Scary experience - brake question

[S13]

Just been driving down a dual carriageway in the inside lane when an ***** pulled out in front of me from a side road (with no lights on!).
As I was being overtaken by another car I was unable to pull into the outside lane...... so unavoidably I had to STAND on the brakes suddenly from 70mph to almost 0mph (as the car who had just pulled out didn’t even attempt to pull away with any acceleration)

My brakes did well to stop me within meters of the car in front, but now the pedal has hardly any pressure and the brakes are absolutely rubbish to say the least. I only used them once more as I drove to my house (I was only a couple of minutes away) and they would barely stop me at 5/10mph until I really stamped on them......even then they were terrible!
However, this was only about 2 minutes after the incident...... I have not used the car since.

So my question is......will this have permanently damaged my brakes and will they be the same in the morning (i.e. unusable)? Or will they be okay when they cool down?

Any help much appreciated.
Cheers

[sharkrider]

they may have just got a bit hot... drive the car normally tomorrow, and you may find them a bit wooden at first, but I'm sure they'll return to normal soon after

[SkodaLover]

they should be fine after a few normal applications!

[S13]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll see what it's like in the morning..... fingers crossed!

Just makes me want a 312mm upgrade even more!

[Schern]

I'd check your fluid reservoir as well. Make sure your within the limits set. And just have a brief check round the wheels. Turn the car on, give the pedal a couple of pumps and just have a wander round the car to make sure you can't see any leaking fluid. There shouldn't be any, but its worth having a look. If there is some, make sure you wipe it up quick as its not nice stuff, and don't drive it! Get it looked at asap!

[S13]

Just been out for 5 minutes to check the brakes

Although they have improved a slightly since last night.....they are still nowhere near as good as they were before hand! You have to apply a lot more pressure than before.

Any ideas what this could be? And what I need to check?

I really hope its not expensive as I plan to do a 312mm upgrade in the near future (end of next month) but I really don’t think I can live with the current brakes as they are now (they’re a bit dangerous I would say)

Any help much appreciated!
Thanks

[Lummox]

Dont second guess brakes, get them checked out.

[yashicamat]

I'd be tempted to say the pads have overheated, as the others have said this should get better as they wear. However, I agree with Lummox - brakes are something you don't want to hope about.

[ItsOnlyMe_vRS]

I have full sympathy for you, i had an experiance where i had to stanp hard on the brakes and it scared me to death, didnt think i was going to stop........

Week latrer had the upgrade (disks, calapers and pads) i never doubt the stoping power now. Money well spent.

If your even thinking of a remap in the future, you need to upgrade the brakes.

[ftojeTDI]

Same thing happened to me in my old golf 2 diesel. Rear brakes died because the pads were worn out and it took one hard braking to finish it.

[Chris GB]

Hi

Something has clearly gone wrong here. The standard brakes are easily up to an emergency stop with the ABS fully activated from 70mph (or much faster, I have tried) and suffer no ill effects whatsoever.

I usually get learners who are nervous of the emergency stop to do one from 60 or 70 to get the confidence up. Have had no ill effect on the brakes so far.

I would really not drive the car until I knew what is going on.

Chris

[S13]

Thanks for all the replies again.

Been out in the car again and the brakes are definetly improving.....no longer dangerous but still not quite back to normal (shouldn't take long though).

Although, I have booked it in at the dealers on monday just to be on the safe side.

Chris GB, this is the first time anything like this has happened to the brakes.....they've been fine up until now. The pads have loads left on (car just over 20k) and the car has just had a service at a main dealer. I too was surprised at this happening.....although I really did have to STAMP on the brakes (probably more so than in an emergancy stop in case you locked-up etc).

Thanks

[gillywibble]

I would agree with Chris GB, it shouldn't happen. You can expect brakes to overheat after 'numerous' sudden stops, not one.

[S13]

Originally Posted by gillywibble

I would agree with Chris GB, it shouldn't happen. You can expect brakes to overheat after 'numerous' sudden stops, not one.

Hmmm , certainly makes you lack confidence in them!!

Can't wait till the 312mm upgrade

[Chris GB]

Originally Posted by S13

Thanks for all the replies again.

Been out in the car again and the brakes are definetly improving.....no longer dangerous but still not quite back to normal (shouldn't take long though).

Although, I have booked it in at the dealers on monday just to be on the safe side.

Chris GB, this is the first time anything like this has happened to the brakes.....they've been fine up until now. The pads have loads left on (car just over 20k) and the car has just had a service at a main dealer. I too was surprised at this happening.....although I really did have to STAMP on the brakes (probably more so than in an emergancy stop in case you locked-up etc).

Thanks

Hehe

The pupils get a b0ll0king unless the ABS is fully triggered on all wheels during the emergency stop. No pussyfooting. I enjoy the occasional spirited drive myself, using the ABS on approach to corners regularly (within the spirited drive) and have yet to have a problem with the brakes in terms of stopping capability. I have even given it loads on roads where brake fade is a known issue for many cars (the Burnham bends anyone? Full bore straights with slow corners means lots of full chat accelleration and lots of heavy braking). Even here, just on approach to the last bend coming away from Burnham (anyone who knows it will know roughly what 3 figure speed this is braking from) the ABS was still triggering. Brake feel changes as heat gets into the system, but they are OK. The variable pedal feel / emergency brake assist on the other hand, dont get me started.

I wonder if there is a large degree of variance on Fabia brakes, as what many describe on here is simply not my experience.

Chris

[ric04vrs]

S13 , you mentioned that you had had a 20K service recently , did they change the brake fluid at the same time ? just a thought that if it was done there maybe some air in the brake system causing the dodgy pedal

[sharkrider]

Originally Posted by Chris GB

Hehe

I wonder if there is a large degree of variance on Fabia brakes, as what many describe on here is simply not my experience.

Chris

I believe this IS the case, I've had numerous fast cars/hot hatches (lancia thema turbo, saab900 turbo, uno turbo, VTR ect,ect) and the brakes on my furby are well up to the job (recently changed to the second set of pads at 33k)....

I even have a friend who has a vRS and drove mine recently, and said "wow, your brakes are way better than mine.." but then others on here have said they are pants.... I think they vary from car to car...... (couldn't explain why! maybe different materials?)

[Neily03]

Originally Posted by sharkrider

I believe this IS the case, I've had numerous fast cars/hot hatches (lancia thema turbo, saab900 turbo, uno turbo, VTR ect,ect) and the brakes on my furby are well up to the job (recently changed to the second set of pads at 33k)....

I even have a friend who has a vRS and drove mine recently, and said "wow, your brakes are way better than mine.." but then others on here have said they are pants.... I think they vary from car to car...... (couldn't explain why! maybe different materials?)

Maybe the way people use them affect the performance... i can't see there being much if any difference in them from the factory as they're mass produced... more likley to be due to how people use them... imo

[sharkrider]

Originally Posted by Neily03

Maybe the way people use them affect the performance... i can't see there being much if any difference in them from the factory as they're mass produced... more likley to be due to how people use them... imo

possible, like chris I USE my brakes, every day gets some very hard braking, maybe the people who drive more gently are getting them 'glazed'..... my friend who says my brakes are much better than his spends most of his driving time on the motorway......

[ric04vrs]

i find doing a couple of medium speed heavy braking runs usually gets the brakes back up to spec

[Chris GB]

Originally Posted by Neily03

Maybe the way people use them affect the performance... i can't see there being much if any difference in them from the factory as they're mass produced... more likley to be due to how people use them... imo

Hi

Batch variation or dualor multiple suppliers could provide brake materials which would cause potential differences.

More likely perhaps is useage. If brakes are normally under used, they develop a deep glaze layer which then performs very poorly. In some cases, the layer cannot be removed once it gets too thick as it grows through the pad as quickly as the upper layer is remved. I used to freshen pads up by grinding the faces off them on a flat abrasive surface if that had happened (as sometimes does when running track compound brakes on road).

Chris

[matchmaker]

My experience of a high speed emergency stop (in my Octy) was one evening when I was headed down my private road at a rate of knots - three figure rate of knots

And then a pedestrian appeared on the hard shoulder and walked out in front of me

I missed him by a considerable margin. And the brakes were great - ABS activated, the works.

They felt fine afterwards, too

Unlike my

[HotVRs]

Any brakes that can't survive just 1 emergency stop have something very wrong.

[Decron]

Originally Posted by matchmaker

My experience of a high speed emergency stop (in my Octy) was one evening when I was headed down my private road at a rate of knots - three figure rate of knots

And then a pedestrian appeared on the hard shoulder and walked out in front of me

When you stopped , did you tell him he was trespassing on your private road?

[johnjohnhealy]

As said, your brakes should be more than capable of withstanding one 70mph emegency stop, something is definately not right there.

I have to take my mothers VW Polo out every now and again and bed the brakes in though, as she drives so cautiously (i.e. slowly) that her brakes never get any real use, I always know it's time to de-glaze them when they start squealing as she pulls up outside!

One 10 min blast later and all is fine again!