Smoking Brakes the bad kind.

pyromantis · 13-11-2011, 07:40 PM

I just fit a set of DBA Street Slotted rotors and a set of QFM HP-X pads to my XR6 BF Falcon. I just too it out for some brake tests getting up to 60Kmh then hitting the brakes reasonably hard and slowed down to around 10Kmh. I did this about 10 times and when I got back to my house and stopped I noticed on both sides my bakes were smoking. I could be wrong but this doesn't seem normal at all? Would there be any reason for this at all. Would I have had done something wrong with the installation to cause this. I followed the DBA fitting rotor guide on you tube for this install so I'm a bit stumped as to what would be causing this. Any help would be great thanks.

JC · 13-11-2011, 07:43 PM

You have bedded them in a bit aggressively - normally you do 10 medium pedal slow downs from 60 to 20, with at least 200 to 300 metres between each slow down. The smoke is normal for what you have done, and shouldn't affect the brakes - they usually take around 300km to bed in properly (one reason you don't put new discs or pads in before a track day).

pyromantis · 13-11-2011, 07:51 PM

Lucky I am not taking it for a track run. Great, I appreciate your advice. I'll keep and eye on them and for the first 300Km ill take it a little easier on them. I have change brake pads for my Mazda in the past and between the calliper and the pads it has shims which I assume stop brake squeal. When I swapped the ford pads for the HP-X pads I didn't notice any shims the ford pads had some kind of metal strip which I couldn't remove it looked to be glued down. Is this unusual?

Tobey · 13-11-2011, 07:52 PM

They will be fine. Just over heated them a bit. Probably didnt give them enough time to cool.

Jim Goose · 13-11-2011, 08:28 PM

Did you clean them before you used them? Rotors typically have some form of rust preventative (read- OIL) on them and thise needs to washed off with brake cleaner solvent or similar....

pyromantis · 13-11-2011, 08:58 PM

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I used some brake cleaner on a rag and wiped down the slotted surface of the rotor. Surprising how much dirt is on there.

Peter B - CV8 · 14-11-2011, 08:23 AM

Did you install the rotors with the internal vanes sweeping the correct way. Otherwise you risk overheating your wheel bearings..

2011G6E · 14-11-2011, 08:31 AM

Whoops..."bedding them in" usually means driving around sedately for a few days and giving gentle brake applications at first. There's a possibility you could have "cooked" the new pads.
They'll probably be OK though this time...you're using quality parts. Cheaper pads (and sometimes rotors) can be ruined quite quickly doing what you described.

EDManual · 14-11-2011, 09:27 AM

They usually smoke a fair bit when new, sounds normal. I've even had new brake pads that catch fire on a few occasions!!

Make sure you check they are not on fire when you pull over, and if they are, hop back in the car and keep moving to cool them down.

pyromantis · 15-11-2011, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter B - CV8

Did you install the rotors with the internal vanes sweeping the correct way. Otherwise you risk overheating your wheel bearings..

I believe the rotors are installed the correct way around. They had L and R sticks on them. The right rotor being installed on the drivers side and the left rotor on the passenger side. After a couple of days of use they seems to be ok I have been giving myself more time to stop so I don't have you push them too hard but there have been a couple of incidents that required a quick slowdown (Taxi's cutting me off and such). So far no more smoke.

Slotted rotors look so cool though xD so glad I bought them.