More details... hmm.
The brake pads at the time were probably an OEM pad like Textar or Jurid. I had not yet begun my quest for a dustless pad.
I've mostly said all I can think of. I WAS driving the card hard and it was a very hot day. I had rushed home from work to the pool store to purchase chemicals needed to treat a water problem my pool was having. I was pushing it because the store closes early and it is an 18 mile commute in heavy Atlanta traffic. The last several miles of the trip were stop and go.
The brakes failed just before turning in at my destination with only a few minutes to spare. I rushed into the store thinking that I was going to have to buy a master cylinder as well as deal with the pesky pool problem. (No, I don't buy auto parts at the pool store!)
When I came out I noticed there was a lot of heat coming from the front brakes. I think it even smelled overheated! I started the car and tapped on the brakes to see if I thought I had enough brakes to make it the short distance remaining to get home. To my surprise, everything was fine! The pedal felt good, it stopped fine, I could hardly believe it!
The next time I took the car to the shop for service I told them what had happened. They told me that they used to believe in the dust shields, but they found that the cars with them were experiencing premature brake wear and took them off. The fluid was flushed as part of maintenance and I never saw the problem again.
A few years later my then teen-aged son told me that it had happened to him previous to my encounter, but he didn't want to tell me about it because he knew he shouldn't have been driving the car as hard as he was that day... A 400E is NOT the car for a teen!
Ok, I was being dramatic above when I said I removed the dust shields and threw them!
I did remove them myself from one of my other cars!