TiggsCRX

I'm just a little curious if some upgraded pads would do the trick
The story:

Last week I picked up some pads and rotors from advance for my 90 si rear discs. I had some grindage so I needed to replace. I get the car into the garage, a little too rusty on th calipers etc, never done a brake job before, opted to take it to a shop.
Shop calls me up, tells me I need atleast 1 new caliper, so I get both.
Got the car back, a little excited that I have fresh rear brakes now, and decided to give em a hard test by yanking on the ebrake really hard... Nothing. Didn't even really slow me down much. I wanted to be able to lock em up basically..

From the brake setups I've read about, people usually recommend a generic rotor, but some like axxis or Hawk pads. Should I go ahead and get a set and throw em on (now that eveything is new I feel I should be able to do it easily) and get that performance I want? I know the e-brake works cuz it does hold my car when parked so it's not like that cable is loose or off or something.

long story short: got new rear rotors, calipers, pads - all generic stuff, want to be able to lock up rear (mad drift y0! j/k) will better pads do the trick.

Thanks for reading and tia for any light you can shed on this subject.


edit: Oh yeah, the brake pedal now requires a lot more force that I used to have to use..Like before I could barely tap them and they'd start to slow me down, now I have to push it in like an extra inch or so before they start to grab. Anything about that?

Jonny Black

actually new pads and rotors take time to seat properly...like usually after 200 to 500 miles...you shouldn't be testing them until after that. its a shame that the mechanics never tell people that. also getting the more aggressive pad isn't gonna help with your e-brake lock up thing you want to do.

green91

you probably need to tighten up your ebrake cable

Kasper.

Over time your ebrake cable has stretched to accomadate the skinnier pads and rotors from natural wear.

Now that you've got new thicker pads and rotors on the ebrake has to much slack in it. Im sure the guys who did your brakes did fine, but **** like this most people dont take into consideration becuase they simply know how to replace parts and not the theory of how things work.

TiggsCRX

Thanks for the info guys. I'll keep the pads I have now and give em a couple 100 miles then really adjust everything. I don't really use the parking brake much more than just that, parking. Maybe I'll give it a slight tightening. Helms manual instruction for tightening the cable the right way to do it? (ie. jack up rear wheels, lift parking brake 1 click, tighten cable til wheels turn with slight drag, lift it 6-10 clicks, wheels shouldn't turn at all) sound about right?

TiggsCRX

There we go. I went and gave it a few turns, the ebrake cable adjustment thingy then drove around for a while, using my ebrake here and there to stop gradually at a stop light then when I got home I gave it a good yank doing about 25-30 and it got nice and tight thanks for the info all.