New pads installed, question and rant...

[Gmoe]

Installed new Hawk HPS pads all the way around yesterday. Pretty easy process and they work great. Props to Tristan @ The King of Parts for quick turn around on the parts and great customer service after the fact.

 

Of course, now that the pads are thicker all around, my brake fluid level is a tad above "max" in the reservoir. This OK, or should I suck a little out to bring it back down? There's not much room above "max" so it's not like it's THAT much higher, but.... I dunno...

 

Overall I was very surprised at the amount of "goop" on/around the OEM pads, clips etc. The pads themselves had some life left, but were all corroded otherwise. I did a LOT of cleaning around the calipers/retaining clips to get nice movement out of the new pads. The slots in the stock pads were totally blocked up with crud too. Car as 34K so I didn't expect THAT much crud/gunk everywhere.

 

What irks me is I had the car at the dealer about 2 months ago and I specifically asked them to look at my brakes. They just felt wrong and clearly needed some attention. I'm a total auto mechanic newb and even I could tell right away what was causing my brake performance and faint noise coming from the brakes when they weren't applied. All that crud in there! I think they just measured the pads to be within spec. and sent me on my way. Take the things APART and LOOK at them.

[Xenonk]

that's ok to have the fluid a bit on the max side of things.

 

if there's pads left on them, then it's fine. However, if you glazed the stock pads somehow, that could explain your loss in braking performance. Basically you could have overheated your brake pads.

 

as for the 'goop', maybe you need to wash your car with more detail next time? I never had any 'goop' you describe and I change my pads close to as much as I change my oil.

[Gmoe]

that's ok to have the fluid a bit on the max side of things.

 

if there's pads left on them, then it's fine. However, if you glazed the stock pads somehow, that could explain your loss in braking performance. Basically you could have overheated your brake pads.

 

as for the 'goop', maybe you need to wash your car with more detail next time? I never had any 'goop' you describe and I change my pads close to as much as I change my oil.

 

Thanks. The goop is not a cleaning issue, believe me. At least not since I've owned it. I've only put 5k on the car since I've had it. It was just soooo gooey/pasty. Maybe the previous owner put some kind of lube in there...like a TON of it? Anyways...gone now.

 

If the pads were glazed, again had to be the previous owner, I drive pretty tame, certainly not enough to overheat the pads. The brakes felt the same way since I bought it so I just assumed that's how they were supposed to be considering my trip to the dealer etc. Only after driving a loaner 2.5i did I realize how bad my brakes really were.

 

BTW, is it normal to get some squeaking after installing new pads? Not terrible, but I get some at every stop today. Not the case last night just after installation.

[Mr. Ed]

i've twice asked the dealer to look at my brakes for the same reasons.....now, two months later I have someone else tell me that my rotors are warped...i looked at my rotors tonight and there are friggin grooves cut into them.....

 

this marks item number 4 or 5 now that i brought up to the dealership, they said everything was fine, and now that I am jsut out of warranty...the items are breaking

 

 

Thanks. The goop is not a cleaning issue, believe me. At least not since I've owned it. I've only put 5k on the car since I've had it. It was just soooo gooey/pasty. Maybe the previous owner put some kind of lube in there...like a TON of it? Anyways...gone now.

 

If the pads were glazed, again had to be the previous owner, I drive pretty tame, certainly not enough to overheat the pads. The brakes felt the same way since I bought it so I just assumed that's how they were supposed to be considering my trip to the dealer etc. Only after driving a loaner 2.5i did I realize how bad my brakes really were.

 

BTW, is it normal to get some squeaking after installing new pads? Not terrible, but I get some at every stop today. Not the case last night just after installation.

[Gmoe]

^ Wow. I would call them up and make a stink regardless of warranty. Or call SOA about it.