changed my front brakes and....

[greenformula92]

ok ive never changed front brakes on a car with traction control and 4 wheel abs and all that jazz so this took me by surprise when it happened. as some of you are aware i changed my back brakes like a month and half ago no issues everything went smooth. fast forward to tonight...i changed the front pads and rotors no issues other than the calpers put up a little fight coming off, probobly cause they looked like theyve never been off, anyway so i tighten everything back up and fire her up and the pedal went all the way to the floor. so naturally i get out and check for leaks....no leaks...get back in to the floor again. so at this point im like wtf. check brake fluid its full check again for leaks nothing. so i get in and pump it a couple times and the pedal comes back to normal....well the way it should be....so i take it for a ride and the brakes were great no fade...pedal was stiff....got her up to 50 and slammed on the brakes, everything good. it never did this when i did the back brakes. is this normal?

[rbaksi]

if you compressed the front calipers all the way before you put the brake pads on then maybe there should be a little slack on the first depress of the pedal so the calipers can close to the proper width. Other than that I don't see why it could happen. Did you unhook the calipers from the lines or just hang it while you changed out the pads?

[Blackbirdws6]

Since I'm assuming you compressed the pistons to get the new pads in the caliper, you are going to have a little slack until the system gets "readjusted". Pistons need to make contact with the pads and then touch the rotor obviously. There isn't a lot of movement that happens when you apply the brakes on a car. Pads are pressed into the rotor when you brake and back off just enough when you let off.

Bottom line, if its working fine and you have no leaks, enjoy the new pads.

[greenformula92]

yes i compressed the pistons...i kinda had to cause i changed the rotors. i did the same thing when i did the rear and it didn't notice. i just wanted to make sure this is kinda normal when doing the fronts because ive never had it happen before

[greenformula92]

went all the way up to hillsborough today to look at a car....brakes work great, guess it was just the calpers closing up

[BigAls87Z28]

That is very normal, and normally people put the car in reverse or drive, thinking the car is ready to go and start to drive. Then they approach a car in front of them, hit the brakes, and the pedal goes to the floor....

ALWAYS pump your brakes after you have done any brake job, before you head out on the road.

[sweetbmxrider]

yup, completely normal. definitely the first thing i do is pump the brake pedal till it feels firm. its usually good in 3 pumps

[BonzoHansen]

lol, I had a service writer type jump in a car that was just done, but th etech was really not done yet and had not pumped the pedal. when he pulled it out no pedal! only the curb stopped him from rt 9. A dumbass move.

my $0.02 to all folks who do brakes for the 1st time - get someone who knows what they are doing to do it with you the 1st time.

[greenformula92]

ive been doing brakes a long time, ive just never had that happen to me before so it came to me as a surprise

[BigAls87Z28]

never had that happen before? ehhh...its supposed to happen.

[Featherburner]

Originally Posted by blk95formula

ive been doing brakes a long time, ive just never had that happen to me before so it came to me as a surprise

The subject of this thread doesn't support this statement.

[greenformula92]

it never happened on my dodge.....and i always compress the caliper

[BonzoHansen]

You probably pumped them up without thinking about it.

[greenformula92]

it is a possibility....i did do the brakes on the bird friday night after work and didn't get done till like after 10