nardo'89SE

Sometimes when i brake it sounds like they're grinding and it seems that i have to apply more presure inorder to stop, other times they have a nice feel and sound, i can't think of any pattern (maybe its when they are cold, but thats not 100% of the time, but it happens more when i first start her up) they were replaced including pads, rotors, and fluid around 500 dollars worth of brake stuff about 2000 miles ago, i kept stock because i didn't want to worry about them and i dont do very much hard brakeing. pardon the spelling and thank in advance for advice PEACE

nardo'89SE

could air in the system be doing this, or would i have to re bleed them to check?

93 SE

i would bleed them it should give you some pressure back

nardo'89SE

i read the process of bleeding them, and it seems more than i want to do, how much how a shop to it for

93 SE

i dont know how much they charge,usually they do that when they change ur brakes,but they shoudnt be charging that much,its not hard,but its easy with 2 people,one on the brakes and you on the bleeding bolt

Nismo87SE

What kind of pads did you get? I noticed that aftermarket replacement pads seem to require more pedal travel than stock nissan pads. A grinding or squeeking noise might be normal for the pads you have.

Bman

A word of caution: even though our cars aren't too too old, bleeding the brakes the traditional do-it-yourself way may lead to trouble down the road. The problem is with rusty spots inside the master cylinder. When you bleed brakes you're supposed to push on the pedal to force the air and fluid out the bleeder screws. Problem is, since there's no resistance, the pedal usually gets pushed all the way to the floor. When this happens, the rusty walls of the master cylinder itself makes tiny cuts and abrasions in the rubber seals of the piston. This doesn't happen in normal use because the piston can only go so far into the cylinder, and this area is rust-free because of constant use. This might help if my descriptions are confusing: http://www.howstuffworks.com/category.htm?cat=Brake

I've done this unfortunately and the slow leakage of fluid only gets worse over time. You can get around this by doing it yourself and using a old mechanic's trick of finding out how far down the pedal goes normally, then putting blocks of wood or something between the pedal and the floorboard to prevent you from pushing the pedal beyond that point (and into rust-scrape-city).

OR you could always find a shop that does "power brake bleeding" (or something like that). Basically they attach a pump or something over the master cylinder and force fluid through the system that way, without ever having to touch the pedal or lift a finger. I might look into this myself soon because I need to change the brake fluid, maybe to silicone-based fluid, which doesn't absorb water like regular fluid.

(man, that was waaaaay longer than I expected )

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

that smart thing to do in your case is rebuild your master cylinder. take the thing apart, and use a quality brake cylinder hone and clean it out, then put the new seals and pistons in it and re-bleed the system. it takes about 2 hours.


Another thing I'm trying to figure out is how you sould have rust in an ALUMINUM master cylinder!

Bman

Oh, oops I was referring to my old car. I haven't even got a really close look at my Max's master cylinder yet. So I guess that means I just wasted a whole lotta time typing there, eh?