Question about brakes

[Hacky]

I have had mintex pads, and cross drilled rotors on for a little while now, and they squeak really bad in the front.. and i would swear that i hear a click when i press on the pedal. Anyone know if i need to have them replaced or just tighten them down and have them blead? I don't know anything about brakes.. and they have felt really squishy since they were installed. thanks in advance.

[Monster8V]

You might try bleeding them first, never hurts unless you do it wrong. Then go from there.

[Hacky]

any idea how much it would cost to get that done? considering i don't know how to do that.. lol nor do i have the tools..

[mitssn]

It is VERY easy to do yourself and all you need is some extra brake fluid, a rag, and a small (i think 8 or 9 mm) wrench for the brake bleader on the caliper. Search the internet, I'm sure there is a good how to out there.

[calistyle]

since your in long beach and if your not to confident on your knowledge on trouble shooting your car's brake system, see about taking it to VW specialties in huntington beach. thier a good bung of guys there and and most of all honest! you should be able to find thier shop in the link section. good luck!

[vr6-88]

Hi there,
Calistyle is right.....professionals should do the job for you. Do not work on the brakes if you are not bullet proof on them. Bleeding the system would not help you to get rid of the noises. The "click" that you hear could have many reasons.
And don't worry about how much it cost to get this fixed...worst case scenario it will cost you your life. One thing is for sure... you don't wanna safe money on brakes.
Stay safe and let me know if you need any advice in choosing the right rotors, pads, hoses or fluids.
GizmoVR7

[Monster8V]

Stay safe and let me know if you need any advice in choosing the right rotors, pads, hoses or fluids.
GizmoVR7



Are you an expert in brakes?

[Tom (aka Godzilla)]

Are you an expert in brakes?
Are you an expert on experts?

[Monster8V]

Are you an expert on experts?


Dont hate, never hurts to ask. Plus its always good to know brake engineers.

[Tom (aka Godzilla)]

Dont hate, never hurts to ask. Plus its always good to know brake engineers.
Ahh, so I see. It's all about you and what we can do for you.





:p

[vr6-88]

No I am not a brake engineer or an "expert" but many Kilometers on the Autobahn and the track have taught me how important brakes are. I have seen high speed accidents caused by lousy brake jobs and/or faulty parts.
It might not be a big deal to replace a set of pads...to someone who knows how to do it and it might be no problem for these guys to get the air out of the system. But for those who don't know it could turn into a desaster.
I will give just two little examples ( friends of mine back in Germany did this).
They installed new rotors and pads on a MKIII. They also replaced the fluid and of course air entered the system so they went to bleed the system...one guy pushed the pedal the other one watched the air coming out of the bleeder.
1 bleeder 2nd bleeder 3rd and finaly the last one......everything great.
Well while they performed the bleeding on the last wheel the fluid level in the reservoir got low.... to low because to much air in the system got replaced by brakefluid and they missed to refill the reservoir ones in a while. Instead of replacing air with fluid they put more air in the system by pushing the pedal. Well a guy who knows about brakes would know that the whole proceedure had to be done again.........not so his helper he walked arround the car and noticed the reservoir was empty. He just took the bottle with the fluid and filled the reservoir. He thought it's alright. He didn't even tell the other guy about it because it was ok in his opinion. Now they took the car on the autobahn.....the guy that was driving did complain a little about the performance of the brakes which doesn't mean he slowed down...no.. he had to test the brakes by going even faster. Well he slowed down from about 125 miles to 0 in less than a second stopped by the end of a traffic jam on the autobahn.
Insurance investigators figured all that out when they asked them how they performed the brake job. Luckely they survived even though one of them can only change pads on his wheel chair anymore.
You would think bleeding the system is an easy job....uhhhm maybe but I just don't wanna see anyone in a wheel chair.

[Troike]

I gotta get new brakes this year, my pads have to be close to shot. Well, pads + shoes, I have rear drums :rolleyes:


Stay safe and let me know if you need any advice in choosing the right rotors, pads, hoses or fluids.
GizmoVR7

All I've heard is that cross-drilled / slotted rotors are essentially useless (and detrimental) to street cars ... so what can you do to improve braking, other than slightly better pads, rear disc conversion ($$$) or bigger rotors (wish I hadn't bought 14s for my wheels, can't really go bigger).

The last cruise I went on, I was always worried about my brakes ... they like to fade pretty bad (not to mention no ABS so gotta be careful).

[Monster8V]

All I've heard is that cross-drilled / slotted rotors are essentially useless (and detrimental) to street cars ... so what can you do to improve braking, other than slightly better pads, rear disc conversion ($$$) or bigger rotors (wish I hadn't bought 14s for my wheels, can't really go bigger).

The last cruise I went on, I was always worried about my brakes ... they like to fade pretty bad (not to mention no ABS so gotta be careful).



A DOT 4 or 5 brake fluid can be the difference from fade or not fade on most cars. I think the whole brake upgrade fad is just that, a fad. Brakes, for the most part, are sufficent in size and with a decent pad, can work flawlessly in those spirited driving moments.

For regular street use, the cross drilled and slotted rotors wont make much of a difference.

Rear disc conversion changes nothing in braking performance. its more of a safety issue (for those of us who track their cars) in that the wheel cylinders can pop when they get too hot. Ive not seen it in all the years ive had my car on the track but I didnt want to push my luck so I did the conversion on my car.

[vr6-88]

you are right most people who "upgrade" their brakes with drilled and slotted disc's and "high performance pads" on a street car, don't understand that alot of these parts are made for track use and totally useless on the street. ( temperature, noises, dust and lifetime)
VW's come with a decent brake-package from the manufacturer (street use). Of course it is a matter of how you behave on the street but you should not get in trouble with stock brakes under street conditions. Circumstances change when you hit the track but honestly how many people really do that?
Anyhow you say you have a car on the track for quite a while?? I am relatively new to California and I am building a car at the time. Once I am done with it I would love to get in to the track driving over here. First of all I would need to check and test the car but I have no clue where the tracks are and what i have to do in order to get some hours on the track??? so i would appreciate any infos on that.

[Monster8V]

PM me. Ill set you up.

[FunkTron]

Are you an expert on experts?


are you questioning the questioner?



.

[vr6-88]

Well yeah I guess I did. Is there something I should know????????
Like I said I am kinda new here and I don't know any people in our "trade" lol
So everybody gets credit from me until they f*** it up..... and so far nobody screwed up his credit score. Asking questions doesn't touch me deeply hehehe i think i can handle it so far. But maybe you are right and I didn't get the whole meaning of his question in the beginning (expert thing) well than that is because i am a german and don't care to much about stupid questions cause there are no stupid questions only stupid answers. Maybe I should write a book huh? :) :)

[Troike]

Well yeah I guess I did. Is there something I should know????????

Yeah, the first rule of SoCalEuro - ignore everything Richard says :p

[vr6-88]

LOL Ok I'll put it in my rule book but it will be under review for a little bit :D