I have a car that is doing something I have never experienced brake wise. The car has extremely hard track pads. When you initially drive the car cold, they sound like two bricks hitting the rotors. When I get a bit of heat in them they are scary good/strong and quiet. However, on longer drives, they really start to squeal and the pedal becomes increasingly hard. Car still stops great, just more effort. This car transfers heat like nothing I have ever driven. It is a D-type replica. The frame is steel tube and everything else is un-insulated aluminum (including the interior). After about a half hour on a hot day, the center tunnel is almost too warm to rest your arm on. Engine is running well within spec (no overheating). The master cylinder is up high (above the pedal cluster ) and on the opposite side from the headers. However, the rear brake line feed runs up the center tunnel and the passenger side (left side) front line runs within 6-8” of the header. Could I be boiling the brake fluid? Has anyone ever experienced a change in feel like this?

Thanks –
Scott S

My experience with boiling fluid was nothing like this, Quite opposite. I first SMELLED the fluid in the cabin ( Suburban ) I then notice the pedal travel becoming firther and further until I eventually had almost zero brakes. This was on a snowboard trip over mountains and in thwe snow. Scared the shit out of me with 4 other people on board. When I got home I immediately changed to a synthetic fluid and in n2 more identical trips, never had that problem again.



Sounds like you have another issue at hand

boiling brake fluid ...... loss of brakes ..... yes, it's that simple.

If they're that hot .... they're not retracting properly, race pads or not.

Sounds like the pads cool down on long drives and are outside their proper operating range. That's the reason race pads aren't recommended for street cars.

Boiling fluid almost always shows signs of a soft pedal that gets softer the more it's used.

And yeah, it stinks.

That makes perfect sense.

I left a car show on a 93 degree day. Had to poke through the neighborhood and various side streets prior to getting to the hightway - car drove great. Jumped on the freeway and started the 30 minute drive home. Caught football traffic 15 minutes into the drive and had to slow way down. Big squeel. At that point the center tunnel was already getting pretty warm, so I immediately thought heat.

I need to swap out those pads.... and put some insulation inside that tunnel so the hair on my arm grows back....

Thanks All....

Fixed your post.



(You knew it was coming)