Brembo Upgrade Brake Bleed

[Falk03]

Obviously if you're trying to chase air out of the ABS by making stops hard enough to activate it, you're going to do such hard stopping well away from other traffic and other hazards. Deserted parking lots come to mind.


Norm

I was not talking about other traffic or so. If you have air in the ABS module, some wheels might actually be braking while others are not braking at all. So you could get a vehicle acting out (aka doing unexpected things).

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[Norm Peterson]

Not much to worry about as long as there's nothing else to hit or trip over and you keep it away from the edges of the black stuff.

Worst case, I suppose you could spin out. See above.


Norm

 

[Labradog]

No lights came on but I was pretty hard on the pedal ~50 to 10 mph. Doesn’t feel like there is air in the system. Overall feels fine. If I end up swapping to OEM pads up front in the next month or so do I really need to pull the rotors and sand them?

 

[plc268]

I’ve seen some horror stories from people using their drilled rotors on track but the pads seem pretty well reviewed.

The pads are fine. I don't what this "bad rap" that powerstop supposedly has. Maybe they've had bad products in the past... I honestly don't know.

But the z26 pads: Yea, they don't have the aggressive initial bite that the OEM pads do. That's fine with me honestly. The stopping power is still all there, but the brake pedal is less of an on/off switch with the z26 pads.

 

[BmacIL]

Ok, didn't know that and it never happened to me before. After pressure bleeding (with only 10psi) I always had a nice firm brake pedal.

Probably low enough pressure to not cause that issue with the tool.

I don't know. I think it is quite dangerous to make a hard stop with ABS when there might still be air in the system especially in the ABS module. I would recommend to activate the procedure using a tool like ForScan. It is really simple.

As Norm said, do it in an empty lot of somewhere without traffic. Should be looking for the pedal feedback from the ABS. It's very unlikely to cause enough of brake imbalance to spin the car or cause it to do anything. You'd need a lot of air in there for that.

 

[jameskhana]

Has anybody with a manual transmission done this Brembo swap? I'm trying to figure out if I should expect to need to bleed the clutch line as well?

 

[Norm Peterson]

Wouldn't think so. Not as long as you never let the level in the master cylinder's reservoir get too low, anyway

I didn't touch the clutch hydraulics when I installed the SVT/GT500 4-piston Brembos and S/S flexible lines on my '08. No reason to expect the newer cars would be any different.


Norm

 

[NightmareMoon]

I think the clutch feeds from the master cylinder's reserve bottle, but its a different system. Same fill container, different pistons and lines.

 

[Chef jpd]

I did the swap with a 6 speed. Used a motive power bleeder and only bled the fronts.
No clutch issues and rock solid brake feel and response.
Stock pads.

 

[BmacIL]

I did the swap with a 6 speed. Used a motive power bleeder and only bled the fronts.
No clutch issues and rock solid brake feel and response.
Stock pads.

Don't go to a track day though (assume you didn't swap the master cylinder). You'll have no brakes.
/sarcasm

 

[Chef jpd]

Im 100% street driving

 

[Houston Kid]

Don't go to a track day though (assume you didn't swap the master cylinder). You'll have no brakes.
/sarcasm

No doubt. Lol. 6,000 + miles of driving like I’m road racing for me so far. They still work. I did not swap my master cylinder.

 

[BlownGP]

The pads are fine. I don't what this "bad rap" that powerstop supposedly has. Maybe they've had bad products in the past... I honestly don't know.

But the z26 pads: Yea, they don't have the aggressive initial bite that the OEM pads do. That's fine with me honestly. The stopping power is still all there, but the brake pedal is less of an on/off switch with the z26 pads.

Yeah, I'm not sure what he's talking about Powerstop make really good pads. Used them in many cars.

With that said. I'm about to do the Brembo swap and was looking at the Z26 pads and two reviews popped up on Amazon saying they are softer than stock once even claimed they stopped in a shorter distance. Not sure how accurate his test was but interesting I guess.

Unfortunately there's not many pads that promote little dust and I care about that more. lol
So I will probably end up with the Powerstops.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Yeah, I'm not sure what he's talking about Powerstop make really good pads. Used them in many cars.

I think the original complaints (further back than plc's post) were detail complaints about the use of drilled rotors on the track (which would apply to anybody's drilled rotors) and pad bite not being up to his expectations.

Soft bite doesn't necessarily mean longer stopping distances, but you would need to use a slightly different braking technique (probably harder on the pedal sooner) than you would with high-mu pads that don't need as much pedal force.


FWIW, after running pads with fairly strong bite (HP+, various lower-level Carbotech and G-loc track pads), pads with soft bite don't give me a very confident feeling at all. HPS pads (not the 5.0 version) were a big disappointment, like I suspect the Powerstops would be, at least for me.

Obviously, some people prefer a softer-biting pad, which is fine.


Norm

 

[drbrian722]

This is the Ford procedure for bleeding the clutch on the S550.

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