Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Wells
classical,
Maybe you took care of this, maybe not?
Your car's rotors may have a layer called "glaze" due to deposition of the prior pad material. If this isn't removed by a light turning or maybe some emery cloth, you may find the car won't stop well no matter how high the braking line pressure.
A layer of glaze definitely has a lower coefficient of friction.
I'd suggest looking at this before trying other sized cylinders.
Just another possibility...
Tom
PS: It looks like the front rotors were turned? If so, you could still check the rears. If they're OK then maybe do what Bob proposed.
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The front brake rotors on my wife's car (Infiniti G35x) were worn beyond specification, so I ordered a 'Power Stop' brake kit from Rock Auto. It's nothing fancy or high performance, just OEM equivalent - Infiniti generally equipped them with decent brakes, so I didn't think I needed to go high end.
I installed the kit and went through the whole break-in procedure:
Break in the pads as follows: 5 moderate to aggressive stops at 40 mph to 5 mph without letting the brakes cool and do not come to a complete stop. Then do 5 moderate stops at 25 mph to 5 mph and let the rotors cool after each brake application. You should expect to smell some resin as the brakes get hot.
We live in a bedroom community of about 6,000 and we're only about a mile from a quiet, two lane rural highway. Perfect for breaking in a new set of brakes, right? I followed the above instructions carefully to ensure it was done right. Did I smell some resin? You bet! Did I have smoke coming out of the wheel wells? Not billowing clouds, but it was there.
I thought that car stopped pretty well before - but what a world of difference. After that I took my Infiniti FX35 through a similar procedure - the gains weren't as dramatic, but they were there.
Moral of the story - proper break-in makes a world of difference. Even repeating it with old rotors and pads can help - I imagine more improvement if they're glazed.
BTW, I'd also recommend cleaning the rotors with brake cleaner before the break-in procedure, even with old rotors and pads. It might not be a bad idea to take some sandpaper or a grinder to the old pads to knock off any glaze you find.