Mushy brake feel - not much bite

[chrissurfr]

Hey guys - ever since I got Hawk pads and bedded them with my old rotors that had 8k miles on them my brakes really feel mushy. I have to push the pedal down a lot to slow down. There is no "bite" to them. Anyone else experienced this with Hawk pads?

[SLU_S5]

How many miles on your pads now? Might take some time to get them fully worn in.

I have RS front brakes with the SS braided lines along with new fluid. My Hawk HPS 5.0 Pads bite hard.

[mossback]

Its possible you didn't bed them in correctly, and have glazing on the pad surface. YOU should have seen some smoke from the new green pads, the first time if you got them hot enough, it doesn't hurt to do the bed in procedure again, I do mine every couple of months if I am not getting on the track, Street driving will ruin all that good work.

[JamesRS5]

When was the last time they replaced the fluid?

Sports pads can feel a little vague until they get some heat in them. Strangely, my OE pads felt like this until I swapped for the CCB's, they were never confidence inspiring.

[doug97gxe]

are these ceramic pads? they don't have much brake dust but they are horrible for stopping

[TTRStud]

Double check your hydraulic system bleeding...make sure they were bled correctly.

[plat]

Yeah, mushy or spongy feeling brakes might mean air in the brake system. Did you bleed the brakes when you changed the pads?

[JamesRS5]

There's no need to bleed brakes when you replace pads unless you open the system, the fluid should be replaced every 2 years though.

[TTRStud]

There's no need to bleed brakes when you replace pads unless you open the system, the fluid should be replaced every 2 years though.

If the pads are new (hence thicker) than the ones being replaced, the caliper pistons need to be compressed back to a more "open" position. Many times when people uncap that reservoir to allow for the fluid to rise as the pistons are compressed, they can end up with air in the system. It doesn't hurt to check or re-bleed them. Fluid replacement every 2 years has to do with brake fluid's ability to attract humidity.

[JamesRS5]

The fluid reservoir isn't on the pressure side of the braking system so taking the cap off to allow expansion shouldn't cause a problem, but as you say, it can't do any harm to bleed them anyway.

Hygroscopic is a good word for absorbing moisture and brake fluid that has moisture in it will give you a mushy pedal.

[TTRStud]

The fluid reservoir isn't on the pressure side of the braking system so taking the cap off to allow expansion shouldn't cause a problem, but as you say, it can't do any harm to bleed them anyway.

Hygroscopic is a good word for absorbing moisture and brake fluid that has moisture in it will give you a mushy pedal.

Agreed! For some reason I was assuming that there was new fluid in the equation....then I realized why you recommended the fluid change (regarding the pedal feeling).