I have an SCT tune so I have turned off the top-speed limiter and raised my RPM limiter a bit (to 6750).

On a run home from Detroit I topped her out somewhere above 150 and the car was still pulling but all of a sudden I started smelling something burning (it was either clutch or brakes, not sure which).

It stopped as soon as I slowed down again. I was wondering if it is somehow possible that the traction control was applying the brakes because of my speed? It was really strange.

The only other thing I can think is that there was so much wind drag on the car at that speed that the clutch couldn't hold anymore.

 

i am gonna guess and say it was most likely the exhaust system........the cats......or the mufflers......

 

Might have just been the brake pads normal drag on the rotors. Disc brakes always drag a little.

 

brakes should never drag..otherwise they would heat up and glaze.......

 

My guess would be the exhaust, especially the CAT, which probably got very hot during the extended WOT top speed run. Probably scorched some nearby undercoating and whatnot.

Disc brakes drag VERY slightly -- keeps the dirt and moisture off -- but should not drag anywhere near enough to heat up so much that they start smoking, even if the Stang's brakes are rather suseptable to fade.

 

What did it smell like?
The reason I ask is that when my cats turned cherry red/transparent, I smelled a noxious plastic/rubber/polymer burning smell (floorboard insulation being heated).

I've never smelled burnt brake pads or clutches before.

 

The pads on disc brakes always touch the rotors. It's how they work pal.

 

The pads may somewhat contact the rotor during normal driving, but they should never drag on the rotor. If they are dragging enough to cause the pads/rotor surface to overheat while driving at high speed, something is wrong.

 

I've had a similar smell from driving fast on a late night free way run. I think it was just the cats like others have said. The car was still fairly new so there was probably some residue left over from when it was built. What ever it was, it would smell like that every time I took it out for fun, but hasn't made that smell in a long time. So that leads me to believe whatever the smell was has since burnt off.

 

If I push the car hard for a little while I will smell something similar, and mine has almost 30K on it. I believe it's the cats heating up, also the brakes if you use them at all while pushing it. Nothing to be concerned about I don't think.