Had my brakes fail while on track yesterday. Go 70 into a turn and they let go. Motul Fluid, stock rotors and calipers, Hawk blue pads front, pagid black rear. I have never had brakes fail, even on my 4400 lb (with me) e39 M5 they would fade quickly but never ever failed. Track was small tight Talladega Grand Prix.

I went off roading, but fortunately I was in one of the only two corners on the track that did not mean death for my turbo, went off and through a little divot, jumped through the air and that divot kept me from hitting the tire wall. Took out my stock front splitter and one Cup Brake duct, bent the front bumper cover slightly so it will have to be replaced. No radiator damage at all.

I thought I had taken all of the precautions with the ducts, fluid, etc, I never did more than 6 laps consecutively with 1 hr (at least) between sessions. On my fourth session and 4th lap, they let go. I was doing some pretty fast laps but still, I'm a bit disspointed. Looking for better brakes now.

 

Damn D, glad you're ok...the car can be fixed.
Bill

 

I went off going into the turn before the straight on the left side of picture. All of the high speed turns on the outside of the track are banked and I would have jumped into the woods or concrete wall, so from that aspect I am counting my blessings.

 

Heavy, did you find the cause? Did it boil? Brake booster? Hmmmmm thats not good .

 

Thanks Bill, I had a friend riding too, and someone following got it on tape, I'll see if I can get the vid.


On a side note, the H&R Sway Bar changed the car COMPLETELY, if you dont have one and track your car, I would order one right now, I went from massive understeer to easily controllable occasional oversteer, and that's on the stiffest setting so the oversteer can be dialed out as well. -2.5 camber up front and -2 (i think) rear.

 

Neil says it probably boiled, but the brakes werent even smoking after I went off, I let it sit for a half hour and they still never came back, I dont know for sure, but Im not happy about it. I'll know more after Neil takes a look.

 

If the brakes are still bad than your master cylinder went out.

 

Needless to say I'm glad you're OK. Hope to be out there with you next time.

With respect to the brakes, was there any fade at all before they let go?

Again, glad you're OK.

 

Barring any actual mechanical failure it is unusual for "sudden" brake fade? Usually they start getting soft and respond to a pump or two?
Also have to admit where you went off looks like it could also involve way to much entry speed on a set of brake pads at the end of the day with say less than 50% material?
Glad you and car are ok. Certainly look for mechanical causes, my guess pads were shot at end of day, and nothing personal but I would re-evaluate how you are entering, apexing, and tracking out of that corner!!
tom

 

No, I wasnt even using the brakes all that hard, I did have a passenger and was doing laps as fast as I had done all day. But I dont care what track Im on my brakes should not fail after 3.5 sets of 8 laps with 1 hour in between.

 

The brakes didnt repspond to several pumps before, during and after going off track, I pumped the brakes several times after realizing I didnt have any. When I drove to pit lane I could barley stop from 5 mph. The pedal was still mush even after pressing for several minutes.

The pads had two previous track days on them 4 30 minutes sessions each.

There isnt enough time to get too much speed going into that corner, the previous corner is a decreasing radius sweeper that will give you some momentum but you have to get on the brakes soon after hitting the gas and I was on the brakes early as I had been all day, and soft at that because I liked to carry some speed into that sweeping lefty and keep momentum for the back straight that followed.

I know I'm relatively a noob at this but I know my pads should not fail after so few laps with so much time in between. The brake pedal is working today so I assume that there was no mechanical failure (unless it was a brief one).

 

Well I had similar issues back in April. I'm going back to the track (To summit Point WVa's Shenandoah Circuit. I have bled the brakes w/SRF and installed some 3inch front ducts with spindle mounts, and 2inch rear ducts w/spindlemounts. I hope the cool air that is being directed straight to the rotor FACE will help stave off the issues these cars seem to have.

I'll report after the weekend...

Mike

 

this is your only solution! thats what i did!

 

My dad just told me that, that stinks. You'll find out tomorow how weird my dad really is

 

Its quite odd that they failed out of the blue. As already stated, they usually start fading more and more until they simply loose most/all of their stopping power.

I would attribute a sudden failure like this to a faulty master cylinder or a massive brake fluid leak....