sleepinghatch said:
how do you determine "fade"? i dont understand exactly what that is
When you hit the brakes, as you know, heat is created. The heat is absorbed by the pad and rotor mainly, and under normal braking the two do a good enough job of absorbing the bulk of the heat themselves. But under hard prolonged braking, the heat saturation point of the pad and rotor is quickly reached and heat radiates further, into the caliper and the brake fluid. When the pad and rotor are fully heated, the ability to create sufficient friction between the two is greatly reduced, and when brake fluid boils you lose pressure in the brake lines. These two situations create brake fade, it takes a longer distance to get the car to come to a stop.
Lay on the brakes the next time your coming to the end of an off ramp. From 75 mph or so, lay on the brakes for about 4-5 seconds, let off, then hit the brakes again, you'll then feel brake fade.