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brakes don't grab

3938 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  mtyler11
Is there a way to make the brakes grab better?

When normally stopping I have to push the pedal more than half way down and when I have to stop in a hurry because some genius decides to cut in front of me and slam on his brakes (this happens too often living in Orlando) I have to stand on the pedal. The brakes just don't feel like they grab at all. When stopped at a light I have to keep the pedal almost as far down as it will go to keep the truck still.

I changed the pads last weekend, I've driven about 150 miles this week. The pedal doesn't feel any softer than with the old pads (would like for it to be firmer but I know that's just how frontiers are), fluid is good-When I put the new pads on it brought the level up to the max line without adding any fluid. I used OEM pads.

Does anyone have any suggestions? have I just not driven enough for them to break in?
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What kind of pads did you get. I forget what is OEM but in general, organics suck, semi metallic grab the hardest but wear rotors, ceramics grab decent and are easy on the rotors and dust. You might have went from a SM to a Ceramic.

When bedding new pads you should basically stomp on your brakes till the pads smoke. 50 mph to 5, 10x, is what you will find as proper break in/bedding. I find this too aggressive, and will probably do it 5x.

A couple of other things to look for. Rotor condition. Especially the back side of the rotor. Sometimes they will wear unevenly with the old pad. When you get new pads, the flat surface does not match the worn contours of the old rotor. Another thing to look for are the pins. Did you pull, clean and grease. Sometime on of the pins can be seized and the caliper will not function properly any more.
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