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Recently I serviced the brakes on my 2001 toyota sienna. I consider myself a weekend warrior and I have serviced brakes many times before. Basically my brakes feel more spongy after the service. My procedure was:
1st- clean brake clips as well as where they sit on the brake pad cradle
2nd- clean contact points on brake pad
3rd- I like to sand my brake pads a little just to give it a better bite
4th- clean and lubricate sliding pins, make sure no air is trapped in rubber boot
5th- lubricate brake pad contact point to metal clip
then i put everything back together. I didn’t open the system and I recently did a brake flush on it so the fluid is nice and fresh, no air in the system either.
I thought I may have gotten some anti sieze on the rotor so i immediately took everything apart after a test drive and wiped down the rotor with a rag and brake clean, as well as sanded off some material from the brake pad itself, this seemed to have helped but not by much. what do you guys think is wrong?
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Since you have done this many times before you are the expert. The only things I can add is that you don’t say anything about turning or replacing the rotors. Rotors that aren’t worn too badly don’t need replacement or turning and that is in many cases becoming a habit of the past. However it does take a few miles of driving for the new pads to make full contact on a worn rotor.
One other thing is the pads. I had a set on my car that stopping was sort of like throwing a note in the suggestion box. If acted on at all the result came slowly. Those pads had to go. Even if you used the same pads as before the manufacturing process may have changed.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as an a$$ 😛 What I meant to say is that I have done this before and never had this result, where the brakes feel worse after. She is in need of new pads (not an immediate concern) and i figured i would replace the rotors as well because they are warped a bit. I guess it’s just the wear and tear on the pads and rotors. And I am considering re-bleeding the system.
Coming off as an a$$ is not what I meant at all. If you have worked on these brakes many times before you are indeed an expert at doing it. How else do you get to be an expert? So, telling you the normal stuff to check as if you were a newbe would be a waste of your time and mine.
There are lots of things that can effect pedal feel. Rusty brake pad shims for one. If you had rusty shims, you’re better off removing them. Also, sometimes the pads used have something to do with that. I cover this issue extensively in this article.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-brake-problems
Here’s a video I did on brake service that may also be helpful.
Good luck and keep us posted.
You have two potential things keeping you from a firmer pedal, first as others have said you probably have a bit of air in the lines, I would find a wet surface and do a few hard stops to activate the ABS then re bleed brakes. Secondly you sanded the pads and are trying to bed them to glazed rotors, at the minimum I would rough up the rotors with a brake rotor honing stone. I usually at least “cheat cut” the rotors on the brake lathe taking next to nothing off and roughing them up to give a better bedding surface. I posted before about looking at surfaces with a jeweler eye, if you look at a glazed verses cut rotor the difference is obvious as to gripping ability, it is like a bald tire verses a new one.
May I cJust check. After changing my brake pads, there is slight vibration just before it stops and also at a complete stand still holding brakes and releasing the brake pedal . Is this normal?
Hi no its not normal, they should feel the same after changing the pads as they did before.
If the brakes are still holding the car after you have stopped and released the peddle check that the pads are moving freely in the caliper. You may have to do some cleaning on the caliper or even filing on the pads.
I’m not sure. But I’ve heard this noise and feel coming from most auto tranny cars. Especially when braking cars that have the urge to move forward when braking.
Alright so i’ve been away for a while but i believe I have found my problem, turns out I had switched the inboard pad and my outboard pad. For some reason my caliper is extremely picky. Now the brakes feel a lot better.
I did this once on our Caravan. I had the same result. The thought didn’t occur to me when reading your issue. Thanks for posting the conclusion.
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