This was my first time doing my brakes. I changed my rotors, pads and bleed my brake line. After I finished the job I took my car for a test run. The brakes felt really loose and wouldn't brake until it was pressed all the way down. After pumping the brake for for about a minute in park it felt better. Not as good as I thought it would be, but better. Is this normal after a brake job?

There is also a burning smell. One of my wheels seems to be hotter than the rest and the smell seems to be originating from there. I think my pads are rubbing my rotors while I'm driving. Is this even possible? If it is, any ideas on how I can fix this? Is there also any way to check if all my wheels are doing this? Please help me out if you can... since these are my brakes and safty is very important.

 

Check for drag in the overheating brake. The first time you hit the brakes they may be a little lower and the hydraulics will adjust to normal height after a couple of presses on the pedal.

Did you regrease the slide pins on the caliper? And make sure the caliper was able to move easily on the slide pins? Definitely sounds like you have both some air in your lines atill, and also a sticking caliper.

I replaced all the pads on my max last month, and my brakes feel much stiffer. The braking is very strong, but not grabby, and comes in very high on the pedal.

 

What do you mean by checking for drag in the overheated brake?? Can you explain that a lil' more? I regreased the pins. How much grease are u suppose to put in tho? After putting grease back in it felt sticky when i push them in and out. Is this normal or wrong? I dont' see how I still have air in my lines. I bleed it and I'm pretty sure I did it right. I'll have to relook at everything after work.

 

First time I bled brakes it took me several tries to get it right.

Put the car in neutral, block the rear wheels and jack up the front wheel. Try to turn the wheel by hand and you can feel is the brakes are dragging. The wheel should turn freely. If you hear the pad scraping on the rotor then it's dragging. What tool did you use to retract the pistons?

 

It looks like the brake pads are dragging. When greasing the caliper pin, use only a little grease. If the pin does not move in and out freely, you have hydro-lock. This will cause the outside pad to drag against the rotor. After you install the caliper onto the pins, you may want to lift the rubber boot (on the caliper pin) to release any trapped air. Also clean the sliding surfaces for the brake pad.

 

Could be that you just need to break them in. Are they performance pads? Mine needed a little beating on since they were ceramic. At first they were rubbing a little but now they are perfect.

 

My guess would be that you need to bleed your brakes. Are you sure you did it right and in the right order?

 

I used a brake spreader for the front and for the rear I used the piston turning tool.

I'll try what you mention when I get back home. When I was bleeding my brakes I did the following...

1) placed my bleeding kit on the bleeder screw opening.
2) loosen the bleeder screw
3) pumped the brakes about 3-4 times
4) watch the fluid flow into my container
5) check for any air bubbles going into the container
5) tighten the bleeder screw and dumped the brake fluid in a bigger container
6) kept doing steps 1-5 until i didnt see any more air bubbles.

Is that how I'm suppose to bleed it correctly?

 

I forgot to mention. I did it in this order:

Right rear, Left front, Left rear, Right font.

I did do it over the span of 2 days tho. I did the Right rear and Left front one day. Didn't drive my car tho. And did the other two the following day. Does that matter?

 

Also when I was doing my rear pads. The rubber around the piston was bunching up and on one caliper the top section ripped off. Is this normal? Does it have any bad effects to the brake? I don't see how you can turn the piston without the rubber getting all bunched up in the rear.

 

The rubber does get bunched up. As for it ripping I don't know if it will cause a problem but I think it should be ok. When you bleed your brakes I'm pretty sure you are supposed to go in the order:

Passenger Rear
Driver Rear
Passenger Front
Driver Front

When you bleed your brakes it is easier with 2 people.

1) placed your bleeding kit on the bleeder screw opening.
2) pump the brakes 3 or 4 times, hold down brake pedal.
3) loosen the bleeder screw.
4) after all air bubbles come out, should only be a second or 2, tighten bleeder screw.
5) slowly pull brake pedal up.
6) repeat steps 2-5 until no more air bubbles going into container.
7) make sure brake fluid doesn't go below limit, if so fill to max.
8) move to next wheel/brake, start process over until all 4 brakes have been bled properly.

 

I followed the bleeding order that was in the haynes manual. It gave me the order I stated above.

As far as checking for drag. How easy is the rotor suppose to turn while the car is in neutral? I checked my front two and the one that smelled like it was burning was pretty hard to turn. The other front rotor could turn easier, but it did require some force on my part. I also found that it was easier to turn forward than backward. Is this normal? I checked the pins and removed the extra grease. When I push the pins in it pops out, but at times it doesn't and just feels like its being sucked in when I try pulling it out again. Any idea why thats happening?

 

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>When I push the pins in it pops out, but at times it doesn't and just
>feels like its being sucked in when I try pulling it out again. Any idea
>why thats happening?

Too much grease on the pins. They should move in and out freely. Only after you install the rubber boot on the pins, then the pins become harder to move in and out because air is trapped by the boot. You can lift the boot to relieve the air pressure after the caliper is installed.

The wheel should rotate with slight pressure and continue for at leat one more revolution after you release it. The rear can continue for a few more revolutions.

 

Should the rotor turn easy both in a foward and backward motion or is the backward motion harder than turning it foward?

 

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