Locking up brakes?

[STRider]

A couple of weeks ago I replaced front rotors and pads, rear rotors, pads, calipers, caliper brackets, slider pins and hoses and I flushed the brake fluid with Ford heavy duty brake fluid.

To flush the braking system, I borrowed a bleeder from a mechanic friend. You fill a reservoir with brake fluid and attach it to the master cylinder. Connect the bleeder to an air compressor, attach the hose to the bleeder screw, open the screw, press a button on the bleeder and it draws the fluid through the system. I used 3 12 ounce bottles doing the right rear to make sure I flushed out all of the old fluid. Then I used on 12 ounce bottle on LF, LR and RF.

After a week of taking it easy on the brakes, I seasoned the rotors last Saturday by braking normally from 65 to a stop 5 times to heat up the rotors, then 65 to 5 five times using moderate pressure (maybe 50% pedal travel), drive for 5-10 minutes to cool, then 65 to 5 five times using more effort (maybe 75% pedal travel), cool for 5-10 minutes, then park and let sit overnight. Then I repeated this on Sunday.

This Saturday I attempted to bed the pads using the same procedure as seasoning the rotors. After warming up the brakes, I was attempting to use the brakes as hard as possible without locking them up and activating the ABS system. The only problem is I used all the brake pedal travel and the brakes wouldn't lock up. Since I installed Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads, I thought I might have to repeat this procedure again to properly bed the pads. So I did on Sunday and got the same results.

So, are the brakes on a 95 Sho so inadequate that it is impossible to lock them up on dry pavement, or is something else possibly wrong? Do I need to bleed/flush the brakes a different way since I have ABS?

 

[jthomas68]

Normally,you can`t lock up the brakes on a stock set up.Mine can`t do it,and it actually caused me to hit another car before because the brakes just don`t stop the car.I`m not sure how the 96 upgrade affects this.

 

[STRider]

Thanks for the info. At least now I know there isn't a problem.

 

[sdpatt]

Even the little stock brakes on my car have no trouble whatsoever locking the wheels and requiring the ABS to keep them from sliding. The PF-CM pads need to have the carbon embedded into the rotor to get full effectiveness. This is best accomplished by gentle to moderate use until the pads and the brakes become good friends. I haven't needed to perform the heating process you described to get the best performance from the PF-CM pads and $18 AutoZone rotors. You may have glazed your rotors in the process.

 

[STRider]

Scott

How long did it take for your PFCM pads to bed? I drove my car normally with gentle to moderate braking for two weeks before trying to bed the pads. I would think two weeks would be long enough. Also, this is the same process I've used when changing the brakes on my Mustang and I haven't had a problem with either rotors or pads.

 

[SHOvit]

Scott, just in case he did glaze over the rotars what's the best way to clean them up??? Grant

 

[olympic]

You can scuff them up with some 80-100 grit emery cloth. Or take them in and get a few thousanths shaved off on a brake lathe.

 

[SHOvit]

Thanks Olympic...

 

[pjtoledo]

SHOvit:
Scott, just in case he did glaze over the rotars what's the best way to clean them up??? Grant

A good method to cut the glaze is to use a 6 or 7" rotating sanding disk. Give the rotor a spin to start, then the disk will keep it rotating. This gives a nice swirl pattern, so the lathe marks won't act as screw threads and force the pads outward.

Perry Toledo,Ohio

 

[RI-SHO]

Oh man do I need working ABS braking, if i'm not careful I can feel my rear tires "ready" to lock-up(not a very good thing to lock-up not so cheap 235/40/18 tires). So I have to revert to the coo squint pumping action of non-ABS brakes when I know I need to stomp on my brakes.