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Brakes feel weird after new front calipers installed? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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A few months ago, I bought a 2015 Subaru Outback and the front left caliper was acting up, so I had a mechanic check it out. The mechanic recommended replacing the two front calipers (they were pretty rusty), the front-left brake hose, and then just greasing the rear caliper pistons.

I'm no longer hearing any weird noises now from the front-left and the brakes feel much smoother, but there's a couple differences that are throwing me off. The distance the brake pedal needs to be depressed before the brakes start to bite feels a lot longer now. I've also noticed a kind of hysteresis, where if I apply the brakes twice within a second or two, the second time I apply them, they'll start biting earlier.

Should I get the brake fluid replaced / bled? Could air in the brake lines explain this behaviour? (I assumed air in brakes line would had to have been bled but it's not explicitly listed on the bill I got.) Any other explanations?

The mechanic did paint the calipers too, just to delay rust, and there was a bit of overspray on the rotors, but I'm sure it got instantly scraped off by the brake pad.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Edit: To clarify, I did not get the pads replaced. The inspection done when I bought the car showed about 50% life left on the pads.

Follow up: You folks were right - They bled the brakes and the car felt like 90% better. They said the master brake cylinder might have been leaking a bit so they offered to replace it with no labor charge, so I sprang for that too, but it's hard to tell if that made any difference. Either way, it feels back to normal now, so thanks for your advice!

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Sounds like air in the lines, if they didn't fill the caliper before attaching the hose it can sometimes be more difficult to bleed all the air out.

Cold brakes don't bite as hard for most types of brake pads so that tracks as normal to me. I'm guessing you got new pads, so if they haven't done the bed-in procedure, doing that might help with brake pedal response also.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the advice. I actually didn't get the brake pads replaced, so they don't need to be bedded in. Would you take it back to the same mechanic? (Any idea what it'll cost me?)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I would take it back, but I have no idea on cost, I don't use mechanics.