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I believe I read that if you lift off the pedal in the middle of a stop for two seconds, it will lower rotor temperatures substantially. Sometimes I will brake a hair early for a light on a 45 to 50 MPH road, then lift and brake again. I will only do this if I know I will be stopped at the light before it turns. The smartest thing you can do is anticipate a light. If you can adjust your speed and lift off the throttle really early when approaching a light, it may turn green before you hit it, and you may be able to coast through at 20 or 30 MPH. The contrast would be to race up to the light at 55, hit the brakes hard, and come to a complete stop just as the light turns green. Now you have heated your brakes, worn on the pads, and lost all your momentum, forcing you to waste gas just to get up to speed.
There are plenty of places where you know you are going to have to stop, like at the tolls and at signs, where you can easily get off the throttle and coast up for a long distance, while really maintaining a lot of speed, even as you slow down. If you drive the same route every day, you can soon learn where these places are, and how to take advantage of natural slopes and gravity. There is one toll I come up to where I can be going 60, coast for a half mile, and still be doing 50 as I start to come up to the booth. There is another place where I go down a long hill to a stop, and I let the car have its head, because even if I pick up speed, there is a hill rising up to the stop at the end. I can hit the brakes moderately hard for a short distance as I hit that rise, then let gravity slow me further before I apply my brakes again.
I think you have to anticipate, know your terrain, and look at the whole picture of using terrain, momentum and drag to get the best out of your circumstance. Like hypermileing or anything else, it is just a game to get your best.
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