redride66

I have a 99 civic ex coupe. I have put brakes on all the time before but this time i installed front and rear brakes. I compress the caliper on the front. But when i was all done, it feels like really soft. The car stops fine but not firm like they should be so Im kinda concern about this. The rear brakes were a pain to do but all went well. Im thinking i might have to adjust the rear some more but for some reason i think it was when i compress the caliper up front. Any feed back will be appreciate . Thanks

TongWoo

Well, it's gonna feel weird with no pedal. No getting around that.

Fabrik8

Sounds like you need to bleed them.

Dough_Boy.

This you probably pushed all the fluid out of the master cylinder when pushing the caliper in.

Fabrik8

I usually push the pistons in while opening the bleed fitting, same as pressing the pedal during bleeding. You lose a little fluid but they'll get filled and bled after that anyway. Makes it super easy to retract the pistons though.

ufctapout

Loosey goosey?

brandini

Or your new pads/rotors haven't bedded in yet
Or you only did pads and didn't scuff the rotors to provide a clean surface for a new bed-in process
Or your new pads are crappy
Or you need to bleed the brakes

Cover all the bases and before you bleed the brakes, suck out the old fluid from the reservoir and replace it with new stuff.

Fabrik8

The first three should give a firm pedal but very poor braking, unless the last one is also true.

brandini

Well they won't guarantee a firm pedal... so definitely bleed first.