I had Just got done running a couple of Eclipses, I Went from 100mph to about 10mph to make a u turn and when i came up to a stop light, all this smoke goes by my passenger windows, so i pull over the car in a gas station and all this smoke is coming from my rear passenger brakes(Rear disc brakes), it smells really horrible like really hot metal,melted rubber and plastic all combined. I looked at the brakes, there was still plenty of pad on the brakes. the smell was really familiar but i couldnt figure out where i've smelled it before. Need Help! I Have No Idea what could have caused this!!

I Just got home and worried, I hope nothing serious! Need some suggestions/anwers/anything!

Thank You!!!

 

Its called smoking your brakes.

If you are going to do a lot of high speed emergency braking get used to it.

As long as the brake did not stick you should be ok.

 

But i never used my E brake...

 

your back brakes, as well as your front brakes, are activated via the pedal. high speed + a lot of pedal = brake pad smoke!

Tony didn't mean e-brake.....he meant hard or panic braking.

 

Thanks for the clarification RR.

Organic pads are the worse for smoking.

It makes me happy I have carbon pads on my car. Even when I get them glowing hot I don't smell anything but hot steel and there is no noticible fade. I have completely forgotten what brake fade is like.

They are hell on the rotors though.

 

Hey, TurboJ.

I'm surprised none of the audience of experts has mentioned this yet, but if you got your brakes that hot, it would be a Really Good Idea to BLEED YOUR BRAKES.

While your at it, when was the last time you changed your brake fluid? If it was more than two years ago, or if you don't know... better do that, too. Get some Castrol GTX at a minimum. There is better stuff (higher temp) out there if you're willing to pay for it.

Brake fluid absorbs moisture by it's nature. When you get the brakes hot, the moisture evaporates and creates air pockets in your brake lines, which will eventually be noticable as a mushy brake pedal. These air pockets don't go away on their own, this is why you need to bleed your brakes periodically, especially if you use them hard.

I agree with the Porsche dude. You just got the brakes hot enough to emit some smoke. Best thing you could do at that point would be to get back out on the road in a civilized manner to get some air flowing across them to cool them down. (see tip below)

A Really Bad thing to do at that point would be to set the hand brake. Doing so would effectively "insulate" a small part of the rear rotors with the already smokin' hot pads. The rest of the rotor would cool much quicker and possibly result in warped rotors. For the record... warped rotors suck!

Some good tech articles on brakes here:
http://www.teamscr.com/techarticles2.html

Personal braking tip: Since you know it is quite possible to cook your brakes on that car, keep that fact in mind. Unless you are truly in an emergency situation, DON'T decelerate from 100 to 10 using one long brake application. Scrub off 20-30 mph, then give the brakes a few seconds to catch some air. Then scrub off some more. On a race track, you don't have the luxury of doing that... on the street, you do. No need to cook your brakes uselessly.

 

Thanks for replies guys...much appreciated

 

Yup, Loren has passed on much good wisdom here.

And just like the hand brake + hot rotors = warp tip, you also have to be careful not to sit in one place with your foot pressing hard on the brake pedal after getting your disks super hot since that can also warp your rotors.

I also wonder how many people know that you are supposed to change your brake fluid every few years.