23-09-12, 10:32 AM
(This post was last modified: 23-09-12, 10:36 AM by The Male Whale.)
The fade you desribe (extra lever travel) is caused by the force you are exerting from the master cylinder being disappated before it reaches the calipers.
This can be either the fluid "boiling" (which I think it is here) or the hoses flexing - especially if they are not braided ones.
The "boiling" is the water that the brake fluid absorbs (it does that naturally, hence the need to change it regularly) boiling through the heat being absorbed through the calipers from the hot discs and pads rather than the fluid itself boiling. The vapour generated is "compressable" where the fluid is not - hence the spongy feeling and the return to normal after a few seconds of cooling from the air passing. Change the fluid to avoid this, using a sealed container of new fluid.
If it is the latter, then bolt on a set of braided hoses and that cures it. The original hoses are supposed to be changed every two years anyway - no one ever does.....
I would do both actually!
The pads are not the issue - if they were "going away" you would get a "wooden" (firm lever but no real effect on retardation) feeling at the lever rather than the extra travel you describe.
Whale
This can be either the fluid "boiling" (which I think it is here) or the hoses flexing - especially if they are not braided ones.
The "boiling" is the water that the brake fluid absorbs (it does that naturally, hence the need to change it regularly) boiling through the heat being absorbed through the calipers from the hot discs and pads rather than the fluid itself boiling. The vapour generated is "compressable" where the fluid is not - hence the spongy feeling and the return to normal after a few seconds of cooling from the air passing. Change the fluid to avoid this, using a sealed container of new fluid.
If it is the latter, then bolt on a set of braided hoses and that cures it. The original hoses are supposed to be changed every two years anyway - no one ever does.....
I would do both actually!
The pads are not the issue - if they were "going away" you would get a "wooden" (firm lever but no real effect on retardation) feeling at the lever rather than the extra travel you describe.
Whale
On the Gas! 
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