brake problem

[e30-ian]

happy new year e30 owners,
today i had the car full of people, i was on motorway for a good hour and came up to a round a bout, when i went to use brakes nothing happend, pedal was hard as normal but the car wasnt stopping nor slowing down i had to downgear very fast but still lost control of car, when i got out to check car everything seems ok with fluid and pads are ok, what could have corsed this to happen, could have been much much worse, im putting it down to brake fade and ive orded some cross drilled type discs but does anyone else thik diffrent ?

[asmith88]

how hard is the pedal?servo ok? try startng the einewith the brake pumped up before hand, wll the brake pedal slowly sink downwards?

[eltel]

you need to check all your pads/discs/shoes/cylinders firstly for wear/damage, check all the brake hoses for leaks and get someone to hold the pedal down while you check that they dont bulge under pressure..brakes are an essential piece of kit as you found out.

if they are all ok you only really have the master cylinder and servo left in the equation.

what car is it and had you been using the brakes quite alot prior to the incident to warrant that much fade??

[e30-ian]

its a 325i, had it in garage tonight and did not find anything tobe wrong, pedal has gone soft now but isnt going to floor, front brake hoses dont look the best so on tuesday in work im fitting new hoses, discs and pads on front and a fluid change, also noticed that my brake cooler thingys at front are missing, do i need them ?

[e30topless]

if your back plates are missing the crap from the road won't help your brakes, esp in the wet?

[eltel]

you'll be surprised how much difference just a fluid change will make.. especially if it is very old fluid in there currently

[asmith88]

i competley agree with the above, did this in a mini

[keri-WMS]

Could the ABS be doing this? Also might be collapsed/blocked brake lines? Also could be a sticking caliper is boiling the fluid, meaning the pedal goes straight to the floor (meaning you feel "nothing, then hard"), and explaining why you have a soft pedal now that the car has cooled down?

[eltel]

the abs would just give you a grinding under the pedal if it was cutting in or not at all if failed, check your calipers, discs, pads etc and definately put new fluid into the system and bleed fully