[Richard]

I am going to relate something that I am experiencing and what I have done. One, to gather input from others. Two, to check my sanity. 

I replaced all the brake shoes and pads in 2020, I was very happy with the braking power. As we started our summer journey, I almost tagged a car when they pulled in front of me, and braked sharply. I had previously noted that my braking did not seem to be as it once was when the pads were new. 

I went through a system check, including checking the diaphragms for leaks, ensuring slack adjusters were set correctly, and even disconnected brake hoses and checked the air pressure at the hose during a full on brake application. Nothing seemed amiss. 

I have plenty of windshield time, so even a slowly clocked CPU like mine eventually grinds to a conclusion. I recalled a thread on another forum some 15 yrs ago where a guy said not to run with your jakes on all the time. He said, the pads glaze from the light application. Well, I do run with the jakes all the time. Things that make you go hmmmmm. 

I wasn’t about to turn the jakes off while cruising the interstate with questionable stopping distance, but I started turning them off at every off ramp. And I made some aggressive stops on purpose, informing the passenger side alarm system first of course. After about 10 of these aggressive stops without the jakes, my brakes are back to what I knew them to be. 

I am going to keep an eye on this and report back results over a longer time period. I still will run the jakes while cruising the concrete because I want all the stopping I can possibly get. I will also turn the jakes off and aggressively stop exiting the ramps to see if they continue to improve. 

Don’t take this as gospel, because it is a data set of one. I am curious if you have had the same experience OR you have ever heard of such a thing.