Okay All,

I replaced my front pads with cermic pads. Have not tured the rotors because they are going to be out of spec once turned. I'm going to get new rotors front and rear. In the mean time I installed the new pads and have to push the piston in to get enough clearance to get the caliper back on with the new pads. Once I installed, I started the car the pedal was very soft. Started to firm up after several pushes on the pedal. Drove the car but the stopping power is not there. (pedal still a bit soft) Did I miss something or could there be air in the lines?? I would not think so since I did not disconnent any brake lines.

Thoughts??

 

Until the new pads bed to the uneven used rotors...braking will be poor. Did you at lest give the rotors a light sanding to give the new pads something to "bite"?
When you replace the rotors....you will need to buy new pads AGAIN. If you don't the new...now uneven pads will have poor performance again...be soft, and may even wear unevenly.....
"Ceramic" pads also vary widely in quality....there are a lot of crap for sale...some of the E-bay specials are known to be terrible.....

 

Any suggestions for new pads and rotors??

 

It depends on your wants/needs and driving style. There is no one best setup.
For OEM equivalents, Centric premium rotors I am told are very durable, and well priced (they also have a nice cross hatched finish to help bedding in new pads too). My Mini mechanic's wife is going on her second season of auto-X, and has not warped them yet...and he has installed them on many cars, and claims no issues or complaints. Some of the Cheapest auto-parts stores rotors warp pretty quickly/easily.
As for pads...you went to Ceramics because you wanted less dust+lower noise right? Akebono Brake Pads are a good street pas for OEM replacement, with less dust...a true ceramic....not a "high performance" pad, or a low cost pad (about $100 for the fronts), but low dust, quiet pad.
If you just want lower dust, good, or better than stock performance, the EBC Green Stuff is well liked. EBC Ultimate's are the EBC stock equivalents with less dust....and lower price....harder to find...but there are tons of OEM equivalents around.

 

PS welcome to NAM!!


The OEM rotors are pretty soft...and wear/groove quickly....with aftermarket rotors, you may be able to get multiple pad changes depending on you pad choice before you need new rotors.

 

Thanks much for all the good advise........

 

60GBR,

Don't know if the advice will fix your problem, soft brakes, however I would first look at having the brakes re-bled. I had soft brakes happen after the first pad replacement by the experts (?), the Mini Dealer.

Good luck MiniGSport

 

Brakes only need to be bled when the fluid has degraded (based on time and miles) or if there was a brake line leak. +1 to ZippyNH's advice. Change your rotors as soon as possible. At the very least, you will have to resurface the pads, and that kinda defeats the purpose of putting on new ones to begin with.

 

I agree 100% with this. While this may not be the problem, but if it is, you're up the proverbial doo-doo creek without a paddle. Make sure your brake fluid is clean--if the fluid is the problem, it's big time dangerous.

I've had crap rotors and pads before from abuse at the track; the only thing that made my brakes go soft however was boiled fluid or air in the lines....

 

It could be several things, brand of pads used may just not be good. Maybe cause your rotors are so worn? Or if you opened any of bleed screws you could have air in the system? Or finally your fluid may need to be changed, if it's over 2yrs old you need too.