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Old Sep 11, 2004 | 07:44 AM
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On my normal ride home I come off the off ramp and down a steep incline and normally have to stop at the lights. At the bottom of the hill there's invariably a tail wind.

I notice that after heavy braking I get a lot of smoke from both sets of wheels on the left. It's only this one spot where I hit the tail wind after heavy braking that I ever notice it.

I know these high performance brakes run hot. Look at the action shots of the F1 cars. I was wondering if anyone else has the same thing?
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Old Sep 11, 2004 | 02:51 PM
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Having smoke come from your brakes just from exiting a freeway ramp, decline and tail wind or not just does not seem normal to me. Is it an A4 and are you riding the brakes with your left foot down the highway? I would have this checked out.
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Old Sep 11, 2004 | 03:10 PM
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Its an A4 but I never ride the brakes with my left. I'm used to stick shift so my left usually does other things.

May well ask the dealer to look next time its in.
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Old Sep 11, 2004 | 05:12 PM
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Originally Posted by DeeGee
On my normal ride home I come off the off ramp and down a steep incline and normally have to stop at the lights. At the bottom of the hill there's invariably a tail wind.

I notice that after heavy braking I get a lot of smoke from both sets of wheels on the left. It's only this one spot where I hit the tail wind after heavy braking that I ever notice it.
May have been brake dust that caught the tail wind and blew infront of you, not smoke. IMHO if the brakes where as hot as a F1 brake you would not have stopped as your pads would have been mush

Many ppl do a lot of track time and use racing brake pads, PFC-01, Wilwood J or H, Carbotech XP-9 or XP-10 pads to name a few pads.

If your braking that hard you may wish to concider a more agressive brake pad to help you stop. Of course that will mean more dust too.

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Old Sep 11, 2004 | 05:36 PM
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Doesn't sound normal and it is easy enough to examine to see if there is something wrong. I've run my 03 MN6 on steep mountain roads with switchbacks, etc. and never had smoke.
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Old Sep 11, 2004 | 06:32 PM
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Odd that this is only the left side. It would seem your car would pull to that side if there were an imbalance in the system. You might get your pads checked for un-even wear to see if there is such a problem. You might have a brake line problem on one side of your car.

I've only ever noticed any smell or "smoke" after running in autocross or extremely hard braking. That's normal.

Of course, there is always the option to slow down before entering the exit, too.
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Old Sep 12, 2004 | 08:22 AM
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Originally Posted by AU N EGL
May have been brake dust that caught the tail wind and blew infront of you, not smoke.
:
Thanks for the thoughts. I'm not running down the ramp particularly quickly(60 or so) and it doesn;t happen after other similar ramps. Maybe its just local conditions at that spot where the tailwind whips up the brake dust. Hadn't considered that.

I guess it answers my question though, as no one else seems to have the same problem.

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Old Sep 12, 2004 | 08:52 AM
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my money is on brake dust but if i had to choose differently id say you just got the discs put on and the mechanic was bleeding the brakes and got brake fluid on the disc
brake fluid will stay on the disc for a hundred miles or so and will smoke after it gets hot
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