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  #1  
Old 05-27-2004, 12:54 AM
jklmnopqrst
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Brakes feel funny after bearing replacement

I had the right rear bearing replaced yesterday, and when driving the car afterwards, it feels as if the brakes require more effort to slow the car down. In other words, I need to depress the brake pedal more than before. I know that the mechanic disconnected the rear brake caliper to get to the bearing, and I'm thinking that he did not correctly re-install it.

An additional note: When I started my car up after the bearing was installed, I depressed the brake pedal, and the pedal went all the way down to the floor. I let go of the pedal, then depressed it again, and all of a sudden it was working properly again (that's never happened before). What's going on? Am I just paranoid?

Thanks...
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  #2  
Old 05-27-2004, 01:09 AM
JLittell
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Did the mechanic bleed the brakes? All sorts of air bubbles in the brake lines can give you a sponge effect on the brake pedal. Check your brake fluid level too, especially when the calipers are pressed in the fluid can bleed over in the brake reservior. Take it back to him and have him look at the rear pad positioning. Somethings not right...
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  #3  
Old 05-27-2004, 08:42 AM
deruvian
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Sounds like he didn't bleed your brakes. It's not a big deal at all. When you perform any change to the brakes, the lines lose some fluid pressure. You simply have to pump the brakes a few times to get the pressure back.
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  #4  
Old 05-27-2004, 11:21 AM
lee lee is offline
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I think there's two scenarios.

1) The mechanic took the caliper off and didn't properly bleed the brakes. You should be able to tell because the pedal will go too low on first application after not using it for a few minutes. This will continue to occur until the brakes are bled. You definitely will want this fixed for free.

2) The mechanic had a hard time getting the pads to fit back over the rotor after he moved them up & out of the way to get the rotor off. Probably pressed the caliper piston back into the housing - not actually getting any air in the system. When you first step on the brakes after doing this they will go very low as the system has to displace the fluid used up in pushing the piston back to its correct position. You should be able to tell because this would only have caused the pedal to go low on the first or maybe first 2 applications of the pedal - then all would be back to normal. If this is the case, then you likely have no worries. The very worst case issue with this scenario would be that the piston had some corrosion that nicked the caliper/piston seal as it was forced back & then returned to position. You could check this after a few days - no brake fluid leaks at the caliper - no problem.
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  #5  
Old 05-27-2004, 11:59 AM
dcarrb dcarrb is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by deruvian
Sounds like he didn't bleed your brakes. It's not a big deal at all. When you perform any change to the brakes, the lines lose some fluid pressure. You simply have to pump the brakes a few times to get the pressure back.
Actually, if air was introduced into the system, pumping the pedal a few times won't help. The air must be evacuated by "bleeding" the lines.

dcb
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  #6  
Old 05-31-2004, 11:57 PM
jklmnopqrst
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Thanks for the advice guys. I went ahead and brought the car back to my mechanic and he bled the brakes and added more brake fluid. The brakes now feel better than ever!

I love this site!!
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