Weak brakes with new rotors

[george0029]

So today I finally got around to doing my brakes. Anytime I touched them ever so slightly at speeds over 50mph, my steering wheel would shake violently... (attn)

I managed to get a hold of 4 brand new Duralast rotors and Performance Friction Brakes Carbon-Metallic pads all for $80 plus a little gas, so not a bad deal.

Anyway, after installing the new rotors and pads, my brakes feel extremely weak! When I come to a stop sign, it feels like the KJ just wants to keep rolling, and it takes a while before it comes to a complete stop.

SO I'm now wondering if those Carbon-Metallic pads were a good idea....
and if they were, why is my pedal so horribly weak...

Any ideas???

 

[tjkj2002]

Anything with "duralast" in the name is more like neverlast,poor choice in brakes,sorry.

Time to get some actual brakes and keep on driving past autozone and advance auto and drive directly to Napa.

 

[bmrrwolfe]

Anything with "duralast" in the name is more like neverlast,poor choice in brakes,sorry.

Time to get some actual brakes and keep on driving past autozone and advance auto and drive directly to Napa.

X2 on Napa
I got some of there premium rotors and pads for the rear a few months ago and will be doing the fronts here before winter with some of them!

 

[Porkchop]

Sounds like you got what you payed for $80.00 of stopping power. (bumber)
Now it will cost $80.00 more to do it right. (*****)
Now another trip to a NAPA but it will be worth it.
Sorry to hear but we all learn, sometimes the hard way.

 

[osufans]

fwiw, the first time i ever replaced rotors i didn't know you were supposed to clean off the oil they are shipped with....did you clean your rotors good and break them in? you're supposed to do so many hard stops from 30-ish or something, and then so many gradual stops...i'm not exactly sure, so if someone on here knows i'm sure they'll chime in.

 

[Nooby]

not sure what year you have
did you replace your brake hardware?
did you bleed your brakes when you did them,
did you check your fluid level after you had problems
does the pedal feel squishy

 

[osufans]

^yeah, that was my other thought, if they were bled or not. air in the lines is a very bad thing...

 

[george0029]

Cleaned them off well with break cleaner. Did the whole break in routine too.
As for bleeding well i bled the front wheels but not the back, since i didn't replace the back. Could that be the problem?
And yes the pedal does feel squishy...

 

[osufans]

eh, i don't do the rears when i only work on the front, so long as you didn't get air in the lines it should be a problem.

could just be the materials then...i dunno. i've used everlast before, but not recently, so i can't speak for their quality (or lack thereof..lol)

 

[george0029]

I'm going to re-do the bleeding again tomorrow morning, because i sort of hurried it today.
I'll keep you posted.

 

[tjkj2002]

Did you replace the calipers also?

If not there was no need to bleed the system when changing pads and rotors.


Oh and proper break in is 5 steady stops(no hard stops) from 45-50mph to about 5mph,let brakes completely cool then repeat 4 more times.

 

[george0029]

No I didn't replace the calipers, but I'm not sure when the brake fluid was last changed or the system bled. I bought the jeep @ 23,000 miles and it currently has just over 30,000.
I can assume that the previous owner was not one to maintain the brakes in any way so I'm thinking putting some new fluid and bleeding it properly might do the trick.

 

[boebr1]

at 30K miles it is hard to believe you would need new fluid... unless someone put oil in it to top it off... in which case you would need to also replace every piece of rubber in the entire system

 

[jnaut]

Wow, if you don't open the system, you should never have to bleed the brakes. My guess is you may have air in the line as suggested above.

 

[Banditsteve]

Make sure you tighten the bleed nipple when the pedal is held down to the floor as when you let the pedal up it draws air back into the system. I am sure you know this but just in case you didn't. And try not to "hurry" brake jobs. Vehicles are a pain in the **** when you have rushed and forgotten to do something and they don't start, but they are just downright dangerous when you rush and forget to do something and they don't stop!! Stay safe!!