front Brake Pad help!!

[Whitehonda]

Hey guys!!

I am in the process of changing my front brake pads, and had a question!!! When I reset the piston on the caliper, do I reset it flush with the caliper body, that it is sticking out from?? I ask because I can have my friend hold the brake pedel down and I can actually move the wheel, by hand (very hard of course) and I was wondering if it was actually supposed to be able to move at all when the brake is applied, also if there was an adjustment that I could do to make it squeeze better.

Thanks
Cameron

[Whitehonda]

well I got them back on and every thing set, but the brake pedel now feels "squishy" or takes to far to the ground before making the brakes work. Any idea/adjustments?

Cameron

[RustyHo88]

when you say squishy... do you mean that you can apply a lot of pressure, and the brakes dont seem to work? ... or do the brakes go to the floor with little resistance? if the 1st is true, you probably need to bleed your brakes, or your power brake booster may need to be replaced. if the 2nd is true, you may have a brake line leak somewhere... or worse, your master cylinder is shot. i would guess you probably just installed them slightly incorrectly. did you use a haynes or chiltons manual to install them? i would highly recommend getting one of those if you dont have one.hope this helps.

PS... did you use a C-clamp when you took off the brakes?

[Whitehonda]

Basicly I took the wheels off, then removed the lower caliper bolt and raised caliper. Removed of pads, and then pushed piston back with c clamp and old pad. Greased the back side of the new pads and installed, set caliper in place and bolted down to 33ft*lb and then pumped the brake pedel until firm (pushing the pistons back in place and then wheels back on.

Now the brakes feel like the front ones are not working as well or as if the back ones are doing most of the braking. I am going to flush and then bleed the lines tonight and see if that helps.

Cameron

P.S. I just noticed that your from Escanaba, MI!! Have you ever seen Escanaba in da moonlight??

[RustyHo88]

hahahahahaha.... that is the WORST movie ever! whats funny though is that people here actually talk with that yooper accent. not many of them, but a select few. the mechanic i go to has the accent really bad, and my mom (raised in milwaukee) is starting to get it too.

back to your brakes. when i installed new front and rear brake pads, i had some spongeyness for awhile. i kept bleeding the brakes by myself (using that jar and hose method) and it never seemed to work. then my dad came over and helped me. he turned the little nut while i pumped the brakes, and now it works great. did your calipers have any rust on them when you took off the brakes? they might be shot, but the chances they stopped working in conjunction with you putting on new pads is slim. i got out my haynes manual, and the way you put your brakes on seems to be the right way, i dont see anything you did wrong. theres three possibilities, either the install wasnt correct, your calipers are bad, or your brakes need to be bled. or... maybe the new pads just need to be broken in.

[bigpoppa88]

hopefully you opened the master cylinder reservoir cap when you pushed in the piston, you could have damaged the seals in the piston in the master cylinder.

[Whitehonda]

Well I bled the system tonight and everything seems to be back to normal. Thanks again for the help guys!!

Cameron

[RustyHo88]

glad to hear it