Standard Brakes - Why so rubbish??

[Chriscooke]

When I first got my tqs I was actually quite impressed by the brakes, this was until I was driving one of my favorite roads and suffered from massive brake fade to the point I had no pedal and had to power through the corner to avoid understeer while praying it stuck.

I'm guessing I boiled the fluid as the brakes have never been the same since. Seeing as this is my daily driver I don't really want to go messing around with fitting brakes from other cars as `i don't have the time, inclination or the spare cash come to mention it.

What is the best standard fitment upgrade which doesn't cost the earth?

I'm thinking of new pads and disks with a fluid change but is there anything in particular I should be looking at getting, certain brands etc?

 

[aragorn]

What did the pedal do when they faded?

 

[adamss24]

Get the 312mm conversion and it will do just right !

 

[Chriscooke]

Pedal went to the floor with no retardation. Think I boiled the fluid tbh. Not sure when it was last changed.

 

[aragorn]

Could just be crap old fluid, which is why i asked what exactly happened!

I've had my 288's on track a few times, and while they got HOT, they worked well enough, and i was pushing it way harder than i ever would on the road.

If you boiled the fluid, the pedal will have gone spongey and hit the floor. If thats the case then yes, the fluid needs changed. Get some decent stuff in there, like ATE blue, and decent road pads like Ferodo Premier, and i suspect it'll be just fine. Upgrade to 312's is cheap and worthwhile though as chris says.

The alternative is pad fade, where the pedal goes rock hard and the brakes dont work. That needs either better pads or bigger disks/pads to solve.

 

[Chriscooke]

Definitely lost the pedal and the brakes have been poor ever since. The road I lost them on is very much like a hill climb track and I lost them on a down hill stretch. Guess the pads would be worth changing also incase they have glased over?

doesnt help that I'm used to a lighter car with bigger brakes I guess

 

[Bradderz_1988]

As above change to decent pads and ATE super blue maybe get some braided hoses to eliminate sponginess !!

and maybe look at 312mm upgrade !!

As all you will need is carriers and discs, Its that easy !!

 

[Oranoco]

I boiled my fluid on original brakes inside 5 laps at Bedford. Upgrading to 312mm Brembo discs and pads made a big difference and I did about an extra 2 laps before boiling the fluid again. This year I also ran with Bardahl fluid and did a very hard 8 laps before the pedal even began to show signs of starting to go spongy.

 

[jcb]

I got pad fade on a slip road off ramp
scared the shizel out of me?

 

[Broonie]

I suffered from a bad dose of fade last year in the s2000, was in triple figures on a genuinely private road (old air base) which has a at least a two mile straight then onto s bends, had backed off early for the bends but still had to brake and nothing happened! Filled my pants knowing I had next to no control over the speed I was doing and was lucky I backed off early

Cause of the problem? Honda fit utter ****e calipers to their cars and the pistons rust up and stick!