Changed my brake pads..

[shaman1204]

and flushed the brakes yesterday. I can't believe how easy it is to do this, the stealership wanted an arm and a leg for the service. I'm pretty sure the pads were factory original on my 2001 with 37K miles, they had Brembo stamped on the back. I replaced them with Mintex red box and the only problem was the wear sensors were a b$#ch to get in the new pads.

Does anyone know what the color of the factory brake fluid should be? Stupid me ordered the gold fluid just assuming the car had the blue, but there was already gold in there . Since I bought two liters of the new fluid I just tried to use it all, so I hope that was ok.

Instead of using the turkey baster to suck the fluid out of the reservoir for the flush I bought a flavor injector syringe for $1.99 and siliconed an 8" section of tubing to the end. It worked perfectly and cheap enough to just toss after the job.

Question: What is the average break in period for the new pads?

[Lil bastard]

I'm a little persnickity when it comes to brake service.

Which Mintex pads are you using? Street? Track? Metallic? Non-metallic?

Did you measure your rotors to see if they req. turning or replacement? W/ 37k, you should be OK, but it's always good to check, if nothing else, you establish a baseline for future reference. Ideally, you use a micrometer, measuring several places around the disk and from the center. But, many people don't own one, so a cheap plastic vernier caliper from say Loews or Home Depot used the same way will give you a close approximation.

What did the rotors look like? Shiny/bluish? Dull/grayish?

Did you sand the rotors using a block and #40 grit sandpaper?

Pads work against the rotor in 2 ways. There is the mechanical friction created when/where the two meet, and there is an adhesion between the Pad and Pad material deposited on the rotor - that's the dull/grayish appearance in the rotor.

Bedding-in accomplishes 4 things:

• It allows the Pads to conform to the surface of the rotors
  
  It allows the pads to deposit a thin layer of like Pad material on the rotor
  
  It allows the Pad material to Heat Stabilize
  
  It allows the Pad to Off-Gas solvents and chemicals absorbed by the material in the manufacturing process.

In terms of adhesion, the old pad material may be incompatible with the new material and not allow it to deposit the required layer. This is why it's good to at least lightly sand the rotors.

To bed-in the pads, there are lots of different opinions on how to do it ranging from nothing at all except easy street driving the first 50-500 mi., to agressive braking, working them hard and getting them hot.

This is the Bed-in procedure published by Mintex for their pads:

Metallic pads such as Mintex require a bedding-in which, when done correctly, eliminates problems that may be encountered when installing high quality performance pads.

First, it is important to inform the customer that metallic pads should not be installed on a vehicle with worn rotors. A soft, organic pad will conform to the grooves in a worn rotor while a metallic pad will not. It is therefore essential to either replace or turn rotors when installing Mintex brake pads.

After installing Mintex pads they should be bedded-in to insure top performance.

• Accelerate to approximately 40 M.P.H. and apply the brakes with moderate pedal pressure

• Slow to approximately 5 M.P.H. - do not come to a full stop

• Repeat this procedure 10 times allowing 1/3 of a mile between stops

Do NOT attempt to bed-in pads by driving the vehicle with the brakes constantly applied. This will damage pads and result in decreased performance

Read these instructions carefully and decide what stretch of road will allow you to safely follow this procedure. Good Luck!

[kabel]

Originally Posted by Lil bastard

I'm a little persnickity when it comes to brake service.

It's good to be persnickety when it comes to servicing your brake system.

All excellent information to know about your brake components.

I would only add that it is not really enough to just remove/replace the fluid from the reservoir. It's ok, & better than nothing but still not really adequate. The system should be bleed, which will replace the fluid in the entire system. And that would include the clutch too I think, because iirc the brake system and clutch share the same fluid reservoir.

[shaman1204]

Originally Posted by kabel

It's good to be persnickety when it comes to servicing your brake system.

All excellent information to know about your brake components.

I would only add that it is not really enough to just remove/replace the fluid from the reservoir. It's ok, & better than nothing but still not really adequate. The system should be bleed, which will replace the fluid in the entire system. And that would include the clutch too I think, because iirc the brake system and clutch share the same fluid reservoir.

I think I flushed the brakes?. I sucked out all of the old fluid in the reservoir, filled it up with new, put the rest in the motive power bleeder (2 liters of ATE gold) and bled almost 2 liters out of all eight caliper nipples.

And I have a tiptronic, so no clutch or fluid for me. Right? Sheesh, now I don't know if I wanna drive the thing. (just kidding)

[kabel]

ah, when you mentioned you sucked out the fluid from the reservoir it sounded like that was all you did. It appears like you did it right, you added an extra step by clearing out reservoir first, but if you used up all the fluid you bought it would be safe to say you thoroughly flushed the system! Now get out there and drive it man!