Hope someone here can help me...

I have a 2007 MDX.. it has about 85k miles..and my Front OEM rotors were warped...I was having some nasty vibrations when applying the brakes... so I decided to tackle the job myself...



I bought a set of Centric rotors... nice ones with painted hats...and a set of the posi quiet Centric pads.... I had no problem installing both the rotors and the pads....

i decided to try and bleed the brakes b/c I felt the brake pedal felt kind of spongy. I have bled brakes before and know how to do it... I don't have a high tech vacuum bleeder..I just have the old school tube / bottle.. I had a second person help...and i went from caliper to caliper...I made sure eto continually check the master cylinder to not run out of fluid... I only added fresh fluid and disposed of the old stuff that came out..

when all was done, I swear the pedal felt as spongy as before, if not slightly worse. the brakes still work better... but I don't feel like the pedal should be AS FIRM as it shoudl be....

i read somewhere that on cars with ABS it can be ore tricky to bleed them and wondered if maybe on a newer/higher tech car, there is "More to" bleeding the brakes than I thought???

I really don't want to spend $100 at my dealer to have them bleed the brakes... unless they have some magic/special machine that can truly bleed them much better than any hand tool / DIY could....

I'm wondering maybe if I buy the better vacuum systems - I've seen some for $40-50.... maybe I could get the pedal firmer..

any thoughts / observations? I do'nt see why I can't bleed them and get the pedal rock firm on my own unless somehwoer eI am doing it wrong.

I did bleed the order sligthly off..I did driver front before passenger front..and I know I was supposed to go the othe rway..but I had that wheel off...and honesty, I don't think that slight change would make them this spongy... i'ts as if I have bubbles in there..but when I was bleding hte brakes..and my helper would pump.. i NEVE Rsaw any bubbles come out..

so if there are bubbles..they are somwhere that I couldn't seem to get them out by the old schoo method of opening the valve / helper pumps / clsoe valve.. repeat...

help?

 

Nothing special needs to be done to bleed the system on your car. On most Hondas you can "gravity bleed" the system if you want. Take the cap off the master cylinder, open all 4 bleeders and just let it drip. This is how I bleed the system when I replace calipers at my shop. The best way to check for a "spongy" pedal is with the car off. With the car off pump the brakes to discharge the booster. With booster pressure gone, the pedal should feel hard as a rock.

 

i thought if you opened up all the bleeders and just let it sit, that air would seep back up into the lines?

so I can just open up all four.. let it drip..then close it back up?

how long do you let it drip for?

 

There is no need to bleed the brakes when your just changing out your rotors and pads because you did not open the lines to allow air to enter the system. It sounds like your new afmkt rotor and pad combo may be the culprit. These ceramic pads may have low dust but who cares if they make your brake pedal travel further to stop the car? I have seen so many issues and noises with afmkt brake pads and rotors because they are not designed as well as oem. Go drive the vehicle and see how much your pedal travels, if it starts to sink or pedal effort is more than it used to be, head back home and try swapping in your old front pads and go back out.