Brake pad question 84 GTI

B

Big Money Mike

New member
I just had some Hawk HPS pads and new calipers put on my GTI, and when I picked the car up from the shop, noticed that the pedal is good and firm, but its not gripping like hell and yanking the car to a dead stop like I expected. It grips pretty decent but you have to give the pedal hell to brake hard. I was wondering if the pads require heat to work better, or if they require a break in period. Any help would be great.

Mike Breen
 
Mike
I have several questions.
1. Does your car have power brakes? Is the brake booster working?
2. When you made this "test" were the pads and rotors cold?
3. Speaking of rotors,did they replace them?
4. Did the shop adjust the rear brakes?
5. What are your expectations of the Hawk HPS pad? The HPS pad is Hawk's base level pad, really its just a glorified street pad not a full race pad,which you would not want on a street car anyway.

Hope this helps.
dave parker
wdcr itb#13
wdcr itc#61
 
1. Yes, the cars has power brakes, and the booster appears to be working fine.
2. The test lasted for a good 10 minutes while I drove the car home from the shop that did the work.
3. Rotors were not replaced, just turned.
4. Rear brakes were not touched, that thought crossed my mind after I posted last night!
5. The brakes on this car where horrible when I bought it in June. The calipers had to be replaced and that pedal was soft and went 3/4 of the way to the floor when pressed. Even if I had OEM pads put on the car with the new calipers, etc, I would have expected a heck of an improvement in braking ability. I just chose Hawk to give me something I can drive in town, and maybe grip better than OEM at the autox.

Thanks
 
You might want to bleed everything again. Did you change to SS lines or are they still the rubber hoses?

I run the Hawk Blue on my car and warm up quite well in a "ten" minute test.

You might throw in a set from Kragen's and compare. It might not be the pads, but something else.



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Tim Linerud
San Francisco Region SCCA
#95 ITB GTI, GP for 2002
http://linerud.myvnc.com/racing/index.html
 
I've never driven the Hawk HPS, so I can't say how they should work/feel. Most performance pads don't start to work until they get to a certain temp. range. I also run Hawk Blues on my race car, and if I don't drag them or hammer them a couple of times on the warmup lap, they're not going to be 'there' in the first corner.

As far as turning VW 9.4" vented rotors, it's a waste of money. Brand new ATE rotors are $25/ea. When you cut rotors, you make them thinner (duh!), but they will also overheat faster (less metal to absorb the heat).

Edit: Did you follow the proper bedding procedure?
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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI
SCCA 279608

[This message has been edited by Bill Miller (edited October 20, 2002).]
 
Thanks for the input fellas!

I did not recieve any bedding instructions. And to answer one of the other questions, the brake lines are still rubber. I drove the car a while yesterday, and did notice that the brakes are starting to get a bit better.
 
Mike,

My guess is that the pads were not bedded properly. All new pads need to outgas some. Do a search on the net, I'm sure you'll find plenty of info on bedding in new brakes.

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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI
SCCA 279608
 
I put a set of those pads on my wife's Intrepid. Great pads but they do need to be bedded to work properly.

Find a country road or someplace you can drive at 55-60mph with little or no traffic.

Make a series of gentle stops to get the brakes warm, then make a series of very hard stops from about 60mph down to 20mph over and over i.e. accelerate hard, brake hard, accelerate hard, brake hard etc. until you 'feel' the brakes just start to fade. You should be able to smell the brakes at this point as well. You shouldn't have to stop more than 12 times to get fade, but I'm not sure how well the Rabbit GTI brakes cool and they might cool down too quickly before you get some fade. 12 stops should be enough to bed the pads whether you fade them or not.

At this point drive for about 5-10 minutes and use the brakes as little as possible until they cool down. Avoid stopping/parking the car until they cool down or you might warp the rotors.

After driving around to cool down (they will still be 'hot' to the touch!!!!) park the car, let the brakes cool down completely, adjust the rears (if you have drums back there), bleed them, and you should be all set.
 
Thanks for the instructions!!! Ill try tonight and see how it goes.

Mike Breen

[This message has been edited by Big Money Mike (edited October 22, 2002).]
 
Well, I followed your break in instructions and it worked! They grip and stop great! Ill have to try them again tomorrow. I was very easy on them after the heavy 4-5 sessions of 60 to 0 runs. I cruised very slow all the way home to let them cool and then parked it. Thanks again...

Mike
 
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