Hi
I just replaced my stock rotors and pads that were shot on my 94 TA. I installed new Power Stop slotted rotors and Performance Friction semi metallic pads. I did the break in as they recommended and have put about 200 miles on the car.
The problem is, it doesnt stop very well. If I try to lock it up the brakes, it will only slow down and not lock up. They kinda feel more like manual brakes than power brakes.
Is this normal for this type of rotors and pads ? WIll they eventaully get better as they break in more ?
Thanks

 

if you still have ABS, the brakes will not (should not) "lock up"!
keep putting break in miles on them to seat the pads onto the rotors correctly.
do you have enuf fluid in the reservoir? did you bleed the system of all the air in the lines, starting with the wheel farthest from the master cylinder and working your way around to the wheel closest to it?
did you need to shim the pads?
keep heat cycling them it takes a few hundred miles to set in new brakes

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I will keep putting miles on. Its a little scary to stop, but hopefully they will get better.
Since they need to be heated to work better, does that mean in the winter months it will be worse ?
Thanks

 

as far as bad weather driving (winter rain etc.) that will depend on the pads you chose (which ones by the way?)
some aftermarket pads require a certain amount of heat for them to work, thats why they are reccomended for track duty, where they would see that heat ALOT, unlike street driving where rolling to a stop light will not generate enuf heat in the pads and rotors for them to work correctly
hot brake pads designed to be hot are a sticky pad, where as OEM style pads when they get hot they dont work as well and would feel the same as the track style pads when cold ....

your brake pad choice might have alot to do with the "slow" brake feeling....

 

When I replaced the oem pads on my previous Z with stock rotors, I did notice I lacked good braking for a while. It improved over a few hundred miles. Not sure why it was weak in the first place... I mean people can assume but technically I wouldn't know.

 

Try stopping hard 4-5 times in a row and see if it stops better. Some brake pads need to be hot to stop correctly especially the performance ones.If it stops better when hot and you can't live with it when they are cold,change pads to regular ones.

 

These are performance friction from auto zone... right? There aren't exotic pads... I wouldn't burn them too much yet - you might get buildup and/or glaze the rotors. Give them a few hudred miles of easy, normal (not camaro normal... Honda normal!) driving and re-evaluate.

 

You might want to bend the ear of a "professional" brake mechanic. Brakes are obviously needed to "stop" the car. If you need several hundred miles to break in your brakes, what happens when you need them NOW. JMHO

 

It sounds like a more significant problem than just "They aren't broken in yet". I'd get advice from a brake guy. New brakes should still stop hard.

 

when you squeezed in the caliper to stick the new pads in you may have accidently popped open the master cylindar top with pressure or some might have oozed out. check you fluid level and bleed your brakes if necessary. does the pedal feel mushy or go "woooosh" constantly when beng pressed? that's a good sign to bleed your brakes.

 

The July '04 copy of CAR CRAFT has an article (page 76) titled "Simmer Until Ready" which deals with breaking in brakes, clutches and rear axles. To cut to the chase, without lots of technical info, here is the suggested brake-in proceedure for Bendix brakes. Do 30 stops from 30 MPH and give the pads a 30 second cooling off before the next stop from 30 MPH. My thinking, and the reason for my reply to your post, is you possibly have glazed your new pads if you did any hard hammering on the brake pedal looking for that new teeth-jarring stopping power. The new pads need curing before the proper material transfer between the rotor and pads has occured. As the article states, " drivers that use the brakes harder in an effort to compensate for the lack of stopping power in their as-new state cause the pads to become overheated, which in turn boils the resins contained in the friction materisl, causing them to rise to the surface. These resins eventually solidify, becoming extremely hard and compromising brake performance while also inducing squealing."

Perhaps you might consider re-bleeding the system with a change of fluid. Fight the urge to test the brakes with hard stopping and try to burnish the pads as this article suggests. IF you find your stopping distances below what you might consider safe have the car looked at by a competent mechanic/brake shop

 

Something is seriously wrong with your brakes. No street brake pad takes more than about 30 seconds of bedding in. About the same as a clutch or a diff. Thirty seconds. If they aren't good after that they never will be. I have done hundreds of brake installs, and they all stop fine after a very short test drive, and then they go to the customer with no instructions other than to drive the car like they always do. It ain't rocket science, and some people think too much about "magical" break in procedures. They work, or they don't. Yours obviously don't and should be fixed properly.

 

alright i worked on brakes as a profession try taking sand paper to the pads and rotors to break the glaze.

Also this might not seem like good advice but even if you have performance pad s and rotors, abs and a good set of tires will not lock up. depending on the type of tires if you have a good set you will not lock up.