To braid or not to braid..that's the q

[morlock]

Hey guys,

I get some major break fade after heavy breaking in my R33. I have slotted rotors and high grade pads.

I was wondering if installing Braided break lines will make any difference and if anyone has done this?

The car will mostly see track use as it's not a daily driver.

Cheers

Andrew

[wishaw]

i know it's not quite what you were after but what fluid are you using?

[Roy]

The brake lines will nto stop fade. If your brakes fraded its because your fluid boiled or your pads got aboe their operatign temp range.

Braided lines give you a little more feel thru the pedal. I didnt really notice a lot of difference on my car with them, other ntoice dramatic improvements. I think it comes down to the condition of the hoses you are currently running. But to the best of my knowledge brake lines dont give you brake fade

[GTRgeoff]

The brake lines will not stop fade. If your brakes faded its because your fluid boiled or your pads got above their operatign temp range.

Or both.

[TokyoTaxi]

Hey guys,

I get some major break fade after heavy breaking in my R33. I have slotted rotors and high grade pads.

I was wondering if installing Braided break lines will make any difference and if anyone has done this?

The car will mostly see track use as it's not a daily driver.

Cheers

Andrew

Fluid is very important ( as has been said ) but also if you're out on the track a lot, invest in a Brake Master Cylinder Brace kit. It'll give you a better pedal feel and will stop the firewall from cracking under constant heavy breaking. I recommend CUSCO highly for this.

[djr81]

There is a distinct difference between the fluid boiling & the pads going off.

If you boil the fluid the brake pedal will pretty much sink to the floor - time to go to the pits.

If the pads are going away (ie losing their friction coefficient) then it is a fair bet the rotors are (literally) red hot also. Most good compounds (eg RB74's) should hang on well into the 600 degree region (Once this is reached start worrying about your disc longevity) & provide a steady friction coefficient of atleast 0.45.

If the first is what is happening, first stop is to make sure your brake fluid is of a decent spec & is fresh. Don't go to the track with old fluid. In this case braided lines may well help.

Also, be aware that pad knock off can occur at high speeds if the set up isn't correct. This too will give you a mushy pedal & also brown underwear if it is only happenning at one end.

Have a look at the ducting under the car. Is can be directed at the rotors & help keep things cool.

Unfortunately the GT-R (Atleast the R32) doesn't have particularly brilliant brakes. Mine struggles to cosistantly record 1 gee under brakees & even then it requires a heap of pedal pressure. So a Cusco brace is a good investment.

[TokyoTaxi]

Pad Knock-Off. What's the best way of fixing that ? Floating rotors ? Chamfer pads ??

Mate of mine has a VC Commodore race car and has to pump the brakes once or twice to bring the pedal back before the braking point. Yes, I know it's a "Commodore" but it's cheaper to fix than a Skyline ( Note he also owns a 33 V Spec ).

[Beer Baron]

Hey guys,

I get some major break fade after heavy breaking in my R33. I have slotted rotors and high grade pads.

I was wondering if installing Braided break lines will make any difference and if anyone has done this?

The car will mostly see track use as it's not a daily driver.

Cheers

Andrew

all the above is good advice. the only thing I can add here is that it's spelt BRAKE not break. if you are experiencing heavy breaking then perhaps you have a problem.

[Beer Baron]

having the edge of the pads chamfered is a good way to help prevent pad knock off. many perfomance pads come like that too.

[Roy]

Are you sure its pad knock off? If it is...some dramas i had earlier this year may help:)

I was having a few problems at Phillip Island earlier this year, where the pedal forever need pumping:(

So after the sprint i had a good look at the brakes. One place said it was the setup and it was the reason i was having problems...but this didnt explain why my brakes were good for the previous two years.

So off came the rotors for a machine. The funny thing was before PI i had only just had the calipers rebuilt, which now i see only made the problem worse.

Basically the rotors were a little out and had uneven wear. So the machining fixed that to a large degree. The 2nd was the hub on which the rotor sits had some scale and corrosion on its face, dido the inside of the rotor. This meant the rotor wasnt completely perpindicular to the caliper's pistons.

So with the rotors machined and the scale/corrosion cleaned up the rotor ran true.

Back to the caliper, with the pistons gliding in and out of the caliper so readily because of the rebuild, the wabble in the rotor was knocking the pistons back in the caliper...so every braking point was busy with pumping up the pedal before jumping on proper.

So after these tweaks the car has braked fine at 3 - 4 Sprint days since:)

So long winded but thats why id be looking to see how true the rotors are running and makign sure the hub to rotor surface are clean. As good a place as any place to start

[Sydneykid]

I get some major break fade after heavy breaking in my R33.

Andrew

Hi Andrew, don't slow down so much for the corners. :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

All joking aside, I have fixed several cars braking problems by increasing their corner speed. Suddenly what were average brakes, are now more than adequate.

[Duncan]

Hi Andrew, don't slow down so much for the corners. :crazy:  :crazy:  :crazy:  :crazy:  

All joking aside, I have fixed several cars braking problems by increasing their corner speed.  Suddenly what were average brakes, are now more than adequate.

hahaha funny that the best mod I ever did to my old Gtst's brakes were r spec tyres Never got fade anywhere I took it.

Standard gtst calipers, bendix ultimate pads, dba4000 rotors, motul rbf600 fluid

Another reason to have to brake too much is too much understeer, meaning you have to brake more than you should for a corner. People's Exhibit A, Nissan 350z.

[TokyoTaxi]

Are you sure its pad knock off?  

Well to be completely honest, I'm not 100% sure yet. Spent a bit of time with the car last night and I'm now thinking that it may be something around the master cylinder. :confused: I hate working to fix problems that someone else built into the car. :chairshot

I know it's not the scaling on the hub problem cause the hub and rotor on the commodore are one in the same. Going to start looking at disc warp, wheel bearings, master cylinder ( piston seal to port alignment ) and so on. Hmmm...I wonder if we can sneak the car through scruteneering with R33 GT-R Brembo's

[PSI 38L]

if Knock off is the problem, anti knock springs for the calipers will help, they are avaliable in different strenghts