Front brake fade - need advice

gdouaire said:

pontiacgp said:

what kind of pads are you using and did you break them in properly? What residual valves are in the proportional valve?

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Pads are ceramic. Could a dozen stops ruin them and create the symptoms I experience?

No documentation on what's in the prop valve in terms of residual valve.

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More concerning however, is that if you don't intentionally establish a good transfer layer on your rotors, you may do it accidentally when you really heat the brakes up for the first time through aggressive driving. Then you run the risk of getting uneven pad deposits on your rotors, which means the dreaded thud-thud-thud vibrations when you step on the brakes. In the worst case scenario, your rotors may not even be recoverable, which means you'll need to buy new ones. That's always a fun scene at the dealership, when they tell you need new front and rear pads and rotors, and by the way, that will be $1,000 please.

Finally, during a proper bed-in cycle, the rotors are introduced to heat stress through a progressive temperature increase. The rotors are brought up to temperature over time, rather than being instantly shocked at an extremely high temperature. Ramping up the heat in the rotors prepares them for heavy use as the metal gradually expands. Wild temperature swings from very cold to very hot are the greatest cause of cracked rotors, which is something we're obviously trying to avoid.

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Why don't you recommend Ceramic Brake Pads?


Let's start by saying that ceramic brake pads have a place in the automotive industry. They were designed to be a low-dust, noise-free brake pad. They came into popularity after the discontinued use of asbestos-based brake pads. At that time, semi-metallic pads exhibited problems with higher noise and dust levels.
Ceramic Brake Pads were NEVER designed to be a performance brake pad! Some companies have done a terrific job marketing their higher-priced, ceramic pads to the consumer as a performance pad. Ceramic brake pads typically have lower friction coefficients, and act as an insulator - raising rotor temperatures in cast-iron disc systems. When you have a vehicle that has persistent braking problems- the last thing you want to do is install components that have a LOWER friction coefficient and that RAISE effective operating temperatures! See our section on how this can cause ' Warped Rotors "

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