Soft Brakes!!!

naleshniki · 08-02-2005, 05:39 AM

Had the usual "warped rotor shuffle" when I braked so I replaced front rotors, pads & wheel bearings this past weekend. Everything went smoothly(man it gets dirty in there!) and the "shuffle" is gone. But the brake pedal feels WAY softer than before. I have not tried a hard stop yet as suggested by the "break-in" period for the pads, but I know something's up. I had to press in the caliper pistons just a little with a c-clamp so the new pads would fit and I did not open the brake lines. I read alot on this forum about bleeding brakes; why should I need to bleed them if I didn't let any air into the system? Could I have damaged something when I compressed the pistons(never happened on any oth car I've ever done)? The old pads were hardly worn(only had the car since last fall), so someone must have replaced them not that long ago, so I only had to compress the pistons a very small amount. I used $40 B/A semi-metallic pads. Will this "softness" get better as things settle in, or do I have a definate issue with the booster/ MC? I seem to remember having the same issue with my '89 Cutlass after replaceing the pads/rotors and it slowly got better with use.

1984 944 NA

ronniebaldino · 08-02-2005, 07:30 AM

First thing I would do is bleed the brakes. It is a very easy process and assuming nothing is broken should firm up the brakes. Hell, I would just flush the fluid while I was at it just to know that the fluid was fresh. Make sure the resevoir stays full though or you will end up having to bleed the clutch as well.

Slam · 08-02-2005, 08:17 AM

I'd also give the pads some time to seat to the rotors. As I understand it, the brakes will feel a little soft while things break in. Shouldn't take long. If you didn't open the lines then you shouldn't have to bleed, but it wouldn't hurt to do it anyway.

Lawrence Coppari · 08-02-2005, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ronniebaldino
First thing I would do is bleed the brakes. It is a very easy process and assuming nothing is broken should firm up the brakes. Hell, I would just flush the fluid while I was at it just to know that the fluid was fresh. Make sure the resevoir stays full though or you will end up having to bleed the clutch as well.

You can allow the brake fluid level to get below the level where the clutch system picks up the fluid without getting air in the clutch system. Where you can get into trouble is when you pressure bleed the clutch by pressurizing the brake fluid reservoir with the fluid level below the clutch pickup. Ditto for vacuum bleeding the clutch.

rb101 · 08:33 AM

You should bleed your brakes ever few years to get the old, contaminated brake fluid out. I did mine a few months ago and the petal felt much firmer.
home made power bleeder site:

http://www.bmw-m.net/TechProc/bleeder.htm

Lawrence Coppari · 08-02-2005, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rb101
You should bleed your brakes ever few years to get the old, contaminated brake fluid out. I did mine a few months ago and the petal felt much firmer.
home made power bleeder site:

http://www.bmw-m.net/TechProc/bleeder.htm

Ditto that.

naleshniki · 08-02-2005, 08:47 AM

Thanks everyone! I just ordered a set of speed bleeders from Pelican.