Soft Brakes after pad rotor install
 

Car- 08 Z51 Coupe

Car has 30k on the clock

I put new Z51 rotors, Hawk HPS pads, and flushed the fluid, and bled the lines.

Did the proper bedding procedure as recommended by Hawk


There is no initial bite, In the morning I cant even get ABS to kick in. It will stop but I have to push that peddle all the way down.

Once she heats u p after 10-15 minutes, it gets better, She will grab but not like I would expect.

Did I miss something here?

This is not my first brake swap btw

How did you bleed them?

There is air in the lines - bleed them again.

I think you need to bleed the lines some more.

Did you pull the calipers ?

How did you manage to do the bedding procedure if your brakes don't clamp properly?

I did to switch rotors

After they warned up they grab

Did you replace the OEM brake lines? If not replace with stainless steel lines and re-bleed.

The question everyone is trying to ask is "did you open up the system" and by that did you remove the calipers from the car, did you crack open brake lines or any part of the system that exposes the brake fluid.

We know you lifted the caliper off the rotor to replace the rotors but you don't have to crack open the system for that.

If you did open up the system, then you have not completely bled the air out of the system. If you did not crack open the system then something else is going on. Its almost always an air in the line problem once you crack open a line or remove a caliper from the car (not just its mounting location).

I never did crack open the system.

I did the rotors and pads drove it for a few days and it felt soft, So I flushed and bled the system.

That didn't fix the feel.

The brakes felt solid before the swap.

I will try to re bleed the system again next week unless you guys think it is something else...

Its weird that the brakes improve when warm though. If air in the lines is the problem, that would not improve with time and/or heat. In fact heat would generally make the problem worse.

gotta be some air in there somewhere... keep bleeding them.

That what was puzzling me too, But the consensus is to bleed again

Without a tech tool you can't bleed the abs system. Get a dealer to do it.
z51vett

Is the pedal firm without moving down much when pressed?

The HPS pads should grab right away.

Sounds like air in the lines.

So is the pedal soft, or do the pads just not grab?

Soft pedal, then re-bleed.

I replaced the stock pads on my C5 with Hawk HPS, and did the bedding procedure. When I first hit the brakes, before bedding, I almost went right through a red light...:willy:

They got much better after bedding, but still not as good as the stock pads when cold. They have now been on for a couple thousand miles, and seem to be improving, but still need some heat in them to have the same feel as the stock pads. With a lot of heat they are much better.

:cheers:

Might as well, its a lot cheaper than taking it into the shop.

Probably unrelated but I recently replaced wheel bearings that went bad and the brake pedal is now much firmer. It was a huge improvement!

make sure you didn't put the left side on the right side. I did this one time. make sure the bleeder is on the top. If the bleeder is on the bottom, you can't get the air out.

LOL They are on right...

I never let the reservoir run dry while flushing so why would I need to Bleed the ABS?

Ive never done that on any car...