So this was a first and pretty terrifying...

I was coming down a residential street yesterday that was a pretty steep, paved, mile-long downhill. After about halfway or so, whenever I applied the brake pedal it was rock hard and stopping power was really really bad. At the bottom of the hill, there was a stop sign I was barely able to make, and at the stop the smell of brakes really filled the air. The pads are new akebonos. Anyone else experience this before? They fully recovered after cooling down on a flat straight road for a few minutes and I didn’t have anymore problems since. Kudos to whatever brand rotors the PO installed - no warpage, surprisingly.

 

Were you on your brakes the whole way down the hill? It sounds like brake fade from overheating, either pads/rotors too hot, or water in brake fluid boiling, or both. Even with Auto trans, I think it's important to shift down and let the engine hold you back as much as possible when going down long steep hills, to prevent the brakes from overheating and wearing out prematurely.

 

I’ll sheepishly admit that yes, I was on my brakes the whole time. Rookie move for sure.

 

I know many people are hesitant to shift down an auto trans, with the feeling that it's hard on it. I've had a lot of V8 Auto vehicles in my 4+ decades of driving, and I always keep them until well into the 300,000 kms, my Suburban until 425,000. I have always done this and so far have never had a transmission failure.

 

I mile down hill in a resi area that’s nothing. You need to stop driving your truck and get it looked at before you kill someone

 

What a horrible experience that must have been for you...good to hear that you came out of that experience unscathed.

 

Only a mile-long descent shouldn't be enough to fade the four-wheel disks on a Rover if they were working properly. Tow your rig to a brake shop and get them properly diagnosed and repaired. My hunch is that your brake booster failed, and that's why the effort is so great, but water in your caliper pistons could also cause this problem as the water boiled. Either way, find the problems and fix them all.

Scott

 

A mile down a steep downhill might be too much. A residential area in North Vancouver for instance might be too much, especially if the trans is in Drive.

 

2nd on the bad brake booster. Same symptoms when mine failed. And your brakes do not disengage, so one will be extremely hot

 

Actually - maybe this is another clue that the booster is bad? ... A few nights ago, I parked in the driveway and turned the engine off while leaving my foot on the brake pedal, and almost immediately the brake pedal pushed itself back toward me. In other words, after the engine shut off, the brake pedal firmed up almost in an instance, so much so that it pushed my leg back, away from the firewall. Is that normal? I've never experienced it on my 2002 before.