Front brake question

I have the R1 drilled and slotted rotors on my car and they are awesome. When I first got them, I had OEM pads and they sucked then I switched to the Hawk HPS pads on the front (last summer) and they were better but lately I have noticed that my braking seems kindof weak all of a sudden. It doesnt feel as good as it used to and my brothers Daytona with OEM rotors and cheap pads feel better than my setup. I have never bled my brakes before, do you think its time to do it? The pedal doesnt really feel spongy, it just doesnt stop real good which is why I didnt think I had to bleed them. Also, what pads would you recommend that are better than the Hawk HPS but are quiet and dont give off a lot of dust?

brake fluid yo! i have the red stuff. thet are good but squeek for ever while breaking in. i had the posi quiets, liked those a lot.

ghost wrote:

brake fluid yo! i have the red stuff. thet are good but squeek for ever while breaking in. i had the posi quiets, liked those a lot.

Brake fluid is full. How long did the red stuff take to break in? Im gonna look into getting those.

posi's on mine also.... Ive heard....alot of dust and wear easy! so I kept away from em!

i think the red stuff he talkin about is brake fluid!

There was a long post about brakes and rotors That said if you aren't racing alot to just use oem for the best all around braking performance. OEM is dusty, but isn't day to day driveability the most important thing here? I've never heard of anyone posting issues with OEM pads, other than a little dust. I'm sticking with OEM after suffering through that long read on the subject.

liljoejoe54 wrote:

ghost wrote:

brake fluid yo! i have the red stuff. thet are good but squeek for ever while breaking in. i had the posi quiets, liked those a lot.

Brake fluid is full. How long did the red stuff take to break in? Im gonna look into getting those.

Fing 4ever! out of the 3 i have had on my car, the red stuff seem to have the best stopping power, but that squeaking is enough to drive you nuts! JT has them as well, he said something about them being real hard on rotors. you might want to check in with him as well. with the drilled and slotted rotors, i don';t think thatthey can be resurfaced.

I have Gransport GS-6 ceramic pads. I don't know how they are on the track, but they stop nice, are quiet, and zero dust.

Illinois Chaos wrote:

There was a long post about brakes and rotors That said if you aren't racing alot to just use oem for the best all around braking performance. OEM is dusty, but isn't day to day driveability the most important thing here? I've never heard of anyone posting issues with OEM pads, other than a little dust. I'm sticking with OEM after suffering through that long read on the subject.

I had the OEM pads and they made a really bad noise when stopping at low speeds. It sounded like my front end was falling apart. I never thought it was the pads and went under the car looking for noises like 3 times. Then I bought the Hawk HPS pads and put them on and the noise was gone so I knew it was the OEM pads.

Chris, the red stuff is the Red Stuff Brake Pads, lol. Thats the name of them.

Dave, Ill ask Jontoad if they are OK for the drilled/slotted rotors.

Eric, ill look into those GS-6 pads as well.

I'd maybe try to "flush out the brake fluid with some new fluid, open all the bleeders and let it ALL gravity bleed out, OR have somebody to help, I've done it alot lately and it helps, brake fluid breaks down just like other oild ya know man? So some new brake fluid, and maybe go with the good synthetic kind or something like that might help, hell.... it won't hurt lol

Moparcharger06 wrote:

I'd maybe try to "flush out the brake fluid with some new fluid, open all the bleeders and let it ALL gravity bleed out, OR have somebody to help, I've done it alot lately and it helps, brake fluid breaks down just like other oild ya know man? So some new brake fluid, and maybe go with the good synthetic kind or something like that might help, hell.... it won't hurt lol

Ill give that a shot, thanks! Any good brand fluid you would recommend?

like i said in pm Joe the hawks are a good pad and i would think your problem would lie elsewhere. make sure your calipers are sliding well or the back side pad will wear down faster and it won't distribute the braking force equal. that can lead to poor brake performance. also like Adam said change the fluid.

the reds are great. best pad i have used on the street and can stand up to track abuse, but yes they are hard on rotors. any track worthy pad will be, thats why the stock pads are so poor performing. they are made for the general public who doesn't like rotor wear.

the reds are track/street and the yellows are even more aggressive for mostly track use.

as for the posi-quiets.... they are great for daily driving if noise and dust are your problem. but they don't perform that well and if you ever tried to track them you might kill yourself from brake fade. you would also burn them down to the backing plate in about one track session. they aren't made for that.

jontoad wrote:

like i said in pm Joe the hawks are a good pad and i would think your problem would lie elsewhere. make sure your calipers are sliding well or the back side pad will wear down faster and it won't distribute the braking force equal. that can lead to poor brake performance. also like Adam said change the fluid.

the reds are great. best pad i have used on the street and can stand up to track abuse, but yes they are hard on rotors. any track worthy pad will be, thats why the stock pads are so poor performing. they are made for the general public who doesn't like rotor wear.

the reds are track/street and the yellows are even more aggressive for mostly track use.

as for the posi-quiets.... they are great for daily driving if noise and dust are your problem. but they don't perform that well and if you ever tried to track them you might kill yourself from brake fade. you would also burn them down to the backing plate in about one track session. they aren't made for that.

Thanks alot Jon. Im gonna try the fluid change first and also check my calipers and make sure they are sliding like they should.

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Moparcharger06 wrote:

I'd maybe try to "flush out the brake fluid with some new fluid, open all the bleeders and let it ALL gravity bleed out, OR have somebody to help, I've done it alot lately and it helps, brake fluid breaks down just like other oild ya know man? So some new brake fluid, and maybe go with the good synthetic kind or something like that might help, hell.... it won't hurt lol

Ill give that a shot, thanks! Any good brand fluid you would recommend?

I'd stick with a name brand fluid, and get the best synthetic type fluid

Moparcharger06 wrote:

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Moparcharger06 wrote:

I'd maybe try to "flush out the brake fluid with some new fluid, open all the bleeders and let it ALL gravity bleed out, OR have somebody to help, I've done it alot lately and it helps, brake fluid breaks down just like other oild ya know man? So some new brake fluid, and maybe go with the good synthetic kind or something like that might help, hell.... it won't hurt lol

Ill give that a shot, thanks! Any good brand fluid you would recommend?

I'd stick with a name brand fluid, and get the best synthetic type fluid

Thanks. Jontoad told me about wilwood and redline fluid. I am going to pick one of those but do we use Dot 3 or Dot 4?

I'm not too sure, I believe it says on the master cylinder cap probably

When I changed my brake fluid the brakes felt alot better.

Shawn1112 wrote:

When I changed my brake fluid the brakes felt alot better.

Thats good to know. Im gonna try to do them tomorrow in my garage. Ill go to pep-boys and see if they have any good synthetic fluid. How much do I need?

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Shawn1112 wrote:

When I changed my brake fluid the brakes felt alot better.

Thats good to know. Im gonna try to do them tomorrow in my garage. Ill go to pep-boys and see if they have any good synthetic fluid. How much do I need?

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bleeding_brakes.htm

Iguanaman wrote:

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Shawn1112 wrote:

When I changed my brake fluid the brakes felt alot better.

Thats good to know. Im gonna try to do them tomorrow in my garage. Ill go to pep-boys and see if they have any good synthetic fluid. How much do I need?

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bleeding_brakes.htm

Nice find, thanks!

That site is really good for brake info.

Thanks for posting that Dave!

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Shawn1112 wrote:

When I changed my brake fluid the brakes felt alot better.

Thats good to know. Im gonna try to do them tomorrow in my garage. Ill go to pep-boys and see if they have any good synthetic fluid. How much do I need?

I just bought the biggest bottle they had. and I believe I had some left over.

Ok I just picked up some Castrol Synthetic fluid. It said it can be used on cars that use either Dot 3 OR Dot 4. But the boiling point is only 325. I saw some online that are rated at 500 degrees for nearly the same price. I guess ill just give this a shot. Either way its going to be better than the OEM fluid from the factory.

Well I changed the fluid and then bled them for the hell of it today and went for a ride. The brakes feel much better than before. The old fluid was pretty brown. Thanks alot everyone.

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Well I changed the fluid and then bled them for the hell of it today and went for a ride. The brakes feel much better than before. The old fluid was pretty brown. Thanks alot everyone.

How easy was this to do?