I have a new 2002 Coupe that I took to a road track last week on Thursday for a day of driving laps. I didn't notice on the track, but driving home I had a really soft brake pedal. It took a lot of pedal travel before the brakes would grab. It was very firm beforehand. So I got home and did a search here for all the brake advice, and realized I should have put in a better fluid before going to the track. The stock fluid isn't up to the task. So I went out and bought 3 pints of the Ford extra heavy duty fluid and bled the brakes as instructed by others here. (The Ford fluid is easy to find. I may go to more exotic stuff before I go to the track again.) RR first, LF, LR, and then RF. I found small bubbles in only the LR line, but there were 1 or 2 per stoke of the brake pedal. I pumped a lot of fluid and was getting worried I might run out of new fluid. So when about 3 pumps of the pedal produced no bubbles, I stop and went on to the final corner of the car. I took the car for a short drive afterwards and found that the brake pedal feel is only slightly improved, if at all. There is still a lot of travel in the pedal and it feels soft.

So my question is, what should I do next? Should I go buy more Ford brake fluid and start over? Should I bleed just the LR and the oposite RF? What do you think I did wrong?

- Mark

 

There is a very good chance your pedal feel is due to pad taper. When used hard, the pads will wear unevenly from the front of the pad to the back of the pad. I'd pull the pads, and replace them if needed.


[Modified by 70L46, 2:01 PM 5/19/2002]

 

Is there a way I can test this? I suppose its not something I can see visually. If I used a micrometer, could I tell if the pads are baddly tapered and in need of replacement? I know I used the brakes hard, but is was just under 100 miles of track driving. I'm sure I used a few thousand normal miles of wear up on the track, but replacing the pads after only one track outing seems a little much.

- Mark


[Modified by Mark VerMurlen, 1:38 PM 5/19/2002]


[Modified by Mark VerMurlen, 4:44 PM 5/19/2002]

 

If they are tapered bad enough to affect the pedal feel, you should be able to see it visually when you pull the pads. The stock brakes are good, but track use will really push them past their limits. If you do track events on a regular basis, you may want to invest in some racing pads and swap them out with your stock pads. I recently did a 2 day event at Road America, and used PFC99 pads, Motul 600 fluid, and the Doug Rippie stainless steel caliper pistons. The brakes help up fantastic. When I got home, I just popped the stock pads back on.

 

I bleed mine in the order RR, LR, RF, LF. Is this not correct.??? I remember from previous threads that this was the proper order. Also, I got myself a Mighty Vac II for $40 and you can bleed them without having to pump the pedal. Really speeds things up. Good luck! :cheers:

 

I believe that your order is correct for your model year. They changed the order for the 2001 and 2002 years.

- Mark

 

TTT

Anyone else have an opinion?

- Mark

 

I use this same order, and it has worked well every time for me.

 

Brakes should always be bled from the furthest caliper away from the master cylinder to the closest.

RR, LR, RF, LF is correct.

BTW, the braking system did not change from one year to another from 1999 - 2000 or beyond.

 

How bizzare is this, 4 people have responded to Mark's question, all pewter hardtops :lol: :cool:

One other thought - when flushing/bleeding, did you let the master cyl run dry?


[Modified by 70L46, 11:58 AM 5/20/2002]

 

Nope, I never let the master cylinder get even close to empty. It was always kept at least half full.

I've decided to go to Hawk HPS pads and I'm going to replace the fluid again with the ATE stuff. Hopefully that will fix it.

- Mark

 

Invest in a set of speedbleeders - they make flushing the fluid a snap :yesnod:
http://www.speedbleeder.com/


[Modified by 70L46, 3:25 PM 5/20/2002]

 

I second the speedbleeder suggestion. Works great on my, err, pewter hardtop!

 

Go buy a set of pads before getting it on jackstands and pulling the caliper off.

99% chance the pads have tapper. You can use a dail caliper to measure them but like 70L46 said, you should be able to visually see the tapper.

since the pads sit vertically in the caliper the heavy wear will be on the down side of the pad.