97 Neon brakes won't lock up

[turbovanman²]

TQ pads are great so that part isn't the problem. What brand rotors? How many miles on the new pads? Could you lock them up before? Did you degrease the rotors? Slotted pads reduce surface area so that might be something to consider as well. Rear brakes adjusted properly if they are drums.

[cordes]

About 2 miles on the pads. They were $9 rotors off of rock auto, but they sure were packaged nicely and look fancy.

[turbovanman²]

Sorry cordes, didn't see your reply, I added more.

Brand of the rotors? Pics?

[cordes]

My experience has been that if the car has ABS and you activate it you will know it, you hear a growling and can feel the pulsing in the pedal. How are you bleeding the brakes? I've had issues where using a vacuum bleader would not get a good pedal feel and had to go to the tried and true two person pump and bleed method.

I dont think the ABS system will ever allow the brakes to lock up, especially at maximum effort. ???

Sorry cordes, didn't see your reply, I added more.

Brand of the rotors? Pics?

There didn't appear to be anything on the rotors when I removed them from the packaging. Here is a link to them.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/more...nid=493&jpid=3

[turbovanman²]

Rear brakes adjusted? Could you lock up the brakes before you changed pads and rotors?

Ok, those rotors are painted so no degreasing needed. I'd make sure the rears are up to snuff and put a few more miles on her. How did you break them in?

[cordes]

My experience has been that if the car has ABS and you activate it you will know it, you hear a growling and can feel the pulsing in the pedal. How are you bleeding the brakes? I've had issues where using a vacuum bleader would not get a good pedal feel and had to go to the tried and true two person pump and bleed method.

I dont think the ABS system will ever allow the brakes to lock up, especially at maximum effort. ???

Rear brakes adjusted? Could you lock up the brakes before you changed pads and rotors?

Ok, those rotors are painted so no degreasing needed. I'd make sure the rears are up to snuff and put a few more miles on her. How did you break them in?

I really don't think that I could have locked them up before. As I had to use most all of the pedal travel. There is a light drag in the rears so I'm guessing that they are adjusted well and they do have a good amount of material left on the shoes.

To break them in I drove about 55mph and made some stops as hard as I could before speeding back up and letting them cool in between. That's how I discovered that it wasn't even possible to lock up the brakes. It almost feels like you reach a certain point in the pedals travel and then it loses some pressure like fluid is getting by the piston on the MC somehow. That's why I wanted to make sure this wasn't some crazy ABS problem in a car that had the ABS disabled long before I took ownership.

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ETA: I'll drive the car to work tomorrow and see how it goes.

[turbovanman²]

I'd drive it some more. Some of the smaller cars won't lock up the brakes as they are simply too small for the car.

[cordes]

My experience has been that if the car has ABS and you activate it you will know it, you hear a growling and can feel the pulsing in the pedal. How are you bleeding the brakes? I've had issues where using a vacuum bleader would not get a good pedal feel and had to go to the tried and true two person pump and bleed method.

I dont think the ABS system will ever allow the brakes to lock up, especially at maximum effort. ???

I'd drive it some more. Some of the smaller cars won't lock up the brakes as they are simply too small for the car.

I guess that could be. I would think that a guy would be able to lock up the brakes on a car with 175 width tires though.

[coronet2fast]

Neon brakes lock up if everything is ok. My 95 neon locked them up at 60mph before crashing into the Honda in front of me. I have also locked up my 98 neon r/t brakes. I am most likely struggling with the same problem as you. I recently replaced all brake lines and the mc and no longer have the pedal I once had. I believe the mc may be the issue, even though it is new and not a reman. I do know the neons call for a odd bleeding process not the normal farthest to nearest of mc. I have done it both ways prior with no problems. My only other thought was, can a bad flare allow air in and still hold fluid? Because the mc and lines are all that I changed. Just sharing my experience to see if it helps.

- - - Updated - - -

Neon brakes lock up if everything is ok. My 95 neon locked them up at 60mph before crashing into the Honda in front of me. I have also locked up my 98 neon r/t brakes. I am most likely struggling with the same problem as you. I recently replaced all brake lines and the mc and no longer have the pedal I once had. I believe the mc may be the issue, even though it is new and not a reman. I do know the neons call for a odd bleeding process not the normal farthest to nearest of mc. I have done it both ways prior with no problems. My only other thought was, can a bad flare allow air in and still hold fluid? Because the mc and lines are all that I changed. Just sharing my experience to see if it helps.

[black86glhs]

Neon brakes lock up if everything is ok. My 95 neon locked them up at 60mph before crashing into the Honda in front of me. I have also locked up my 98 neon r/t brakes. I am most likely struggling with the same problem as you. I recently replaced all brake lines and the mc and no longer have the pedal I once had. I believe the mc may be the issue, even though it is new and not a reman. I do know the neons call for a odd bleeding process not the normal farthest to nearest of mc. I have done it both ways prior with no problems. My only other thought was, can a bad flare allow air in and still hold fluid? Because the mc and lines are all that I changed. Just sharing my experience to see if it helps.

- - - Updated - - -

Neon brakes lock up if everything is ok. My 95 neon locked them up at 60mph before crashing into the Honda in front of me. I have also locked up my 98 neon r/t brakes. I am most likely struggling with the same problem as you. I recently replaced all brake lines and the mc and no longer have the pedal I once had. I believe the mc may be the issue, even though it is new and not a reman. I do know the neons call for a odd bleeding process not the normal farthest to nearest of mc. I have done it both ways prior with no problems. My only other thought was, can a bad flare allow air in and still hold fluid? Because the mc and lines are all that I changed. Just sharing my experience to see if it helps.

I normally would say no to the fluid/air/flare question but as soon as it is said, someone has had it happen.

[cordes]

I drove the car to work today. It brakes better than it did before the pad and rotor change, but I guess that's not saying much. I'll think this over some more and decide where to go. I'm pretty certain that it's a bad MC, but we'll see.

[shackwrrr]

Do you remember the friction coefficient codes from the pads? Most semi metallic pads are either FE or EE. Ceramics are usually FF, and carbon metallic FG or GG.
http://faculty.ccbcmd.edu/~smacadof/DOTPadCodes.htm

[DaveSkrab]

How far is it to work? It takes a good number of miles to properly bed / burnish.... by good number, I mean like 20 or so.

[cordes]

My experience has been that if the car has ABS and you activate it you will know it, you hear a growling and can feel the pulsing in the pedal. How are you bleeding the brakes? I've had issues where using a vacuum bleader would not get a good pedal feel and had to go to the tried and true two person pump and bleed method.

I dont think the ABS system will ever allow the brakes to lock up, especially at maximum effort. ???

How far is it to work? It takes a good number of miles to properly bed / burnish.... by good number, I mean like 20 or so.

It was 13 miles one way. Although I could tell straight away that they were nicer than before. They still don't have what it takes when the pedal reaches full travel for a panic stop though. I really think fluid is bypassing the piston just a bit.

[cordes]

For what it's worth my white Neon that replaced the black one doesn't lock up the brakes either. It's a 95 SOHC 5 speed car. The braking performance is about the same between the two. Maybe the white one is a bit better since it has the rears properly adjusted.

[Aries_Turbo]

With full tread depth snow tires, my 97 would lock up the tires no problem.

with falken ziex ze-512's, it had a much harder time but if i really hammered the brakes, it would lock up a wheel or two.

Brian