Likes to tow wrote:
Shift into a lower gear at the top, this will help. But the way you use brakes has a lot to do with heat generation. If you continually hold pedal pressure on to slow you down it does not take long to notice a fading effect and then soon you have to apply more pressure to gain the same amount of braking, then very soon you will have no brakes no matter how hard you push on the pedal. If you can get stopped you will have a funny odor and possibly smoke!!
The secret is to prevent overheating by applying brakes hard for a couple of seconds or so, bleed off 10 mph, then let it coast back up to the speed you want. Never give it any gas, just let it coast back up to speed. It will take a few seconds to regain that 10 mph speed and the brakes can cool down some. Keep doing this until you arrive at the bottom. Some traffic behind you will not like you speeding up then slowing down 10 mph but that is just too bad! There is no reason why you even have to travel the speedlimit when starting down. If it's 55mph and a long grade, just start out at 45. I have used this method of not ridding the brake pedal and made it down some really steep grades in the West and along the East.
X2 - your brakes will cool down a lot quicker if your vehicle is in motion then if you are sitting still.
