what is the main cause of car brakes failing?

Question

I have a 205GTI, when i do long journeys the brakes start to fade after a while, ive checked the pads and they're fine. anyone know what else it could be?

Answer 1

THE MASTER CYLINDER.
Everybody does repairs on the discs and pads and fluid, but eventually the master cylinder needs rebuilding or repair.
YOUR 205 GTI is at least a 9 year old car???

As soon as you said "brake fade" I knew the reason. You can feel the pedal ooooze towards the floor. Good brakes ..you should be able to stand on them with all your weight and the pedal won't go down, ooozing slowly lower.

The MASTER CYLINDER is that big round thing directly in front of the steering wheel. (maybe NOT on a British right hand drive car. It's a round tank with a vacuum chamber inside to give you power assisted brakes, certainly found on the GTI version of the 205.
They can be rebuilt or replaced in one hour at the mechanic's.

Answer 2

First off you have an older car. Second it is a Peugeot. I answered a question like this recently and it might be the same thing. After checking that there is no air in the lines, I would look at the brake lines themselves. In an old car the lines can start to expand and when the pedal is pressed, the lines expand and do not allow the pressure to reach the brake calipers. You say that the brakes start to fade after awhile; that tells me that it is something like the expanding lines as if there was air in the lines it would be bad from the start.
Don't let these answers be the holy grail, because on you car there are alot of other things that could make the brakes fail. I would take it into a Peugeot mechanic and explain the problem, I'm sure that he has seen something like it already.

Answer 3

In New York, you are allowed 2 monitors to be "not ready" if your car is model year 2000 or older, and 1 "not ready" if it is 2001 or newer. On my car, a 2000 Toyota Avalon, the catalytic converter--which throws the P0420 code--is the next to last monitor to be "ready." So here's what I did: by a $60 OBD scanner so you can clear the codes yourself with the car off, then drive ~20 miles, check to see if you have more than the allowed "not ready" or "incomplete" monitors (which the scanner will tell you), and take it straight to an inspection station. So in my case, I was allowed to have the catalytic monitor "not ready" and still pass NYS inspection because it's the next-to-last and I'm allowed 2 "not ready" monitors. If this had been a 2001, I don't think it would have worked because the cat monitor seems to be the next to last in the cycle (i.e., I would only be allowed a "not ready" on the evap, which is the last on my car). Took me quite awhile to figure all this out, in part because almost everyone will tell you that you must have all monitors "ready" to pass, and because I didn't understand that the OBD is not monitoring everything all the time. It really has a cycle, like a check-list, with some being ready all the time and some being checked only periodically. So a 50-100 mile drive might be needed to get all monitors ready, but the truth is that in NYS (per EPA regulations) you're allowed some "not readys." On a similar note: this is why dealers/mechanics can replace something like an O2 and the engine light be fine for a few days so that you think they "fixed" the underlying problem before it comes back on a little while later. They just cleared the codes. When the catalytic converter monitor is actually checked awhile later, the actual underlying problem (which might not have been the O2 sensor at all) will trigger a P0420 and the check engine light comes on. Also my scanner showed I had a "pending P0420" when I brought it in for inspection, but a pending code does not fail inspection. Finally, dig deep to find out about a possible waiver from the state. Three separate inspection stations told me there was no waiver at all in NYS, so I either had to pay thousands to fix my cat or sell the car. I will say, though, that I don't think at all they were trying to rip me off. I think they were being honest and didn't know that, at least in NYS, you can get a 1-year waiver if you spend at least $450 trying to fix the problem. Call the state DMV and really dig until you talk to someone knowledgeable. And look at the regulations yourself, even though those are often very hard to find you should be able to get a complete (probably many pages long) set of them and look for waiver information. If NYS has a waiver, I bet a lot of other states do too.

Answer 4

Hi there first unless you feel really confident i wouldnt recommend working on the brakes of your car as unless you have a good deal of knowledge of mechanics then you can be causing more problems that you cure. Brake Fluid is Hygrosopic this means that it absorbs moisture from the air, if your brake fluid hasnt been changed in the last two years it could be that, now if it has water in it the water will heat up when the brakes are used a lot and then this turns to steam which is a gas. The braking system works on the principle that it is impossible to compress a fluid, if you replace this fluid with a gas that can be compressed then the pedal will "fade" away and it will feel like your loosing the pedal.

When diagnosing faults always try the simple stuff first

Answer 5

The calipers may not be releasing properly causing your pads to heat up and fade. If you don't want to spend a lot of money, you can jack your car up and one at a time remove the tire and wheel. Pry the calipers all the way open. now gentlly depress the brake pedal and release it slowly. repeat this until the caliper is back out. repeat this three or four times on each disk brake wheel. Put the tires back on and you should be good to go.

Answer 6

i own a repair shop,and the most common cause is heat reaching the master cylinder,and this causes the pedal to fade out a little,on it,,also a cheap brake pad set can do this once they get heated up,,if you have to use them a lot,,it might be something you want to have checked out,it may be a master cylinder going bad on it,at least this gives you a good starting point with it,,good luck ,i hope this help,s.

Answer 7

Brake fade is caused by heat. Use your brakes less. When you have to replace your rotors, get a set of cross-drilled performance rotors. These will help to get rid of the heat buildup that brake use naturally causes.

If you are simply driving down the open highway, not using your brakes, and you are getting brake fade, you need to take it to a shop.

Answer 8

Could start with flushing and changing fluid cos cheap and simple and needs doing at intervals anyway. If that doesn't help then it could be a load of things: usually best to start at simplest and cheapest and work back... eg from a free hit with a hammer to something worth more than the car. Is anything getting unusually hot?

Answer 9

Two reasons for that , first and the most likley master cylinder seals worn out , or wheel cylinder leaking check under car on the inside of the wheels if one of them is wet with brake fluid , you have your answer

Answer 10

Try bleeding the brakes no fluid or air in the brake line will stop them working.