I was driving on this windy road today in east san diego county, for any people in the san diego region the road goes by the name of "engineers" and takes you almost all the way into julian, and I had been braking accelerating and braking again for almost 6 miles up to 50-70 then back down to zero and on a complete U turn I slammed on the brakes and nothing happened I almost slid through the apex of the turn into some brush. As I was braking the pedal started to kick back towards me also. I figured I had over stressed the brakes so I pulled over to let them cool. When I got out I saw large clouds of smoke coming from the brakes.

What can I do to alleviate this braking problem. I don't care about how they feel I just want them to stop.

 

I live in Pine Hills which Engineers Road passes through. There is only one section I can see getting up to 70 as the rest of the road is 2nd gear maybe a little time in 3rd, but way too many blind corners and no straights to get any speed. I don’t know how you could cook the brakes on Engineers Road, but that’s what it sounds like you did. If you want a fun road that has a little of everything except fast sweepers, try Old Julian Highway from Witch Creek off highway 78/79 to Ramona. Or try Engineers Road in the winter just after a snow, 15 mph in the turns and your in the ditch!

 

Maybe you should change to some pads that can handle the extreme temperatures better and switch to some high quality brake fluid.

 

the MINI's brakes are rather poopy at dissipating heat, however even at Deals Gap, "the 11-mile autocross", brake fade is a rare occurance. I have managed to overheat the brakes on mine once, doing repeated 70-30 stabs.

Randy tells me that the stock brake fluid is relative junk too. Upgrade your pads to Ferodo's and fluid to Castrol SRF or Motul, and you'll be much better off.

Good luck,
Ryan

 

what was actually burning though?

On engineers road if you don't mind using both lanes it is quite possible to get up to 70 I made it into third gear a few times. There were some pretty brutal U turns that were hard to determine but that road is up there with lyons valley road.

 

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>> On engineers road if you don't mind using both lanes it is quite possible to get up to 70 I made it into third gear a few times. There were some pretty brutal U turns that were hard to determine but that road is up there with lyons valley road.


That’s the problem; you have to use both lanes and the road is little more then one lane wide anyway with no center strip. Even though there is little traffic on Engineers Roads, other cars, trucks and motorcycles do use it and being in a densely forested surrounding there are way too many blind turns for high speed driving.