Hard to press brakes after new rotors and pads

digi

New member
I recently installed new rotors & pads on my 03' 4 Runner (130k miles) and since then, my brakes have been fairly hard to press while slowing down.

With the ignition off, I have to pump the brake pedal about 5-6 times before it gets stiff. Once I turn the ignition on, the pedal goes to the floor.

Looking for any ideas, appreciate it.
 
Register to hide this ad
I recently installed new rotors & pads on my 03' 4 Runner (130k miles) and since then, my brakes have been fairly hard to press while slowing down.

With the ignition off, I have to pump the brake pedal about 5-6 times before it gets stiff. Once I turn the ignition on, the pedal goes to the floor.

Looking for any ideas, appreciate it.

Hard to press? Check if you installed the pads backwards or not.

Soft, and just sinks down? Rebleed your brakes.
 
I didn't know I had to bleed the system after installing rotors and pads?? The pads aren't backwards.
 
I didn't know I had to bleed the system after installing rotors and pads?? The pads aren't backwards.

You don't NEED to since you didn't open up the system, but it's better to do it, to freshen up the fluids. And theres always a possibility of mixing contaminants pushing in the brake pistons back in.

Also,

- Can you explain what you mean by "hard to press while slowing down"?
- Have you broken them in yet?
- What pads are you running?
 
No shouldn't be any air if you didn't open any brake lines, the pads may not be staying close to the rotor, you could have sticking calipers, check and see how close the pads are to the rotors all around before pressing the brake pedal, the pads should appear to be touching the rotors or very slightly dragging, if not that will be the issue, when you pushed the pistons back into the bores to make room for the new pads the piston/s may have hit a place in the bore or on the piston itself that has the piston stuck/not moving as it should when you apply the brakes.
 
No shouldn't be any air if you didn't open any brake lines, the pads may not be staying close to the rotor, you could have sticking calipers, check and see how close the pads are to the rotors all around before pressing the brake pedal, the pads should appear to be touching the rotors or very slightly dragging, if not that will be the issue, when you pushed the pistons back into the bores to make room for the new pads the piston/s may have hit a place in the bore or on the piston itself that has the piston stuck/not moving as it should when you apply the brakes.

Thanks AuSeeker, I'll check that out. Sounds like I have to remove the calipers to fix it if they're stuck?
 
Yes if they're sticking, best bet is to replace them with new or rebuilt.

Another issue could be the pads sticking on the caliper or the pin, did you lube the pad/caliper contact surfaces and pins?
 
You say you didn't lube the pins, so I'm assuming that you did lube the pads/cailper contact area, if so what did you use?

To answer you're question any good high temp brake grease is what you should be using, don't just use any old grease, lubing the pins isn't as important as the contact areas of the pads/cailpers since where the pins go through the pads isn't such a tight fit, I just make sure the pins are not bent and cleaned up from any rust, etc., but I do very lightly coat them to help keep down on any corrosion.

That being said I usually replace the pins if they look like they have been corroded to any degree and not smooth, the pins are very cheap from NAPA and most better autopart stores.
 
I didn't lube the pins, what do you lube them with?

I use two greases on my brake jobs.

I lube the back of the pads with that sticky black glue like crap. That holds the pads to the piston.


I use something different on the moving parts. Lube them with silicone based brake lube. SylGlide or 3M Silicone paste or the Toyota Pink grease. It’s confusing so be careful. SylGlide is cheap and works great. I got the 3M stuff years ago. It’s a huge container. That stuff can be used also as dielectric grease.


There is a lot of confusion over this!

Also, You need to try this long slooooow 40 pumps method if your brakes are “spongy”. Has worked for many of us. I had this issue randomly after swapping calipers.

Start reading here:

Response #34

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/223054-5th-gen-caliper-install-gone-wrong-3.html

Pm me if you need to. This will work. Be patient.
 
Last edited:
I did the 40 pump method on a stopwatch and it felt slightly better but not much. It brakes ok, it just takes more leg muscle to brake than before.
 
I did the 40 pump method on a stopwatch and it felt slightly better but not much. It brakes ok, it just takes more leg muscle to brake than before.

What brand pads and rotors did you use, and what method did you use to clean the rotor surfaces?
 
Centric Rotors, Stop Tech Pads, cleaned the rotors with break cleaner and wiped them before install.

These are the pads in the front - http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=7594576&jsn=10490

Good choice of parts, and assuming your wipedown with brake cleaner got rid of all preservative you should be in good shape. Is there a bedding procedure for Stop Tech pads? Most pads need a good gradual heat-up to break them and the rotor surfaces in, and get a layer of pad material transferred. Without this, the brakes lack good bite and the rotors glaze...requiring more pedal force than normal to stop the vehicle.
 
I did the 40 pump method on a stopwatch and it felt slightly better but not much. It brakes ok, it just takes more leg muscle to brake than before.

I second that they need to be bedded in.

Go out on the interstate and drag the brake for a minute or so, get them scorching hot, then drive for a few minutes and let them cool off. Do this a couple of times. Just never stop completely when the rotors are white hot, it’ll cause warped rotors.
 
Not sure I'd recommend the Interstate dragging the brakes. The procedure tends to be specified by the pad manufacturer, and in the case of StopTech they publish one:

Stock Brake System Bed-in

Bedding-in Street Performance Pads
For a typical performance brake system using street-performance pads, a series of ten partial braking events, from 60mph down to 10mph, will typically raise the temperature of the brake components sufficiently to be considered one bed-in set. Each of the ten partial braking events should achieve moderate-to-high deceleration (about 80 to 90% of the deceleration required to lock up the brakes and/or to engage the ABS), and they should be made one after the other, without allowing the brakes to cool in between.
Depending on the make-up of the pad material, the brake friction will seem to gain slightly in performance, and will then lose or fade somewhat by around the fifth stop (also about the time that a friction smell will be detectable in the passenger compartment). This does not indicate that the brakes are bedded-in. This phenomenon is known as a green fade, as it is characteristic of immature or ‘green' pads, in which the resins still need to be driven out of the pad material, at the point where the pads meet the rotors. In this circumstance, the upper temperature limit of the friction material will not yet have been reached.

As when bedding-in any set of brakes, care should be taken regarding the longer stopping distance necessary with incompletely bedded pads. This first set of stops in the bed-in process is only complete when all ten stops have been performed - not before. The system should then be allowed to cool, by driving the vehicle at the highest safe speed for the circumstances, without bringing it to a complete stop with the brakes still applied. After cooling the vehicle, a second set of ten partial braking events should be performed, followed by another cooling exercise. In some situations, a third set is beneficial, but two are normally sufficient.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. Although I just got back from a 500 mile trip so I think they're already bedded in, haha.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
278,315
Messages
3,554,123
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Trending content

Back
Top