eli5 Why do trains with steel wheels have traction on steel rails, but if your brakes on your car are used up and become steel on steel they dont work anymore?
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Heating is one reason. Hot brakes don’t brake very well. Your brake pads help dissipate heat by wearing out, while steel just gets hot. The brake pads also don’t retain heat very well, so not much heat gets back to the steel backing plate. Friction on the backing plate itself will make it extremely hot, and that heat will be transmitted to the caliper, and thus the brake fluid, which really doesn’t do well under high heat.
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