Spongy brakes

[dan_b]

Ok, I ducked out of fitting my new discs/pads, shoes and fluid change and went to a local garage who I use from time to time. They did the work and all seems well. When the mechanic dropped the car back to me though he said "the brakes will be a bit spongy for a few days while the new discs and pads bed in".

Sure enough, they are spongy - there's quite a lot of pedal travel before anything seems to happen. Now, I've done brake replacement work before and I would always make sure that the pedal was firm before finishing the bleed.

Does this sound like they've not finished bleeding the fluid properly, or could they be right, that the brand new Brembo discs and Ferodo DS pads just need to "settle in"?

Incidentally, the Goodridge braided hoses I bought for the front calipers don't fit. The union fitments are the wrong size. I need to get back to Awesome about that...

 

[Adrian888]

There is spongy and spongy.... when Mike fitted my new discs/pads/fluid yes there was an initial lack of bite but wouldn't say theyw ere spongy and teh pedal didn't go any further than before... think I would be asking for them to be re-bled....

 

[Will]

One man's spongy is another man's progressive.

When you press hard on the pedal can you lock up the wheels and get the ABS working?

I've give it ~100 miles or so of driving. If they have not got any better then go back to the garage. At least then you've give a fair time for the 'feel' to improve.

Personally, after bleedy brakes the pedal feels firm and responsive.

 

[spike]

As Mike noted in this mail, its easy to get the inner and outer pads mixed up on the drivers side and may be worth checking - http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showpost.php?p=74722&postcount=4

Plus some info on brake bleeding - http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12064&highlight=brake+bleeding

Cheers Spike

 

[dan_b]

Oh yes if I keep pressing they brake very solidly indeed. I also flagged to the mechanic the inside/outside pad discrepancy issue, so he should have taken note of that.

I'll think I'll give it a few days before going back - it did seem to be a little better after a 15mile drive round the South Circular, or that could have been me adapting to it. I can quite believe that because it's a brand new disc it'll take time to transfer some of the pad material onto the disc face and to roughen the pad surface - both of those things are important chemical processes required for pedal bite.