So yesterday, I replaced my front brake pads and had the rotors turned. I have done this plenty of times on other vehicles w/o any problems. This is my first time on the Chevelle.

Everything went smoothly. I start the car to pull it back into the garage. I put it in drive and there it goes coasting. I apply the brake and it didn't stop! I ended up hitting some boxes. The only damage was a broken grill.

Anyway, what gives?? :confused:

Check your fluid-

New pads need to be "broken in", but you should still be able to stop.

The fluid level is where it should be and I couldn't get it to stop to save my life. I'm wondering if I should have installed new calipers since the ones on there there pretty old if not the originals. :sad:

Pull one of your calipers and have someone step on the brake pedal and see if the piston moves behind your brake shoe. General I've always had to push the piston back in when putting on new shoes so that has let me know if the piston in the caliper is sticky or not. It almost sounds like the master is not pushing fliud down to the front brakes or the distribution block has failed. Check also for air in the brake line. Even if the front brakes didn't work the rears should still stop the car at that low of speed.

Is the pedal soft and goes to the floor or is it stiff? If it's soft, did you pump the pedal a few times to get the pistons to the new pads? If it's stiff, did you twist or damage a brake hose?

If I pull the caliper and press the brake pedal, wouldn't that break the piston seal? The pedal is soft and almost goes to the floor. (about 3-4 from it) I did pump the brakes, but the pedal is still kind of low.

I just don't understand how all this happened just from swapping the pads.

I'm going to take the wheels off and re-inspect everything more closely. It will have to be tomorrow after work since the Texans are on. :D

Well, I am barely taking a look at it. I pulled the front wheels off to inspect everything and nothing is leaking, broken, kinked, etc...

The brakes are fine now. They just needed to be pumped more than I pumped them like mentioned above. Just to think that I spent $430.00 on a grill kit just because I didn't pump them enough. :sad:

If I pull the caliper and press the brake pedal, wouldn't that break the piston seal? The pedal is soft and almost goes to the floor. (about 3-4 from it) I did pump the brakes, but the pedal is still kind of low.

I just don't understand how all this happened just from swapping the pads.

I'm going to take the wheels off and re-inspect everything more closely. It will have to be tomorrow after work since the Texans are on. :D

Sounds like time to change the fluid and re-bleed them. Oops just read the end of the post.

Bummer about the grill. I always pump the brake till it feels firm before starting it up. Just a habit , had the pedal go to the floor once(not good).

this leads me to a thought, how many people ever have time to think of hitting the "emergency" brake...in an emergency...

Sorry to hear about your grill.

Just a thought. When you installed the pads did you push the caliper pistons all the way back to put the pads in? Once they were installed did you pump the brakes to push the pistons back out so that the pads made contact with the rotors? If you had the pistons pushed all the way in one pump of the brakes is not enough to bring the pistons back out.

I had a similar problem after doing brakes. I take for granted that people know that you must pump them a few times after installing new pads. I did the front brakes on my Uncle's Jeep. He got in and put it in gear and had no pedal. He went about 20 feet and smashed into the rear of my Chevelle. He smashed the rear bumper and pushed the car into a fence post and dented the front bumper and the header panel. A great night for all.......

no one got hurt, and you can hang your mangled grille over your workbench as a reminder to make sure to pump the brakes after putting in new pads. maybe, just for kicks, hang the old brake pads that you took out right below the grille.

You need to pump up the brakes after swaping pads to move the pistons and bads back into light contact with the rotor. IT takes about three pumps to do this. IF the rotor was wiped off with a rag after coming off the lathe, it needs to be scratched on the lathe again, or rub it down with emery. Twice I wiped down rotors after cutting them, adn those two times, the pads never bit the rotor. The solution was doing one shallow fine cut to each rotor...problem solved.

EDit:

I just read you pumped the pedal. I have blown old brake lines pumping the pedal after swaping pads. If it's a small leak, it may just run down the frame for days before drippingon the floor.