's quite
>interesting, too.
>
>One more note about drving and brakes: I agree with Egil Kvaleberg that
>brakes should not be used to hold speeds on grades. It is also my
>understanding that downshifting to stop for stop signs and traffic signals
>is NOT the proper technique... that this subjects the clutch to needless
>wear and after all, the brakes are easier to change than the clutch.
>Incidentally, from Paul Frere's book entitled "Sports Car and Competition
>Driving" here is an interesting quote:
>
>"It can confidently be said that the merit of a driver is inversely
>proportional to the number of times he applies his brakes unnecessarily for
>a given mileage."
>
>Pete Chadwell
>1973 TR6
>
>
>
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