Today I performed a brake-pad change on my car, first time doing it and after the job I noticed my brake pedal engagement requires me to push in further in order to stop the car. Yes I did pump the brake pedal a few times after the install, bed-in the brakes. Does it matter if the brake fluid caps was on during install? A friend of mine recommended a bleed the brakes since the pads had low life left in them and when pushing back the piston to place the new pads in it was such a drastic change that the system drew in air.

Things to note:
-Car only has 35k miles and was on factory pads prior to pad change
-rear pads had very low pad-life left
-Stock shims are used
-I did apply brake grease
-Brake system has been bleed according to the DIY from joe250
-Pads were bedded correctly

Problem solved!
When installing the pads I used too many shims which in turn led to the pads scraping/rubbing against the rotors unevenly. I just got done removing the factory shims and took the car for a drive.

Brake pedal is back to normal which is a sigh of relief, and car behaves like it should. So to those who use the Wagner thermoquiet pads, don't add the factory shims to these.

 

i just finished my second brake job. i did open the brake resorvoir cap during the process. never had a problem. maybe you should bleed the system in case you got some air . good luck

 

Bleeding the brakes wouldn't hurt, but I'm having a hard time seeing how pushing the pistons back in,which pushes fluid back up to the reservoir increasing the brake fluid level in the reservoir. Which technically displaces air in the reservoir out past the cap. So the only way I see a pad swap causing this is you already had air in the lines to begin with.

What kind of pads, the same as previous?

Does the pedal fall to the floor slowly?

 

It confuses me as well, my previous pads were OEM as stated. I swapped them out for Wagner Thermoquiets, before the pad change the brakes felt/engaged like it should from the factory. After the pad change I noticed I had to engage the pedal in more in order for the vehicle to stop better.

I guess I will give bleeding the brakes a try soon and see how it goes.

 

Does the pedal go all the way to the floor when you pump the pedal and hold? If not you might not have any air in the lines, and that case it might be the initial bite of the pads. It took me a while to get use to the change from stock brembos to Hawk HP+'s.

 

If it's not right, then bleed it and make sure to do it right.

http://www.joe250.com/cars/evo8/brak...ebleeding.html

 

Just got done bleeding the pads and took the car for a spin, my guess/assumption would have to be that the pad's intial bite sucks ***. EBC reds for me next time

 

I assume it's still the same as yesterday then? Pad material (bite) should have nothing to do with having to push the pedal farther to engage the brakes.

 

I'm at lost with the situation. Yes the pedal does have to be pushed in a tad bit further in to engage the brakes. The pads came with a shims which are glued on, so I placed the factory brembo backpading and shims on top of these. I'm wondering if that effected piston contact.

 

ok you are using the stock shims yes? and you bleed the system? and you sure everything is reinstalled the proper way?

 

 

A 2006 with 35k miles is long overdue for a complete brake fluid flush. This should be done every two years, you have tripled that.

 

Stock shims are being used, Yes I did bleed everything earlier, and yes everything was re-installed the same way

 

I know and have read that statement in many threads, I don't track the car and the fluid is still very clean. It's on my to-do list in the near future

 

If you didn't cut or change the rotors and I don't see that you did, it will take some time for the pads to conform to the old rotors. If the rotors aren't grooved or cracked there isn't really a need to cut or change them just do a good bed in. It may take a few times.