Last week i got my pads only changed, my rotors were already cut once, and the rotors were decent enough to throw pads on for now before i ordered the rotors and did them all over... driving out of the place i hit my brakes and my petal is HARD.... and hard at the very top point of the petal, going 80 i hit my brakes the petal is so hard, wont budge more than 1/2 inch and my front tires will lock up if i push with some force.... What could be causing this? I also hear a squeek coming from my front passenger side caliper when I hit the brake at a stop, as im hitting the brake... Im thinking the squeek could be the clips on the pads... My rear rotors are warped tho, feeling them today i def noticed they are bumpy... but i dont think warped rotors would cause a hard brake petal, would it?

Its a buddys shop that did the work, my car is there right now for them to look at it but im a bit concerned that it may be out of their control... Would this hard petal and squeeking caliper mean my caliper has went? I got 40,000 on the car, its a 6 speed manual with the brembos... The thing is with the petal, is that it doenst happen every time... the petal always seems funny since the brake job but sometimes its very very hard with 1/4 push distance if that before the tires lock when i get up to speed, other times it just feels off a little and the braking power is not nearly as smooth or as strong as it was prior... it almost feels as if abs is kicking in too.... im very very concerned any known issues on anything like this happening to anyone else?

 

I'm not sure whats going on....but I would start by having them bleed the brake lines.

 

The only time I have ever had something like this happen is when one of my pads was intalled improperly. Instead of pressure being applied across the enture pad, all of the pressure as being jammed on one side of the pad because the other side could not move. As soon as I touched the brake pedal, the pad would grab. Hope this helps.

 

Also check to make sure they didn't knock the vacuum hose off of the brake booster. An extremely hard pedal would be caused by failure of vacuum assist, although you would be experiencing that on every pedal application, not just sometimes.

 

I would take it to the dealer. You will likely have to pay them to check it out. Then I would bill the other shop for the diagnostic and repair costs

 

Thanks for the info... im going up there now, its been there 2 hours , i havnet talked to them yet but all that was said was helpful... im hoping bleeding the lines will work, pads installed improperly sound more along what im thinking and hoping happened... the squeeky brake pad when i press the brake in while stopped also leads me to believe that... and it def doesnt do it every time, which is a little strange....

As far as bringing it to the dealer.... that'll be my last resort... ill change every part i can before i ask them to look at it... I need rotors either way, ill start there if its not an easy fix today...

 

if you needed to bleed the brakes, your pedal would feel soft, not hard.

You might want to check to make sure the check valve in the vacuum assist line is functioning. The irregular power brake assist could be caused by this.

And what do you mean by tires locking? you have ABS. Your wheels should never lock-up. If it does, there may be a serious issue here (faulty ABS, severly sticking caliper piston to name a couple).

 

Well problem is still there... Im starting with getting the rotors, my rears are warped and i would change them before i brought it to a dealership for a brake related issue, i dont think it will be from the rotors... but i will see

When i mean wheels lock up for a split second, how delicate the brake pedal is when it get hard if i press with a decent amount of force you head a tiny chirp, it feels as is abs kicks in or could be just un-smooth braking.... tomorow im looking more into it... we were all confused tho... brake fluid is not the problem, it was never bled, never touched, shouldnt cause any issues... pads are on right.... Could be a caliper, or a vacuum line for sure. How would i check the vacuum check you were talking about?

 

Petals are nice and soft...pedals should be hard and metallic, if not rubbery.

 

Is there a possibility of TOO MUCH brake fluid? If you 'don't touch' your fluid and replace pads, there will be an excess of fluid. The additional thickness of the pads forces the piston further back in the caliper, raising the level of fluid.

Any vacuum leaks to/near the booster?

 

I'm assuming you have the Brembo calipers, which are equiped with four pistons. If, while they were replacing your pads, they expended the pistons to make room over the rotor for the new thicker pads, in a non-uniform way, which would cause the piston to go into the bore crooked, thus creating a burr in one or more pistons causing them to bind while you apply the brakes.

Just a thought

 

Are you sure you just don't have really good working brakes now? I know when i first got my '04 with brembos it would almost throw you through the windsheild with a tap.

However, as the pads wear you will get more travel on the PEDAL as the pistons push out further to make contact. LIke was said before, if the pistons were pushed back to make room for the new pads, it all makes sense.

 

If the MC is working as it should any excess fluid in the system would make it's way make into the reservior. If you've ever pushed in a brake caliper piston with th ebleed screw closed, you can actually watch the reservior level rise as you push the piston in.

 

Brake caliper bores and the pistons tend to be sized. The pistons won't go in crooked. And the edges of the back of the pistons tend not to be sharp either. It would be very difficult to get a piston to do this even if you tried.

 

This should not occur. Disc brakes are self adjusting in nature. As long as there is no air in the system, then there will be no compression in the hydraulics. So the only play you will feel will be when the piston in the master cylinder still exposes the orifice to the reservior and the distance between the pad and rotor. The reservior orifice will not change unless you alter pedal height or the lentght of the rod attaching the M/C to the pedal. Disc Brakes are designed to self adjust the pads to lightly touch the rotor when you release the brake pedal.

When a pedal goes soft as pads wear, it will likley be because air has formed or made it's way into the brake lines. You'll be surprised at how much stiffer a wearing brake system will feel simply from bleeding. Especially in a car that is driven hard.