99SlammedCivic

iTrader: (2)

Car: 99 civic ex

Problem: We did a rear disc swap & my brakes are REALLY sensitive / stiff/ tight

FIRST : The first night I drove it home, it wasn't messing up but the brake pedal was squeshy (typo o well.lol) .....

We REBLED my BRAKES.... and now its stiff as ****....

SECOND: I was driving home after we rebled my brakes, and my car wouldn't go over 60mph... THE PROBLEM WAS MY BRAKE PEDAL WAS STUCK kinda pushed in....

Sometimes, I'll be on a semi-slant and my car wont roll back ? WTF is wrong w/ it?

This really pisses me off cause I'm not getting the most out of my car !!!
I constantly have to put my foot under the brake pedal & make sure its not stuck..


ANY INFO IS HIGHLY APPRECIATED !!!

Ricey McRicerton

Maybe you have the pedal adjusted down too low. Other than that I'd try recompressing your calipers and resetting the brakes.

h22avid

This has nothing to do with your pedal sticking but make sure your ebrake cables are not too tight. The rear wheels should spin semi-freely when in the air. If they do not, that will create drag and keep you from really going.

As for the pedal, put a dab of grease on it and make sure the return spring is still on the pedal and nothing is jamming when the pedal is pushed.

As for your braking being "sensitive/stiff/tight", not sure exactly what that means to you but to me that sounds good; I prefer it that way. When I did my conversion, I also did the MC & BB as well as Prop and my braking feels superb. I barely have to touch the pedal to brake. The pedal travel (very minimal) is very nice

99SlammedCivic

iTrader: (2)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by h22avid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This has nothing to do with your pedal sticking but make sure your ebrake cables are not too tight. The rear wheels should spin semi-freely when in the air. If they do not, that will create drag and keep you from really going.

As for the pedal, put a dab of grease on it and make sure the return spring is still on the pedal and nothing is jamming when the pedal is pushed.

As for your braking being "sensitive/stiff/tight", not sure exactly what that means to you but to me that sounds good; I prefer it that way. When I did my conversion, I also did the MC & BB as well as Prop and my braking is superb. I barely have to touch the pedal to brake. The pedal travel (very minimal) is very nice </TD></TR></TABLE>

great info.... will do .... I do like it being stiff... just not it getting stuck..lol

99SlammedCivic

iTrader: (2)

any more info?

SOHC4life 96

dont take this the wrong way but, did you check the gaps on the pads and discs? it could be possible that you dont have the clearance you need. and i dont think you can overbleed brakes. again dont think im saying you a moron, im just saying people make mistakes and nobodies perfect. but anyway, good luck and i hope i helped some

dohcdelsol

Actually, stiff brakes are not good. It makes you feel safe, but they were probablly instulded rong or they are already being applied before you hit your pedel. Im basing it off of my brakes. Let me explain:

Just bought my car and upon driving it i feel that the brakes are very tight. I think it was good. Then, during full inspection of the brakes, i get the truth. Rear calipers were SHOT, they would barely grab. Almost all of the pads were about 1 mm thick. Some were almost in half and i could almost shave with it. My rotors were cut previously and they were about to crack down the middle. But while driving before, they felt very tight and safe.

Now, after all new pads, calipers and rotors, My e-brake works extremely great. If i want to, i can lock up my rears and side going only 2 mph. Very excellent rear brakes. My fronts felt like they were done rong. It wouldnt grab like before. Before they would grab at the top. Now they grab around the middle. But when i slam on them, they work EXTREMELY well, got to test that today . Thats the was brakes should be. Not tight right away but they should slowly give in. If you got that last part.

As far as overbleeding your brakes, you cant do it. If you over bleed the brakes, you run out of Brake fluid. I when i blead my brakes, i had a friend pump the pedel and when it came squirting out, he held the pedel and i tighten the valve. Simple. And after all 4 were done, i had to fill up about half the resevior.

It doesnt make sense to me, my way of explaining about tight brakes. It makes sense that with a thicker pad, they would be tight and you could tell that they were gonig bad when they would grab at the end. Kinda like a bicycle's brakeing system. But my brakes work great for me.

If im wrong about any of this, please correct me. Again, im basing it off my car. Im not 100% sure with your car.

99SlammedCivic

iTrader: (2)

O YEAH.... I was kinda wondering what was going on with my car & I decide to pull the EBRAKE at 40 mph...

NOTHING HAPPENED... kinda scary.. it barely slowed down ... NOT GOOD ...

SHOULD I TAKE IT & HAVE IT INSPECTED?

dohcdelsol

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 99SlammedCivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">O YEAH.... I was kinda wondering what was going on with my car & I decide to pull the EBRAKE at 40 mph...

NOTHING HAPPENED... kinda scary.. it barely slowed down ... NOT GOOD ...

SHOULD I TAKE IT & HAVE IT INSPECTED?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Happened with my del Sol. New brakes and pads in the rear and it would roll down a driveway with them applied. Also it wouldnt grab no matter what speed. Turns out, i did put the rong pads on. and the cable was very loose

h22avid

If your rears aren't biting when you pull the ebrake, then they are too loose... according to the manual, you should have 6-10 clicks when you pull the handle.... any more or less then it is either too tight or too loose.... The best way to adjust it is with your rear wheels in the air

Also, whenever you get new pads or rotors or turn your rotors, it takes between 300-500 miles for the pads to set to the surface of the rotor... during this time, braking may be affected. You also shouldn't bee to hard on the brakes during this period.

Stiff is fine as long as they are just stiff and not stuck.

You should really bleed the whole system even though you only messed with the rears. Unless you plugged the rear lines as soon as you disconnected them, then air can easily travel up the system.

This is what I would do:

Get all four wheels off the ground. First release the ebrake and loosen your ebrake cable. Next crack open each caliper(bleeder screw) then push/turn all your pistons on each caliper back in all the way then close the lines off and reinstall the caliper. once this is done, all of your wheels should spin freely. Once you are sure they are all spinning freely then go around and bleed the brakes one by one starting at the RR then the LF then the LR and finally the RF. After the brakes are bled properly then adjust you ebrake with the ebrake down in it's off position. Keep tightening it until the rear wheels start to experience some friction but are not prohibited from turning... should spin semi-freely. Now your ebrake should be set. Pull the handle up slowly and count the clicks, they should be between 6-10. With the ebrake up your wheel should not spin for ****.

IF you do this, your brakes should work just fine provided you don't have a seized piston or something

Now with your wheels still in the air... if you have bled the system out and adjusted the ebrake properly the wheels will still spin freely. If you find that one of your wheels will not spin even though no brakes are being applied then you most likely have a seized/frozen piston on your caliper. You can try to rebuild/clean it up or just by a new one.

IS3Fifty

theres really NO way to overbleed, because A. when you bleed to begin with your drawing fluid from the reservoir through the lines and into the brakes and B. You can always add more fluid to the reservoir once you feel that the lines are fully saturated.

If your brake pedal is entirely too tight, then just continue to bleed with an open valve(you'll squirt a little fluid) until it gets to you liking, but not too soft. Then as I said before if the reservoir is low, fill it back up to the suggested line.

h22avid

Another thing I thought of... If you have been riding around with your brakes semi-applied then I would probably have the rotors machined.

h22avid

True. I used a Vaccula to bleed my brakes after the whole system had been drained for the install. The vaccula is just a bleeding tool that hooks up to an air compressor line and creates a vaccuum that attaches to the bleed screw.

This way you don't have to have two people pumping and bleeding. Instead one personc can attach the vac line to the bleeder and kick it on before opening the bleeder screw. You just suck the fluid through the system at each caliper until there are no bubbles in the fluid.

I made three or four rounds and went through two of the large bottles of fluid bleeding my system to make sure there was no air in the system. You can never over bleed the system. The only way to screw up is not watching your resevoir and letting it drop too low which ends up introducing new air into the system again.

IS3Fifty

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by h22avid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">True. I used a Vaccula to bleed my brakes after the whole system had been drained for the install. The vaccula is just a bleeding tool that hooks up to an air compressor line and creates a vaccuum that attaches to the bleed screw.

This way you don't have to have two people pumping and bleeding. Instead one personc can attach the vac line to the bleeder and kick it on before opening the bleeder screw. You just suck the fluid through the system at each caliper until there are no bubbles in the fluid.

I made three or four rounds and went through two of the large bottles of fluid bleeding my system to make sure there was no air in the system. You can never over bleed the system. The only way to screw up is not watching your resevoir and letting it drop too low which ends up introducing new air into the system again. </TD></TR></TABLE>

well said, you might want to pick up a Vaccula for your set up, 99Slammed

h22avid

And an air compressor if you don't have one

wilsel

I did a rear disc swap not to long ago. Everything has been working great until a couple days ago the left rear would squeak when I didn't have my foot on the brakes. I jacked the car up, and tried to turn the wheel, and it was locked (No e-brake was on). Brake rotor was colored like it had gotten extremely hot. So I took the caliper loose, and turned the piston in all the way. It turned easily. After that I bleed the brakes again. If I was able to turn the piston in, does that mean it was not siezed? Maybe just had some air in the line?

scratchy

you are a ******* moron think before you type thank you

h22avid

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by scratchy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you are a ******* moron think before you type thank you </TD></TR></TABLE>
Wow, what pleasant, insightful, and helpful information. Can you tell us more about how that goes?

wilsel

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by scratchy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you are a ******* moron think before you type thank you </TD></TR></TABLE>

And who are you reffering to? Cause if you are talking about my post, you are the moron if it doesn't make sense.

Ricey McRicerton

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by h22avid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If your rears aren't biting when you pull the ebrake, then they are too loose... according to the manual, you should have 6-10 clicks when you pull the handle.... any more or less then it is either too tight or too loose.... The best way to adjust it is with your rear wheels in the air

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Very good advice, but the Helms says 6-9.

2lua

your caliper piston got stuck.

h22avid

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2lua &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">your caliper piston got stuck.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's what it sounds like to me; a sezied piston or caliper but he won't know for sure until he gets all wheels in the air and starts the process of elimination. It should only take five minutes to figure out what's going on.