Comment on Why sometimes my car slows down going downhill?
Changetheview@lemmy.world 11 months agoIt also helps keep brakes cool, important for mountain driving.
One of my cars hardly does any automatic engine braking. My other vehicle will keep or decrease speed down long hills/mountains. No noticeable change in engine noise at all. Makes long trips through the mountains much easier, especially because it’s a heavy vehicle and overheated brakes is a very real concern.
Tangent5280@lemmy.world 11 months ago
What happens when the brakes get too hot? Do they gently stop working or can they just explode or something?
hayander@lemmyngton.au 11 months ago
Generally much less effectiveness to almost none as they get hotter
Source: was an idiot teenager
Tangent5280@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Can you continue using them once they cool back down, or does the heating cause permanent damage?
hayander@lemmyngton.au 11 months ago
At some point it probably does. And can probably catch fire. Mine were fine once they cooled
WhoRoger@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Brakes are assholes, when they overheat they can fail basically suddenly. You do get a warning in lower effectiveness or one side braking more than the other, but if you’re not familiar with that feeling, you may not realise it. Also modern cars are made so that everything just feels the same all the time.
You can see it in car races such as in F1. Braking braking, suddenly boom, car is in the barrier.
Yes, they’ll work again after cooling down unless they’re shit and got deformed, or you crashed.
That’s why it’s important to have brakes checked regularly, you get little to no warning in modern cars. Same with clutch and a bunch of other mechanisms.