Recently I've had two incidents of brake failure on my 2002 S. I was braking from 70 mph from the interstate to a side road and hit the brakes pretty hard and they didn't hardly slow me down. I pushed harder and the got really soft and almost went to the floor. I made the turn, but barely.
Right after that they worked fine.

It happened a second time a couple of weeks later. Coming off the interstate and braking very hard for a turn. Almost the same thing happened but this time I didn't get stopped and went right through the intersection. Scared the crap out of me because there were cars all around. Fortunately no crash, and I made it around the corner.

I went slowly until I got to my office and hit the brakes hard again and they were solid as a rock and chirped the tires.

I decided it might be best to changed out the master cylinder just in case, and I had a questionable right rear caliper that lost it's emergency brake spring. I replaced it too.

I need to get some help bleeding the brakes as my wife is out of town for a few days but I was wondering if the vacuum booster would cause the pedal to go all the way to the floor? It's like I had some brakes, but not much. I lost a rear brake line in my Ford van once and it acted the same way. Weird that it would be bad then good. Not very comforting.

 

I think that if a caliper/calipers are dragging they will cause the fluid to heat up and boil which causes brake failure. High speed driving would create a condition where failure could occur quickly. I don't know about the vacuum booster; maybe someone else can give you a more authoritative answer. Good luck...

 

I sounds to me too that the fluid is boiling and losing efficiency. When was the last time you changed out the fluid. If you drive hard you should be doing it every other year at minimum. I do a brake fluid exchange every year in the spring when I spend my Zen weekend with my car.

And one of those buddies drinking beer in your living room won’t help? The Vacuum method works best but I like a power bleeder. I also use speed bleeders which I like a lot too.

Nothing gets your attention quite like a brake pedal going to the floor.

///Rich

 

My son and I both run autocrosses and track days where we use the brakes really hard. Both times I've had the problem it was with cold brakes so no boiling at least at that point.
It is possible there was air in the system that didn't show up until I pushed the brakes quite hard. That does make sense.
I ordered some speedy bleeders today, that will let me do it myself. I bought a vacuum system but never could get it to work. It just seems to suck air all the time.

 

I really like the speed bleeders. You only need to break them loose. Same with the vacuum bleeder. The bleeders need to be only cracked open or air will get in through the threads. The speed bleeders have a sealer specially made for brakes. I wouldn’t use anything but it on the threads.

///Me

 

I'm sure you know this but if you lose brakes again don't forget you have an emergency brake that you can always pull. A slow pull will get you slowed down some if all else fails. I think you are on the right track. I know my son used to boil his brake fluid racing motocross and he would lose all of the "pedal" and then it would come back once it cooled down a little. I know the air bubble would also cause a soft pedal for him also.

 

Well after replacing the master cylinder and the right rear caliper that had some damage I decided to replace all the brake pads.

When I pulled the front pads off I found that the pads on both sides of the car had dis-bonded. On each side one of the pads had lost its friction material while the other pad looked decent.

So I think I lost one pad the first time I had the brake problem then lost the other one the last time. That explains why the pedal went to the floor both times. It looks like I need to do a better job inspecting the pads after a period of time. The outside pad looked decent while the inboard pad was gone. Found out the back pads wear the same way. Probably due to the single piston caliper design?

I did have a similar problem on my 04 GTO after finishing a track day in San Marcos TX. I use EBC Yellowstuff, and use them pretty hard. I guess the bonding material doesn't last the life of the pad.

By the way, I didn't have time for the emergency brake. Of course I didn't think about it either. But you're right, it would have been useful.
Hopefully I won't have any issues. Got the speed bleeders too. What a nice invention.

 

Yeah. I love them and have installed the stainless ones on all my cars over the last 10 years. Makes regular bleeding and fluid exchanges a one person operation and easy. Don’t forget all you have to do is crack the bleeder open for it to work.

///Rich

 

Wow, hack of a story!
Single piston design could lead to uneven wear, but usually in conjunction with caliper getting stuck on guide pins.

All of that would not explain rapid brake pad material separation from the backing plate, which is what it sounds like you had experienced. At this point, I would wonder about the quality/integrity of your brake pads themselves!


Unfortunately, the EBC pads are infamous for multiple quality control issues, brake pad disintegration among the more scary problems.
Google for scary details and pictures.

If I were you, I would ditch the EBC color stuff, and use quality street/track brake pads in the future.

Emergency brake would have had the same issue, as the emergency brake lever manually compresses the rear calipers. If the rear pad is gone, it wont have any more luck engaging than the foot brake pedal.

Speed bleeders are an option, but a decent pressure bleeding kit is essential, no matter how you open the bleeding screws at each wheel:
http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-28...pean-cars.aspx

Good luck,
a