Technical Fiat uno brake problem

[richardy]

Hi,
I recently had to do a brake job on my fiat uno 70sx ie (non-turbo), which involved replacing pads and disks. Everything went OK, however when i went to take the car for a test drive the brakes were very poor. The brake peddle itself felt good - better than befor and brakes are not pulling to one side but the car simply is not stopping that well. I kept the faces of the new pads and disks as clean as possible so i dont think this is the problem. Is there a time factor for the new pads/disks to "bed" in or should they be 100% right from the start? If time is required to bed in, is there a way of speeding this process up? Is there anything else i could have done wrong? Any help would be much apreciated.

Cheers.

 

[thepottleflump]

Did you clean the discs prior to fitting, they are generally coated with a oil to stop them rusting?

 

[circolo]

Also *most* new pads need a period of bedding in before they are fully functional.

I generally say a normal stop-start journey of around 20/30 miles is enough to bed pads in.

 

[alexGS]

Absolutely - and welcome to the forum richardy - brake pads always take some time to bed in, up to a couple of weeks for particularly hard pads and old discs! Generally, softer pads give better braking, so it could be related in that the harder the pads, the less effective they will seem as well as taking longer to bed in.

You fitted new discs but even so, the pads still have to wear into the machining marks on the disc. You may notice the pedal travel being longer to start with as well. Or, if the brakes were used too heavily and/or with the protective coating not removed (as thepottleflump said) you could now have glazed pad surfaces, remedied with coarse sandpaper and brake cleaner (don't breathe the dust...)

If it still doesn't seem to be stopping sharp enough after a month or so, you might want to consider another brand of brake pad. I believe it is true that you get what you pay for - I was horrified when my OMP race pads cost NZ$223 (four to five times as much as standard pads, NZ$2.8 = 1 pound) but it turns out that they work almost twice as well under all conditions, hot and cold... and under repeated use on a track, they're several times better

-Alex