What Causes Brake Fade and How to Prevent It
You’re descending a mountain pass, applying the brakes repeatedly, and suddenly they feel soft — almost spongy. Your stopping distance increases dramatically. This is brake fade, and it’s one of the most dangerous situations any driver can face.
What Is Brake Fade?
Brake fade occurs when your braking system temporarily loses effectiveness due to excessive heat. The friction material in your brake pads is designed to convert kinetic energy into heat, but when that heat exceeds the pad’s operational range, performance drops dramatically.
Three Types of Brake Fade
1. Pad Fade (Friction Fade)
The most common type. When pad temperatures exceed their design limit, the friction coefficient drops. Cheap pads fade at 300°C; high-performance pads like our Sport Pads maintain grip past 700°C.
2. Gas Fade (Green Fade)
Occurs with new, un-bedded pads. Volatile gases from the binding resin create a gas layer between pad and rotor, reducing friction. This is why proper bedding-in is essential.
3. Fluid Fade
Extreme heat transfers through the caliper into the brake fluid. When fluid boils, air bubbles form in the lines, causing a soft pedal. This requires high-temperature brake fluid (DOT 4 or racing DOT 5.1).
How to Prevent Brake Fade
- Use high-quality brake pads with proven high-temperature performance
- Bed in new pads properly — follow the manufacturer’s break-in procedure
- Engine brake on long descents — downshift to reduce brake dependency
- Upgrade brake fluid to high-temperature formulations
- Allow cooling periods during spirited driving
Race-Proven Fade Resistance
In endurance racing, brake fade isn’t just an inconvenience — it’s a race-ending problem. At Barbaro CAC Racing, our Sport Pads are developed through hundreds of laps of endurance testing. When we competed in the Zhuhai 500km Endurance Race, our pads maintained consistent performance from start to finish — over 5 hours of continuous racing.
Don’t let brake fade catch you off guard. Upgrade to race-proven brake pads →