Hey guys, question about brakes. Less then a month ago, and less then a thousand miles ago I put new brakes on, including rotors. I went with the Stainless Stell Brake Compnay package from summit racing, slotted rotors and the pads that come with them. Every reveiw I read said they were incredible, a great improvement over stock.

Well tonite on my way to my Kids little League game I was going maybe 45 or 50, and a was off the *** end of a van by a good 4 or 5 car lengths, just cruising on the highway, I saw him put his brakes on and I started slowing down. Well, he must not have been paying attention, because before I knew it he was stopped, and I had to slam on the brakes. The pedal went damn near to the floor, and the trucks front end nose dived, but the pedal felt squishy, like I was stopping with brakes that got hot. I had to crank it over to the right hand side just to miss him. Is there a break in period for new brakes, should I go out and hit them hard a few times, or do these brake pads just suck? I was going to go with HAWK pads, but I was told they didnt make them for my truck by the guys at 4 Wheel PArts Wharehouse. If these pads do indeed turn out to be ****, what pads do you guys recomend? I want to know my family is safe when in the car, and thought I had purchased a pretty good setup, now IM not so sure. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

From what I have heard the SSBC is a good set up and the pads should be good ones. It sounds to me like you have air in the lines. Pads do not in anyway affect how the pedal feels. I would try bleeding the brakes and see if that improves your pedal feel. Also some braided stainless steel lines will elimitate the expansion of the stock lines and help firm up the pedal a little more. I have a set of the ss lines on my truck with stock rotors and god know what brand pads that came on the truck when I bought it and I am very pleased with how well my truck stops now. I have a little over 100k on my truck and I am betting the rotors are stock and the fronts at least are turned to about the min thickness so I will be due to get new rotors for my brake job.

 

but if he only changed the rotors and pads he shouldn't of let air in the lines. did you crack open any of the bleeders or take off any lines?

 

No I didnt crack any of the lines, it almost feels like the pads are too hard to grab effectivly. Ive been getting on the brakes hard the past couple of days to test my stopping distance and the truck still stops quickly it just doesnt feel right. It just doesnt have the kind of grip I would anticipate needing if someone slams on the brakes in front of me, the pads wouldnt grab fast enough, almost like they have built in fade if that makes any sense.

 

are they track pads which want to be warmer before they grab good? did you spray your rotors with brake cleaner before you installed them. most rotors come with a coating of this antirust stuff but thats just for shipping. yours susposed to clean that off before you install.