Brake Fade: What It Is, Why It Happens, and How to Fix It - Tips For Spirited Driving

[@simonshee5155]

Berriedale Braes on the A9 near me has a gradient of 13% and it's long. There are signs on it advising use of lower gears. I've often wondered how you get down in an automatic without riding the brakes? My driving instructor taught me how to use engine braking. He told me, "I'm not going to teach you how to pass your driving test, I'm going to teach you how to drive". (Recently subbed, I like your vids, no annoying music, ai voices and no fluff, straight in with the info. Good stuff!)

[@williampatrickfagan7590]

One should go downhill in the same gear as you would use going uphill. I overtook 3 cars going downhill on a motorway. All were breaking and looked unhappy. I WAS IN 3RD GEAR going 3,000 rpmin 3rd gear but not breaking. I was in complete control of my car. The interesting thing is, when learning to drive, one is thought to use the engine to slow down the car. It is commonly referred to engine breaking.

[@elliot438bcfcVTEC]

If you're getting brake fade driving on the road then you need to evaluate your driving

[@BubblesTheCat1]

On another interesting note; I drove semi trucks here in South Africa in my youth. With those things, especially in a mountainous country like this, brake fade is a huge danger. Especially to the untrained and inexperienced driver. Thankfully, I was taught by old drivers and knew how to test and adjust my vehicle's brakes myself. I regularly got into disagreement with management because I flatly refused to haul trailers with faulty brakes.

[@aggeloskag]

Here in Greece in the countryside there's lots of dangerous steep mountain roads with constant sharp bends. When going downhill in those I don't feel comfortable doing more than 20-25mph. How could I drive down these without riding the brake? Even in 2nd gear I always end up accelerating too much before I have to turn. Thank you for your very informative content!

[@filippos_383]

True

[@ldmtag]

Try first gear then! 20 MPH must be about, idk, 4000-ish RPM? Or buy a diesel truck with exhaust restrictor😂

[@filippos_383]

Great videos

[@torquecars]

Glad you like them! Thanks for the support and kind words.

[@osamaradwan8173]

Very useful, Waiting somthing about Abs pls,, thanks

[@JoshuaTrinityWolf-dc4up]

My brothers Chevette had brake fade in the 80's.I think that car had that problem but he also drove into Toronto daily from the country. He would have to stand on the pedal hard to get brakes.

[@markotrieste]

Unfortunately, with modern cars, engine braking is very weak, especially with slush transmissions, diesel engines or ultra low emission vehicles. However, I've solved that by switching to a PHEV: tons of regenerative braking power, I can do ten miles after a long descent using only recovered energy and brake pads last forever.

[@hakgar]

Is there any info on 2867gen 2 turbo for audi b6 20vt quattro? Does it need a lot of engine modifications to install it? A video would be great!😊

[@cenccenc946]

strange, when I am driving fast, I almost never use my brakes. Like I time it to naturally slow down in a corner I know we'll, and then accelerator out of the corner (often with a lower gear) .

[@torquecars]

That is the mark of a good driver with good anticipation skills.

[@loc4725]

Is slowing up anything like speeding down? But more seriously, drilled and grooved discs are actually worse for road use as they reduce the contact surface area and need to get pretty hot to have any meaningful effect. Vented discs on the other hand are a good idea even for general road use.

[@torquecars]

Lol I never thought about it like that. Is this an English expression that doesn't travel well. Good point about drilled and grooved discs although most fit larger discs when they do this upgrade which mitigates that problem.

[@loc4725]

@torquecars I can't remember what is is but there's actually a word for when 'up', 'down', 'in' and 'on' are used to indicate the direction or presence of something. Generally though a reduction is 'down' whereas an increase is an 'up' and it seems a bit strange to describe a progressive _decrease_ as an 'up'.

[@taaaizA]

Would it be better to slightly brake in intervals or to brake hard and shorter one time?

[@williampatrickfagan7590]

Better to change down a gear or 3.

[@tomb.4171]

Interesting question. In the past I thought braking harder and shorter is better. Is that true?

[@BubblesTheCat1]

3:21 That person braking with the left foot in a manual car...🙈 I don't even like it when people do it in automatic cars. You're taking your right foot off the accelerator to slow down, so use it to press the brakes.

[@torquecars]

This was taken from an advanced driving video that demonstrated heel & toe and braking with the throttle open to keep the turbo spooled up for the take off and it also mentioned testing the cars braking capabilities with a left foot stomp. You are right it is not something we do on the road and should not have been included here really, I got footage blind in editing.

[@BubblesTheCat1]

@torquecars No, it's fine. I'm just irritated with people braking with their left foot🙄 I tried it once and almost went through the windscreen 🤭 The muscle memory of my left leg is adapted to pushing the clutch. Interesting, when I taught a work colleague to drive (manual), he did fine, until one day I let him drive an automatic. He immediately started braking with the left foot, but very smoothly and all. I couldn't understand it and kept scolding him😠 Until I saw him working the digger loader in our construction company. That earth moving machine has an auto type of box, and the operators always use the left foot on the brake to work the machine. It's actually got two brake pedals (for turning on,a dime), which can be locked together with a sliding pin. My colleague's muscle memory kicked in when he got in the automatic car😁🙋🏼‍♂️

[@davidellis8141]

Shouldn’t be driving like this on the road.