Overheating brakes

[kegman]

I came down a 10 mile hill that drops 4,000 feet following a string of cars that routinely slowed to 20 mph for various curves. When I arrived at the bottom, my brake pedal took a lot of pressure to stop the car and the pedal pulsed under my foot pressure. When I pulled off, I could smell the brake pads and heat. After restarting, all has gone well in normal travel. The car has about 35,000 on it but the pads are still in acceptable shape according to the state vehicle inspection process that measures them every year.

Is this an indication of some ABS problem or normal for Chrysler brakes?

[Rambit]

It sounds to me you may have "cooked" your brake fluid, probably from excessive hard braking. This can cause the fluid to actually boil. This is the reason your brakes felt spongy and hard to stop.

You don't mention if you have aftermarket wheels either. Larger wheels can be hard on brakes due to increased rolling mass and weight. In any case I'd recommend changing the brake fluid, maybe even going to a higher temp spec fluid and even consider braided brake lines especially if you travel that route often.

Bernie

[kegman]

Rambit,

I may have cooked the fluid but my concern was why. This is a state highway used by thousands and the vehicles in front of me were regular rigs and one especially slow 50's farm truck.

I shouldn't think my 2005 would have this reaction to normal downhill brake application.

[Northern Rider]

Do you have the stock 17" wheels and tires?

[kegman]

I have the factory 18" options.

[kevenj]

In cases like that, use your transmission (i.e. downshift) so your brakes don't have to work so hard; you'll get a lot less brake fade. That's why the farm truck had no problem - - he was using his gears, not his brakes, to do most of the work.

Also when you do need the brakes, use them and then get back off, allowing them to cool. Don't just "ride" the brake pedal constantly.

I don't know about the "touring" but I did quite a bit of mountain driving last fall in my "C" and I found the brakes to be more than adequate for the car.

[CUEBALL]

Never had a problem with hills.... I use the engine brake as kevin suggests.

I will say that the brakes weren't up to the Autobahn. A couple of 130-70 MPH brake events and the brakes were toast.... I wish I had my upgraded rotors and pads over there. Maybe even upgraded fluid would've helped.

In your case, I don't see anything out of the ordinary, just follow Kevins suggestion of using the trans gearing/engine brake to slow you down.

[Inferno07]

I find the brakes on the stock C to be very adequate. I can't speak for the touring or base model (my guess is they have smaller brakes). On the C the fronts are 13.6" on the front with dual pot calipers and 12.6" rears with single pot calipers. They may not be autobahn material (ohhh I bet the SRT8's brakes are!) but they do the job just fine. We also need to keep it in our heads that these cars are HEAVY no matter how you look at it.. Curb weight is around 4100lbs and that's 1K+ more than your typical midsize sedan.

I engine brake all the time and I'm amazed at just how well you can engine brake this car. Heck in second gear off the gas the car will practically come to a stop!

My Ram has the same brakes on it, weighs in a 2 thousand plus pounds more, and I tow a 9K boat with my Ram and haven't had any issues! (I engine brake and the trailer has four wheel disk's as well).

Originally Posted by kegman

I came down a 10 mile hill that drops 4,000 feet following a string of cars that routinely slowed to 20 mph for various curves. When I arrived at the bottom, my brake pedal took a lot of pressure to stop the car and the pedal pulsed under my foot pressure. When I pulled off, I could smell the brake pads and heat. After restarting, all has gone well in normal travel. The car has about 35,000 on it but the pads are still in acceptable shape according to the state vehicle inspection process that measures them every year.

Is this an indication of some ABS problem or normal for Chrysler brakes?

[tlim]

I had the same problem coming down a long hill having to use the brakes hard, and by the time I got to the bottom, and the fade was becoming noticeable. I have a 300C, and recently put on premium brake pads, with slotted/drilled rotor which probably helped with some cooling, but the fade was still noticeble. What kinda success has people had with an upgraded higher temp brake fluid, and what specs did you use. Someone mentioned SS brake lines, how much would that help with the fade under high heat?

[GoofyTimL]

Those who do a lot of track racing upgrade both fluid and lines... some even add a cooler.