Brake question

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January 1st, 2007, 4:42 PM

wheelz

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Brake question

I'm getting the runaround at Brakes Plus. The usual story, brought the car in for something else and they discover that the brakes need to be replaced. Mistake 1, 2000 Chevy Metro. Mistake 2, I agreed to the front brake work. There had been no performance problems with the brakes. After service, it needed two or three times the pedal effort to stop. Full panic stop could not get a wheel to lock up (does not have ABS), pushing HARD. Brought it back, tech says that pads need 2000 miles to seat (yes, two thousand) and that all cars built since the 80's have proportioning valvesthat prevent the wheels from locking up. My limited experience says this is crazy, but everyone at Brakes Plus (the professionals) go along with this. Any thoughts on this? thanx

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January 1st, 2007, 5:41 PM

golfer

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RE: Brake question

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ORIGINAL: wheelz

I'm getting the runaround at Brakes Plus. The usual story, brought the car in for something else and they discover that the brakes need to be replaced. Mistake 1, 2000 Chevy Metro. Mistake 2, I agreed to the front brake work. There had been no performance problems with the brakes. After service, it needed two or three times the pedal effort to stop. Full panic stop could not get a wheel to lock up (does not have ABS), pushing HARD. Brought it back, tech says that pads need 2000 miles to seat (yes, two thousand) and that all cars built since the 80's have proportioning valvesthat prevent the wheels from locking up. My limited experience says this is crazy, but everyone at Brakes Plus (the professionals) go along with this. Any thoughts on this? thanx

Did the front rotors get resurfaced or replaced as well ?
Brake pads do have a break in (seating )period but , I don't buy 2k miles.
The proportional valves should not have anything to do with preventing lock up. Their function is to provide and maintain the required pressure from the front proportional tothe rear and in some cases left to right.

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January 1st, 2007, 9:56 PM

moparman

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RE: Brake question

If you have more play in the pedal than normal, they might have had a caliper froze up some and had to crack open the bleeder screw to get the caliper toretract to put the new pads on. If they did this and did not get the brake line bled correctly, this will give you a spongy feeling brake pedal. Take it back and have them bleed the lines again, this should fix the problem.

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January 2nd, 2007, 12:10 AM

wheelz

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RE: Brake question

Yes, front rotors were resurfaced, so I would think this would help seat the new pads quicker. Pedal is not spongy, definately not air in system. Feeling isthe same as driving a car with power brakes when the engine is not running, if you've ever had the pleasure. Yeah, the brakes still work, but grandma isn't going to get it stopped. Yaahoo! If I were to guess, I would think that the front brakes aren't working at all or the pad material is harder or just not as "grabby" as original. Really don't know butjust ticked off at the pros at Brakes Plus for their nonsense answers.

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