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Tiny (hair-like) cracks initiated around small holes in the flange of one-piece brake discs were observed at an overloading condition. Thermally induced cyclic stress strongly affects the crack initiation in the brake discs. In order to show the crack initiation mechanism, the temperature distribution at the flange was firstly measured. The temperature distribution under overloading was analyzed by using the finite element method. Based on the experimental and calculated results, the crack initiation mechanism for one-piece brake discs at the very severe braking condition was explained. In addition, the effective methods are suggested for reducing the initiation of tiny cracks around the holes.