New brakes, rotors, booster, and still doesn't stop well

[violacleff]

I posted this in the faq, in response to the "stock brakes are just fine," and it wasn't allowed there. I know most people say this so i'm wondering what I'm doing wrong. I just replaced the rotors which were warped, bought some performance pads from MSA and recently put in a brand new booster and also have ss brake lines. After all this, the car still barely stops. I mean its pathetic, even at low speeds, its just super soft. What else am I missing here? Master cylinder is also in good shape.

[JMortensen]

Couple things to check:

Did you drop the reaction disk when you installed the new master?

Did you bleed the brakes properly?

Did you adjust the rear drums properly?

 

Soft pedal on drum brakes always makes me think that the rears aren't adjusted properly. When you previously posted about your trouble I responded with this but you didn't give any indication that you had checked it or made sure it was done correctly.

 

I don't know what kind of pads MSA sells, but I think they used to have Metal Masters, which are IMO the worst pad on the planet. They don't do anything well other than chew up rotors. That won't cause the pedal to be soft though. Soft pedal is something else.

[Guest bastaad525]

yep I can say from firsthand experience that improperly adjusted rears can definately make the pedal feel pretty soft. I replaced my fronts a while back I dunno if you remember, and at first the pedal was VERY soft. So then I went and replaced the rears and adjusted them and the pedal was much better.

 

Also, which M/C are you running?

 

I'm very interested to see what you find or what other ideas people come up with because even after all I've done (newly rebuilt calipers, new Nissan pads and shoes, bleeding the system several times, adjusting the rears) my pedal still seems softer to me than it was before. More than that, it seems to be very easy to overheat, one or two hard stops and the pedal gets mushy fast. I still need to upgrade to stainless lines but I wonder if that will fix the problem.

[violacleff]

hmm I must have missed that Jmortensen. I never touched the rears so I never thought of it myself. I really don't know how to adjust the rears. I'm guessing this is a simple task the local brake shop can handle? One of my biggest problems is that the pedal goes in further than the throttle, causing me to hit the throttle when i'm trying to brake. Is this another symptom of badly adjusted drums?

[Guest bastaad525]

my pedal does the same thing, it always has. It goes about 1/2" past the throttle pedal.

 

Adjusting the rears is really easy, you could do it yourself, or a place like Midas could do it for you for probably $40-60. Haynes manual gives a great description of it... it's just one adjustment you turn on the wheel cylinder... you'll probably have a harder time getting the drums OFF than adjusting them.

[JMortensen]

If your rears aren't adjusted that really is most likely the problem. Bastaad's suggestion to get a manual is a good one. Then if it still goes down to far I'd check the reaction disk, and while you're in there check the adjustment between the master and the booster. There NEEDS to be free play between the two, but only about 1/8" or so.