Car pulling to right during braking

[MtnBiker]

I spent the afternoon installing stainless brake lines and new pads all around on my Gen IV today. On the drive home the car was pulling to the right on braking? It never did this before and has me quite worried since I am going to track at CoTA this weekend. We installed Brakeman 3s on front and OEM pads on back.

Any ideas why it's pulling right?

 

[TowDawg]

It could be a number of things, but double-check you have no leaks, re-bleed the brakes THOROUGHLY, have someone watch each caliper and pads while you hit the brakes and make sure all calipers are fully engaging and re-engaging. Also check the rotors for anything on them to make sure they're clean, and check the wear marks if you can see them and make sure all rotors are showing the same surface area being contacted by the pads.

Obviously you're brakes are engaging harder on the passenger side, and it could be any one of the things I mentioned above (or even something else), but you definitely want to get them working well (and have confidence in them) before you hit the track.

 

[AZTVR]

Did you prep the rotors and bed in the brakes ? http://www.thebrakeman.com/tbedding_new_pads

If not, I would bet that after the first session, things will clear up.

 

[Allan]

I had the same issue after installing SS lines on mine.

Didn't have all the air out of the calipers after the line swap.
Bled thoroughly a second time and fixed it.
...............don't for get about the bleeder screws on the inside.


that was the idiot mistake I made .....being in a hurry.

 

[MtnBiker]

It could be a number of things, but double-check you have no leaks, re-bleed the brakes THOROUGHLY, have someone watch each caliper and pads while you hit the brakes and make sure all calipers are fully engaging and re-engaging. Also check the rotors for anything on them to make sure they're clean, and check the wear marks if you can see them and make sure all rotors are showing the same surface area being contacted by the pads.

Obviously you're brakes are engaging harder on the passenger side, and it could be any one of the things I mentioned above (or even something else), but you definitely want to get them working well (and have confidence in them) before you hit the track.

Did you prep the rotors and bed in the brakes ? http://www.thebrakeman.com/tbedding_new_pads

If not, I would bet that after the first session, things will clear up.

I had the same issue after installing SS lines on mine.

Didn't have all the air out of the calipers after the line swap.
Bled thoroughly a second time and fixed it.
...............don't for get about the bleeder screws on the inside.


that was the idiot mistake I made .....being in a hurry.

Thanks for the replies. Good advice here. We made sure there were no leaks. This took numerous attempts to get everything tightened down, what a PITA. We bled them twice all around, EXCEPT for the front left! That may be too much of a coincidence. We did not prepare the rotor surfaces, just put the new pads on.

 

[Bird325]

New pads, even WITH smoothing out the rotors will take a while to break in. There is a rather complex set of steps to go through to 'burn in' the new pads. I experienced a similar situation on my new pads (ceramic in front, EBC Reds in the rear), but it cleared up after driving it home and breaking them in. Bleed the heck out of them until the pedal doesn't feel at all soft, AT ANY TIME, and then burn them in at different break down speeds. Get it done before COTA as that is an AWESOME track and will require substantial braking at times. Good luck and have fun in Austin!

 

[MtnBiker]

So, we bled the lines again. The brake pedal feels normal, engages at the top right away and stays firm. The left front rotor has black streaks and the left front is making scraping noises and feels like it has grit in it. All the other calipers are shiny and smooth. I tried braking hard (engaging ABS) multiple times this evening from 60 mph down to not quite fully stopped. The car stops well, but still wants to pull to the right a bit. I know there is no air in the system.

From Brakeman web page: With any compound, if you observe black streaking on the rotors or poor performnace, the pads were not properly beeded and need higher temperatures.

Looks like I need to get them hotter to properly bed?

 

[gb66gth]

You'll build up a fair bit of heat braking for turn 12 at COTA.
I ran that track last year with the MVP group, had a blast. Be safe and have fun!

 

[MtnBiker]

Thanks.

I am running with MVP this weekend. I guess the brakes will come good after the first session.

 

[bluesrt]

Swap the pads n see if it goes with the pads if it doesn't correct itself. If it don't I call brakeline faulty restriction partially. Iv seen it

 

[MtnBiker]

I'll visually check the brake line for possible restriction/kink? Thanks.

 

[bluesrt]

Its internal and looks fine to the eye. Try to run the brakes in first since u didn't clean off the old matter from other pads

 

[MtnBiker]

What is the proper procedure? 100 mph to almost stopped and NOT engaging ABS (I was engaging ABS and Mark Jorgenson said to never do that).

 

[hou99gts]

What is the proper procedure? 100 mph to almost stopped and NOT engaging ABS (I was engaging ABS and Mark Jorgenson said to never do that).

Correct......

 

[bluesrt]

run the car up to a 100 , brake with a decent force to almost a stop, repeat till brakes start to fade a smidge, you should be good. drive for a while n cool them off.... DO NOT SIT AT A STOP LIGHT WITH HOT BRAKES AND YOUR FOOT ON THE BRAKE...

 

[mjorgensen Woodhouse]

It is important after a fresh bedding that you allow the brakes to cool to total ambient temps before using them again, this sets the material so it won't clear itself again.