So I installed my new Hawk HPS pads a week and some change ago, went thru all the brake-in proceedures/time and now that they are i'm having problems getting them to really bite down. In addition to having a very mushy brake pedal feel, now this morning i noticed the left front side grinding ever so slightly when coming to a stop.

Any suggestions or thoughts?
I was thinking that i might need to bleed them, but wanted to get some more opinions first.

 

yeah i would try to bleed them. even if that doesnt help you will have freash brake fluid in the lines (always a good thing). also check and make sure that they are seated in properly and that the spring that pushes them apart isnt binding anywhere... without being there this is the best i can do.

Hope this helps,
-Colin

 

If you bled the lines you must have done it improperly and you have air in there. I did this once and it caused only two of the brakes to be really working...they worked so much that one of the front rotors turned blacksmith-orange, LOL.

 

Well i'm going to try and bleed them tomorrow, remove the wheels and see what the problem is.

 

Not sure if this would result in a mushy pedal, but did you clean and re-lube the sliding pins when installing the pads?

 

always bleed the lines when you change pads right away

 

normally u dont have to bleed lines after doing a pas change...but for some reason air got in their so give the bleeding a try

 

If you have to open the valve to let some fluid out so the piston can compress enough for the new pads to fit then I would definitely bleed them. If you can cram them in there without opening that valve to much then youre probably OK.

 

NCSU_MAX, I love your sig pic, very nice shots! But you should use Photoshop to bicubically downsample it so you don't get the jaggies.

 

why would you need to open the valve anyways? If you need to retract the pistons, all you need to do is open the brake fluid reservoir in the engine bay and push the pistons in. Then no bleed is necessary at all.

 

u dont even need to do that....and if u need to open the valve ur calipers arnt right....of all the brake jobs i have donre i never open the cap or a valve....if the caliper doesnt compress with a c-clamp or brake tool then something is wrong

 

interesting, ive always had to open the valve to bleed some fluid so the piston would compress far enough inevitably letting air into the lines. Irish ive never heard of that method, ill definitely try it when I get my BBK in a week or so

 

haha, thanks man. yea im kind of a photoshop newbie. I need to actually just buy the program and play with it someday. Right now Im just using the cheap 30-day trial of some program. Those were taken by a professional photographer at Deals Gap; he does a great job!

 

At most all you would need to do is open the master cylinder cap...and the master has check valves in it so no air will get inside.....what do use to compress the calipers

 

Ok, well I was using a vice to try to compress the piston but even with that I couldnt get it to go in far enough last time I changed pads. Ill definitely try opening that cap this time

 

if they are that though u might have other issues...bought the 10 dollar brake caliper tool form AZ and dont blink twice...

 

yea I found that out the hard way, lol