I keep almost crashing due to sudden brake fade even after upgrading all brake parts!
 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=70U6Q8wtAjg

my brakes suddenly faded badly again at the race track today, almost crashed again (like the video above) but thankfully the front passenger side wheel took the impact on the dirt bank.

I’ve already replaced the front rotors with Girodisc, use Castrol SRF (which I bleed after every track day so it always has fresh fluid) put better brake air deflector‘s on the car from the CT5V, have vented pistons and titanium shims and fans to cool the brakes between session to deal with high friction Hawk DTC60 pads paired with SC3R tires… I have all the Nannie’s off

The odd thing is that the last 2 times it has happened
it was on the first or second hard hot lap of the session, in other words, when the brakes would not have even been up to full temp…. why didn’t it happen when the brakes would’ve been much hotter at the end of the previous session? I don’t get it….

Also I had no problem driving the car home from the track, the braking is fine on the street… I’m fact I can even drive it on the track again after waiting a while, although the brakes will fade again soon after…

Has anybody had this problem?
Any thoughts as to what the issue could be or where to start looking?

I’m running out of ideas and I no longer have confidence in my car and won’t go back to the track until I find the problem because this has happened about 4 times now and I’ve been very lucky to escape with no damage to the car…

sounds like you are getting the "ice" brake issue and not brake fade.

Hey Shane. Your line out of 3, btw, is Outrageous! You got big bollucks my friend lol.

What is the “ice” brake issue?

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/index.php

I've had it happen once on track and once during a high speed autocross event. Both times I had wheels turned while i was getting to brakes. which seems to be what happened in your video.

Thanks buddy! That was actually my best driving around corner three ever, which is why at first I thought I was just going faster than normal on the straight stretch and hit the brake late, but when I watched the video again the brakes clearly faded massively

Thanks, the link didn’t take me anywhere except the main forum, was it supposed to go to a particular thread?

I think he meant the ice mode thread: https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=554115

I would bleed the brakes again as even the smallest amount of air in the system can cause intermittent problems.

When this happened to me I found that the brake pistons were not moving freely back and forth in the calipers due to the fact I had cooked the brake piston boots and that was impeding the free movement of the pistons.

Your brake fluid should be ALMOST clear in color. If it is a brownish or more goldish color then it is time to change it out.

If you ever topped off your brake fluid from a bottle that has been previously opened then you could have picked up some moisture as well which also can cause some braking QUIRKS.

I run DTC70 F and DTC 60 R pads with front GIRODISC rotors and Ti shims using currently PIRELLI slicks and RT660's for 200TW classes.

Thanks and perhaps this one too

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...ight=Ice+brake

Yes definitely doing that (I do after every track day), I had a full fresh never open bottle of Castrol SRF put in 4 days before this happened, they’ve already measured the fluid for moisture content and they said it’s between 2 and 3% right now, which seems like a lot for only four days but I guess that’s what happens when the system gets too much heat?

My bad! Yes those are the threads I was referring to.

You might try getting the ABS system bled using the scan tool just to be sure, and have the calipers rebuilt to make sure they are working as intended.

Ice mode results in a hard brake pedal with less travel and limited braking force, then when the car reaches a lower speed the braking will return to normal with the pedal going down further. If you quickly initiate braking with any steering input above a certain speed, it will also limit braking in a similar manner. IME, this isn't ice mode but it's the same idea and happens for the same reason, ABS is trying to keep the car from spinning.

Your '18 ZL1 is unfortunately one model year before the ABS system was revised to minimize the occurrence of ice-mode when using other than OEM tires, the fact you're running 3Rs which exceeds OEM tire grip and actually using that extra performance is likely the cause if it is indeed ice mode. You can get a '19+ EBCM from a car with the same options as yours, which will help, but might not completely eliminate the issue, or you can get a ZL1 1LE which doesn't have ice mode, afaik... Sounds like you need a 1LE! :)

I wish I could remember what the pedal felt like, I don't recall it going to the floor, I think I would have remembered that... all I remember for sure is the car started stopping normal then stopped stopping like normal part way into braking and I thought I was going to crash for sure

When they bleed the brakes they will let me know how the fluid looks, if it looks burnt then I'm gonna guess it's over heating STILL, however the fact that this happened on the 1st hard hot lap of the 4th session of the day has me very confused, I would think it would have faded/failed at the end of one of the first three sessions...

Having said all that, if it is Icemode, there seems to be some things that contradict that

- I'm not AutoX and that's where this seems to be happening the most by far
- I'm definitely not getting any wheel spin before braking since I'm going 170km/h
- The tires are warmed up enough to have good grip, they are not cold like at the start of the 1st session or after lunch break...
- And the pavement at the track I go to is near perfect
- It doesn't seem to be repeatable... I never know when it's going to happen