Do new pads have to be "seasoned" or broken in or something? I just had my brakes redone. The pedal is really stiff and you have to press hard to get the brakes to perform.
Manual. It's all stock with a fresh complete rebuild. IE MC rebuild, new hard lines, soft lines, wheel cylinders, shoes, springs, drums turned, etc....
Pull a drum front and rear,see how much of the lining shows a contact pattern. If less than 75% the shoes should have been arced to fit. They will get better as they wear in. On the other hand some lining is what we use to call "hard" ie low friction coefficient .That stuff will last forever and stop like shit.
It's a good idea to "bed" or "burnish" new brakes. Find a level road that's not busy, drive 35-40 mph and make a moderate stop, get back up to speed and cool for a mile, make another stop, resume speed for a mile, etc, making 10-15 stops total. The stops should be 10-12 decel (1/3 G), or "the light just changed and I've got to stop ahead" on the aggressive scale. When done, the pedal should feel better with the brakes now more effective.
I got yelled at something fierce for bedding in new brakes.....Glad to know it's okay as I still do it....
You had the drums turned OS. The linning is gonna be standard. So, the shoes should have been arched to match the drums. But not to worry, they will eventually wear in to full contact, or you can try the bed the brakes thing. Also if you run the brakes a little loose, not draging, the pedal will feel better while you are waiting for the linning to fit the drums.
I'd have to go along with what John said in post 5 which is also what several other referred to when they said that the shoes should be arced to fit the drums. And to add to what he said about the "hard lining" I found out when I was doing several brake jobs a day in the early 70's that the Joe Cheap lining that didn't offer a lot of extra miles of brake wear usually gave the best feel on the brakes from the start and were the quietest. 12/15K miles before it needed another brake job but customer satisfaction out the door was often a lot higher.
I haven't driven the car much since the brake job but it seems to be getting better. I haven't driven it because when I picked it up I noticed the brake pedal now moves side to side, it didn't do that before I had the brakes redone. I'm scheduled to take it back in so they can see if they left something loose.
Yeah.. they'll get better the more you use. I've had a time with new brakes in the past... The more you use the better they feel.. Just like a nice pair of jeans..
If you don,t have and aching machine,do it the poor boy way. Take a shoe place it in drum and see if the ends hit first. If they do grind back the ends each shoes depth 1/8 back 3/4 inch,till the middle of shoe hits the center.
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