Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Brakes New Brakes = Bad Brakes

I just did a 4-wheel sport brake upgrade on my 99 CSVT and I am just not happy. I purchased the EBC Sport Rotors (Grooved & Dimpled) with Mintex A/F Pad upgrade along with Aeroquip Brake stainless steel front hoses from BAT. When I did the install I also replaced the brake fluid with Valvoline's synthetic fluid.

When I was done I noticed the pedal travel was a little on the long side and the brakes felt a little spongy. So I bleed the whole system again. This improved the feel a bit but the brake travel was still longer than it was before. I then checked the rear adjusters and did find the right side adjustment to be off a bit. This improved the travel some but it was still a bit long and the brakes just didn't feel very strong but I only had less then 150 miles on them so I decided to hang for a bit.

The bedding instruction said to drive normally and avoid heavy braking for 300 to 500 miles and that is what I did. Now I am a pretty aggressive driver and while it was killing me to take it easy I did for a little over 500 miles. Thinking I was good I picked up the pace but found the brakes faded very quickly and the longer petal was really screwing up my heal and toe footwork.

To make an already too long story shorter I have tried several different bedding procedures to address the fade issues and to solve the long petal I added the old rear pad shims to the new Mintex pad. The shims pretty much solved the petal travel issue but there is still something amiss with the fade and overall feel of this new brake setup!

With over 1300 miles I would think the bedding process should pretty much be done right?!?! Since this is my first time with this type of setup I just am not sure but this seems a little crazy. I really don't know where to start at this point. My hunch is there is something going on with the Mintex pads because they are ok for one or two aggressive stops then they just go south after that. I have never used the Valvoline synthetic fluid but I can't see it being the fluid with how quickly the brakes fade.

Any suggestions would be appreciated as I am just discussed spending this kind of money and not getting good results.

Yeah I usually find answers to my questions by searching.

I will try another bleeding but the last one I did I use 1/2 of a large bottle of fluid. Another thing that makes me suspect the pads is they still smoke and stink pretty bad after I do a few hard stops. I had EBC Green pads on before and was very happy with them. I went to the Mintex pad on the recommendation of the BAT guy.

Thanks for the reply!

A couple of other things to check.

First make sure the calipers are releasing correctly, if the calipers drag it will cause excessive heat buildup in the pads even when you're not applying the brakes.

Second if the master cylinder ran dry while you were bleeding the brakes it is possible that there is air trapped in the master cylinder, to remove have somebody apply pressure to the brakes while you crack open the line fittings on the master cylinder, you should get a steady stream of fluid from both ports. It is possible that the master cylinder is bad.

Do all four wheels smoke? or just front or rear? If the master cylinder is bad it is possible that only the front or rear brakes are working. Was this the first time you ever flushed the brake fluid?

I checked the calipers as that was something I suspected as well. However all appears to be fine there.

I was very careful about not running the master cylinder dry. I did however suck the old fluid out and replaced it with new fluid before we started bleeding the wheels. That shouldn't have introduced any air right? Is the only way to bleed the master cylinder to crack the line fittings?

I have not noticed the backs smoking but they get plenty hot. The ABS also kicks on the rear when the fronts start to fade.

What really has me perplexed is the system work well before I did the swap and under "normal" driving they work ok it's only when I step it up that the problems start. So I find it hard to believe that the master cylinder is bad but hey... Stranger things have happened!

Front should smoke long before the rear. I think only front have smoked on my contours (well, only the svt has rear disc).

And ABS kicks in on the front on my svt. Back doesn't seem like a problem for me. BTW, I hate abs. Run off the road and see how good abs stops you.


And o yeah, I have mintex on the zetec.... Fade super quick. Don't expect peformance out of a non performance pad. You want performance: contact carbotech as they should know have what they need to make pads for any contour guy that wants em.

Rara reports that using Valvoline Synpower brake fluid can do what you are experiencing. It might be worth trying Castrol LMA brake fluid.