Originally Posted by CBR.worm
My thought is that if they didn't smear pad material onto the rotor and disintegrate in that situation, they are probably fine. If you experienced little to no brake fade and the feel is similar to before, they are even more likely to be fine. It is not at all uncommon for brake pads and/or rotors to smoke in that situation, what is uncommon is to come to a full stop and sit there and observe the smoking hot pads and rotors.
It is a journey that I have driven countless times visiting a certain mountain resort. At the end of the steep downhill section I reach my destination and of course always come to a stop. I own the car for about a decade and have driven it fast and some times to the limit on the same journey both with Brembo standard pads and Ferodo Premier pads (the non-Eco compound) which are also Ferodo's standard version of brake pads.
I have never experienced smoke in the past, although the pads I used are standard street pads and they are not recommended for that kind of driving. There was always a strong smell with the previous pads and you could feel the brakes radiating heat from a distance of lets say about 10 inches, but I have never seen smoke.
This was a first. The Ferodo Premier Eco-Friction are the only pads till now that smoked. Maybe the new compound which has less copper or maybe no cpper at all has a lower temp limit.
Anyway, I didn't experience any fade, certainly not any significant during the drive and the brakes still seem fine after cooling down, although I haven't pushed them that hard since, so I guess you are right and they are currently OK.
Originally Posted by CBR.worm
It is also not uncommon for brake rotors to turn blue or gold, particularly in the center of the swept area - though it usually takes reasonably high temp pads to discolor rotors. They should go back to silver after some regular use. It is more common to have pads overheat and no longer provide stopping power until they cool down. I don't believe Ferodo makes any bad pads, though certainly a pad with an appropriate heat range should be used. The trade off is usually a higher temp pad will have less initial bite and worse cold performance to go along with its higher thermal limits.
All of these things are harder on the caliper seals, brake fluid and wheel bearings than the pads themselves typically.
I use Motul's RBF600 brake fluid which is even intended for racing usage so I think it is almost impossible to boil it on a road with standard brakes. The pad fade temp will be reached before the fluid reaching its boiling point. I have never had any issues with wheel bearings and I have never changed them. The same goes for the calipers, no issues with them. I have only changed a brake line because it had developed a restriction, which I don't know if it is temperature related, but my guess is that it is.[/quote]
Originally Posted by CBR.worm
You can probably find the useable temperature range of these pads, but the fact that they continued to work while hot leads me to believe you were within range.
But, if you are not comfortable with them, swap them for something else.
The pads code is FDB1621. I am very curious to find their temp range. I don't think Ferodo provides that kind of information. At least I haven't been successful with finding it. If you can find it please share it.
I will progressively push the brakes harder and harder and if I see smoke again I think I will replace them. Probably smoke is a sign that they reach their limit and I don't want to risk brake fade and I don't know even if there is no pad fade, if there is a slow degradation of their capabilities if they repeatedly get smoked.
The problem is that the car is Lancer 1.5L and there are no many aftermarket options for spare parts. For example if you look at shock absorbers neither KYB nor Bilstein or Monroe offer an upgrade part, only their lowest range for the car.
The same goes for pads. I would have used
Ferodo DS2500 if they were available for my car, but Ferodo does not produce them for it.
Originally Posted by CBR.worm
As for the fluid, my process was always to bleed the fluid if the pedal got soft during repeated hard use, and to bleed them more frequently if I was doing track days or otherwise aggressive braking regularly. I never go more than two years on fluid. I don't know exactly what happens to brake fluid when it gets hot, but I do know that any water vapor in the fluid boils when they get hot, causing all kinds of unpleasantness, which it doesn't seem like you had any issues with.
I too always change brake fluid every 2 years as Motul recommends.
I know that it is a standard practice to bleed it if you boil it. I don't if boiling it means that its boiling point gets lower, but it definitely means that you can reach its boiling point and the fade can happen again.