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Ive had issues over the last few weeks with my brakes squeeling at relatively low speeds (seems like mostly under 30). A quick google found a lot of sites that suggested that, whilst it may be a problem with the way the caliper is located to the dish, it happens a lot because of the surface coating of the brake disc.
A way it suggests that can cure it is by accelerating to around 40-50mph and braking resonably hard, and repeating a fair bit, thereby getting some decent heat into the brakes and adjusting the chemical make up of the brake disc surface. It was suggested on lots of sites, some motoring sites as well as encyclopedias and such.
So anyway, driving home tonight (in the damp) i thought i'd give it a go. Admittedly, probably did it abit to much, spent the best part of 5 miles constantly braking resonably hold somewhere around the threshold for the conditions. I was able to smell the brakes a little.
I dont know, yet, if its cured it, i guess il find out in the morning. Anyhow, i parked on our drive and got our to have a quick look, and noticed that the right side disc was glowing a dull red colour, somewhere around 600 C. First things first, i paniced a little, thats probably overdone it just a little !
I wouldnt have been too worried though. I wandered around to the other side of the car and checked the left front, and to my surprise the disc itself was its normal colour. There was heat coming from it, you could feel and smell it, but it wasnt glowing, and was therefore a good 400+ degrees cooler.
So this got me worried abit. I know i'd been using them quite a lot, probably to the kind of extent they would be used if i was racing the car around a track (though i was never braking from more than 60mph, down to no lower than 20mph), and wouldnt have been quite as worried had the temperatures been roughly similar.
As far as im aware, the discs and pads are both made of the same material by the same company.
Therefore, is this something i really need to get checked out and furthermore, is it a bad sign if the brakes are getting that hot, even considering how much i'd used them? |
RV and bus conversion info since 1996.
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