Ok, I have a 90 civic Si with a d16a6 and a rear disc conversion from a crx. Yesterday I did a full brake job (pads, rotors and bleed on all four corners). The pedal has adequate firmness and the brakes perform as they should with no noise or weirdness but, I do feel a pulsing in the brake pedal when braking. It is rhythmic and can only be felt through the pedal not through the car itself. I am going to re-torque all the lug nuts but Im not sure what else to look at. If this has been addressed in another thread just point me in that direction otherwise any help would be appreciated.

 

My first guess would be a warped disk.

 

Reseat the rotors. Take em off and make sure theres nothing in between the hub and rotor.

 

if the disks are warped usually the steering will vibrate at high speed braking. Like on freeway.


Checck for a vacuum leak or low brake fluid

 

Im not getting any vibration in the steering wheel at all and I made sure to top off the brake fluid after I bled the brakes. Its a very slight feeling in the pedal and only when Im braking from above 30-35mph.

 

Yep. Usually rust buildup on the hub or brake dust/grime. And make sure you torque the wheels in sequence. It's all 101 stuff and you may have a bigger issue, but best and easiest to start with the simple stuff.

I use a buzzer wheel with the 3M sanding pads to give the hub a clean metal surface- same for the back of the rotor.

 

Ya, it's my first full brake job, I've done pads before but never rotors. Im just trying to minimize the consequences of learning as I go.

 

So I'm not sure what did it but i have fixed my brake issue. I scrubbed the hubs with a wire brush, re-seated all the rotors, torqued the lug nuts to 80lbft and just for good measure I made sure that all my tires were at a matching 35psi. The pedal has stopped surging. Thanks for the help, it's been more than 10 years since I touched an EF.

 

your welcome.

 

Because sharing is caring... When you get a fresh set of pads you should bed them in.
Resurfacing the rotor or at least hitting it with a scuff pad first is highly recommended - even if it is brand new.

Bedding procedure varies by pad manufacturer.

Typical bedding with your run of the mill street pads is something like this;
Driving about a hundred miles with light braking.
Drive another hundred allowing for medium braking.
Take the car out to an open road and warm the pads up with 3 or 4 back-to-back medium braking from 45mph to about 5mph.
Then a series of about 10 highly aggressive hard brakes from 40~60mph to about 10mph trying to deliberately heat the brakes up - care taken to not bring the car to a complete stop.
- brakes may smoke, smell, and even fade during the hard braking.
Then cruise for a good while to cool the brakes before parking. Avoid coming to a stop during this cruise.
- If you have to stop, put it in park/ebrake so the pad is not left in contact with the rotor.

If you don't bed them in, you can end up with an uneven film on the rotor and get that judder when you brake that you were describing.

 

Is this common in states where it snows?

 

Wha? Light braking for the first hundred miles? Who does that? I'm not sure the solution had anything to do with what you've just explained.

The likely culprit here was rust/brake dust/dirt between the back of the rotor and the hub. This would cause the rotor to slightly wobble and pulsate the pedal under braking. Cleaning the surfaces and remounting allowed them to fit perfectly flat with each other and run true, no more wobble.

 

I imagine this would be difficult for people that drive like idiots tailgating and racing from stop to stop.
Otherwise, it's pretty easy to be easy on the brakes for a couple weeks.

Look it up on ye' ole' interwebz.
If you still can't believe all the guides for bedding brakes, head over to manufacture sites.

 

Ouch. Perhaps deserved, but I wasn't trying to be a dbag about it. I drive like a granny, my Fit won't allow any hooliganism. I've just never heard of this type of recommendation. I'll do my due diligence and look up this stuff.