Squishy Brake Pedal

[Sterling 4.4]

Last night I changed out the OEM rotors for slotted Ate rotors with Axxis Ultimate pads. Install went easy. I went for a test ride / bed in session and while backing out of my drive way, the pedal went to the floor - NO BRAKES. My driveway is on a hill, so I quickly pumped them to get pressure and finally stopped missing oncoming traffic.

After the bed in and driving to work today, I noticed the brakes pedal doesn't "catch" where it used to. It catches lower in the pedal stroke. Is this common? Is there something I can do? Does bleeding the brakes fix this?

I didn't take the reservoir cap off so thought I wouldn't have to bleed the brakes.

[hayaku]

2 things:

1. its normal that your pedal hits the floor with no pressure after a pad change. reason being, you pushed back the fluid when you pushed the piston back into the caliper to make room for the new thicker pad. the fluid needs to be pumped and repressurized back in... normally, immediately after a pad change, pump the pedal till its nice and firm, then start the car.

2. you possibly need to bleed your fluid for air bubbles. thats the leading cause of a squishy low pedal.

[Jeremy]

What hayaku said.

[Sterling 4.4]

Is there a good brake bleeding article you can recommend?

[hayaku]

i'm about to do one this weekend...

but here's what you need:

- motive power pressure bleeder with the euro adapter cap
- fresh brake fluid (oem or whatever you like... i use ate typ200 or motul rbf600)
- catcher bottle with tube
- 9mm box end wrench (or something close to that size...)

thats it...

if you buy the motive pressure bleeder, it will come with everything you need except for the wrench...

[AutoXer]

Be glad that nothing bad happened. You were in a very dangerous situation! How did you push the calipers back without taking off the cap on the brake fluid reservoir? Bleed the brakes and you should be fine.

[Sterling 4.4]

I only have 2200 miles on my X, so the factory pads were still pretty fat. I did push the caliper back a little with a C clamp.

I re-bedded the pads last night and they feel better.