Changed brake pads - mushy pedal

[myBimmerisGray]

Hi guys--

I changed my brake pads today while putting my summer wheels back on..long story short I finished up and had a mushy brake pedel. I bled the brakes on all four corners but it did not help. Could this have anything to do with the brake pad sensor? New pads not bedded in yet?

Is there anything I could have missed?

Any help is appreciated.

*I used EBC red stuff

[Ginger_Extract]

Drive it around the block and slam on the brakes a few times, then report back.

[_Ryan_]

Reused rotors?

[myBimmerisGray]

Took it to work this morning, brakes are usable but pedal is very soft, there's no bite to the brakes. I can push it to the floor if I want to. Yes I reused the rotors.

[Kgolf31]

Did you do a bedding procedure?

[Solo_M_Tech]

The system needs to be re-bleed. There is still air in the system. Under no circumstances should the pedal go all the way to the floor. Have the system bleed under pressure, and see what happens.

[myBimmerisGray]

Kgolf31 - I did take it around the block a few times to bed them,, but I was also going off of the EBC website where is says:


"How to bed in your new brakes for street/urban driving

BEDDING IN NEW EBC PADS AND DISCS



Use brakes with minimal pressure for first 100 miles from urban speeds of 30-50 mph only. Brakes will feel very sharp and responsive but this is ONLY the brake in coating working which gives an abnormally high friction level feeling.
Drive a further 250 miles using slightly increased brake pressure and load UNLESS in an emergency in which case apply brake as hard as required."

I'm going to re-bleed them and look for air bubbles.

[tracer bullet]

Replacing rotors / bedding are important and related subjects but I don't see that having anything to do w/ the pedal going to the floor. That's the real problem here and it's got a different cause.

HooningB2G is in the right path in my opinion. Sounds like somehow you got air in the system. Hopefully it was something simple and re-bleeding will do it (be very thorough, paying attention to the direction bubbles would tend to move, where they might get trapped, and so on - plan to use a ton of fluid). Worst case something is damaged and also needs to be replaced now.

[MightyMouseTech]

Bleeding the brakes should not make a difference. If air got in there, you have much bigger issues.

Did you change brake compounds?

It is a very bad idea to change brake compounds without either replacing rotors or machining them.

[Solo_M_Tech]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Bleeding the brakes should not make a difference. If air got in there, you have much bigger issues.

Did you change brake compounds?

It is a very bad idea to change brake compounds without either replacing rotors or machining them.

This shouldn't cause the pedal to go to the floor either. Pads won't "compress" so much that you'll have that much pedal travel.

I destroyed my brake pads and rotors, boiled my fluid, all in the same track day, still had "brakes" after that. Pedal pressure was "softer" than normal, but in no way could i press my foot all the way down.

[MightyMouseTech]

I have had a lot of customers complaining the pedal "goes to floor", when in actual fact it is just a bit soft. Have seen it many times when people have just done pad slaps.

[myBimmerisGray]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Bleeding the brakes should not make a difference. If air got in there, you have much bigger issues.

Did you change brake compounds?

It is a very bad idea to change brake compounds without either replacing rotors or machining them.

Which type of issues would there be that bleeding the brakes would not resolve?

Are you thinking I need new rotors as well? They were a bit worn, as in they had a lip to them. Which actually made the calipers difficult to get off in the front.

[MightyMouseTech]

The pad may be riding on the lip. Then when you step on the pedal, the pads twist to make contact. Foot off pedal, pads will push pistons back. Will make for a soft pedal. The rotors really should be machined or replaced.