I installed these things, and my braking now scares me. It is back to the way it was when I needed to bleed the system. i need to STAND on the pedal to stop. No bite what-so-ever.

I guess i just need to bleed the system, but i never opened the bleeder valve during installation.

Is it normal to have to bleed the brakes after compressing the piston?

I guess i will just bleed the brakes with my wife pressing on the pedal.

any tips would be appreciated.

--Dan

 

I always bleed my brakes after installation. It shouldn't have made it that bad though....

 

After you installed the pads, did you pump the brake pedal to seat the pads?

 

As you didn't open the system, you should have any air in there to bleed out. Did you clean the rotor swept surface VERY well? They come with a rust inhibiting coating, that is also rather frictionless..... and doesn't do your brake pads any favors.

You may need to bed your pads in...... Basically, take 'em out and heat 'em up good. See what happens.

 

I pumped the pedal to set them. But I think I need to burn the coating off. It smelled burnt in the quick 4 mins I was driving, but it is not getting any beter.

I also cleaned them VERY well. Even the pads, i sprayed with brake cleaner.

I am gonna try bleeding now.

THanks!

 

If you have a nice firm pedal, bleeding isn't going to help. Take it out, and do a half dozen stops from about 35 to 10 mph. (don't come to a complete stop) Then give the brakes a bit to cool, and do a couple harder stops from 45 to around 10..... let 'em cool again, and see if they behave any better.

Which compound did you get for the pads?

 

I got the raybestos semi-metallic pads (Advanced Technology) that run $50 on rockauto. They are for heavy duty applications (According to Rockauto). I had duralast Gold on the regular rotors.

As for the braking. They were smoking when I get back last night. And this morning it was drizzling, so I was worried. But they have MUCH more bite after they smoked and burnt off some of that flim last night.

I can tell there is still a bit more to be had. I bled the brakes last night as well, no air. It just felt like there was air. YOu were right about the film.

I went well out of my way to go to work this morning (only live 1 mile from work) so hopefully it just gets better. I was doing high speed braking from about 45 MPH.

I will let you guys know how they do after a couple hundred miles.

 

hmm i dont know if i want those now lol. Are they any better than stock now?

 

well, it was definitely the film. There is still a bit of a film on there, but you can see that it is almost gone. The braking is better than stock right now, and will probably get better. I only drove about 3 miles with the new pads on. I still smell "New rotor" smell after driving.

I think the fair assessment would be to tell you all how well they are after about 100 miles or so. I just don;t drive often because I only live a mile from work.

But I am not scared and the truck stops faster than with the old rotors.

Josh, if you are asking if they are worth it. They were worth it for me because I needed new rotors anyway. So I splurged for a 110 dollar set, instead of a 60 dollar set of "middle of the road" rotors. If you are looking for an "upgrade" to rotors in great condition. Then I would say wait until your rotors need to be replaced.