Adventure with Brakes

[toyotaman11]

Well I just got done doing the brakes on my 98 corolla.

Decided to go with the following set up:

Hawk HPS pads
Brembo Blanks
Goodridge Brake Lines

Well things were going pretty smoothly until upon trying to open my bleeder valve, it broke in half. So, then after a quick trip to autozone, I was back to work. Then after putting the caliper back on, I tried to connect the goodridge brake hose. Upon tightening the bolt to 22 ft/lbs OEM spec, it broke in half.

So I had to steal the bolt from the other side and just keep the stock hose on the other side until goodridge sends me a replacement.


All in all, after installing everything, I really do not notice a huge difference in my stopping power. Anyone else running this setup and notice the same thing?

[Bitter]

did you bed the pads correctly and exactly per the box directions? if not then do that and give it about a week of gentle driving before you stomp on the pedal or use the brakes hard. I felt that the HPS pads were great but not cold. once they heat up a little they are MUCH better. usually after the first 2 stops of the day they were great until they got cold again, then one stop or just a slight application of them while at highway speed brought them back upto temp and they were great again.

are the rear brakes adjusted correctly? did you change the rear lines to stainless as well?

[toyotaman11]

Originally Posted by Bitter

did you bed the pads correctly and exactly per the box directions? if not then do that and give it about a week of gentle driving before you stomp on the pedal or use the brakes hard. I felt that the HPS pads were great but not cold. once they heat up a little they are MUCH better. usually after the first 2 stops of the day they were great until they got cold again, then one stop or just a slight application of them while at highway speed brought them back upto temp and they were great again.

are the rear brakes adjusted correctly? did you change the rear lines to stainless as well?

Yeah I did follow the instructions on the box. I did not have time to do the rears yet. But I will be putting new shoes and the lines in at the same time. Does that make much of a difference?

[Bingo]

Do you guys really have problems stopping these 4 banger econo boxes ?

You probably not noticing any difference because the original brakes worked just fine.

[toyotaman11]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Do you guys really have problems stopping these 4 banger econo boxes ?

You probably not noticing any differance because the original brakes worked just fine.

Its not a matter of having trouble stopping. I just figured based on all the reviews I heard on Hawk HPS pads and goodridge stell brake lines, that I would definitely notice a big difference. Especially on a corolla. However, so far, I can hardly notice.

[Bitter]

Originally Posted by toyotaman11

Yeah I did follow the instructions on the box. I did not have time to do the rears yet. But I will be putting new shoes and the lines in at the same time. Does that make much of a difference?

yes, having all 4 lines and the rears correctly adjusted does make a large difference.

Originally Posted by Bingo

Do you guys really have problems stopping these 4 banger econo boxes ?

You probably not noticing any difference because the original brakes worked just fine.

yes and no. yes, they're fairly light cars and toyota always seems to over do it in the brakes department, however there is room for improvement. the largest issue on the corolla is that the fronts WAY over power the rear. larger drums or rear disc would be much better, but that won't happen. the next issue is that 9/10 times when you get one of these cars used they have the cheapest pads installed and anything of quality is an upgrade, not to mention the fluid is original and the drums are neglected. just doing maintenance on them can improve pedal feel and stopping.

If I remember correctly though, they did a factory 60-0 in around 125 feet which is not bad at all for its class of car.
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...data_cont.html I was close, 132. Better tires and brakes really shaves that down alot. my 93 after hps pads, slotted rotors, new rear brakes, and better tires was in the neighbor hood of 120ft with ABS.

[fishexpo101]

That should be a great combination - Hawk HPS and Brembo blanks, SS lines are a bonus. Keep in mind that even after the pads have been bedded in, the rotor will have to be "seasoned". This will automatically happen with normal use of the brakes. Until the machining marks are completely wiped from the new rotors - might not see the actual performance of your new brake setup. On my setup - took about 2 weeks before everything got bedded in. After that, took about another week before all the machining marks were wiped - that point I could really take advantage of the higher torque, greater inital bite of the brakes to slow my car down faster. As noted by Bitter, your actual braking distance is a combination brake torque and tire grip. Upgrading to a performance tire + this brake setup will make for a completely different braking experience.

[toyotaman11]

Was there anything that I should have done special since I was using new rotors with new pads?

Since the hawk pads are really really smooth and the new rotors were smooth, maybe its too smooth of a surface. An old mechanic friend of mine told me I should lightly sand the pads before putting them on. Does that sound like good advice?

[Bitter]

you don't need to, all i do special is clean the dust off them with a shot of brake cleaner.

[fishexpo101]

The rotors should have some machining marks on them - not 100% smooth, should have some marks on them. Pads themselves are pre-burnished at the factory - no need to sand them, just make sure the interface between the pad and rotor is clean. In fact, sanding pads may cause more issues, as you are introducing a foreign material to the pad, in a sense, purposely contaminating the surface.

The trick is imparting a brake transfer layer onto the rotor face. You can look up that information online, lots of info on that, here is one link: http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_bedintheory.shtml

[Bitter]

sometimes I'll rub the two pads together to knock down high spots, but thats it.