Wagner Brake Performance

[compdr59]

I have 90k miles on my 05 Touring Convertible Turbo. I am on my second brake job. I just installed the MX841 pads and had the rotors cut. When I started to drive the car I had no stopping power and the brake pedal was low. I drove it around town very carefully and eventually started to feel some bite and the pedal started to feel closer to normal. I believe the pads needed an extremely long time to match the surface of the rotors and the stopping power is not as good as when the car was new or with the cheap Pepboy's pads that just wore out and I just replaced. I thought these were going to be equal or better than the factory pads. I have driven over 100 miles today. The braking is OK, but not what it should be. Should I change to another pad? I don't think the car is unsafe, but I've been installing brakes on multiple vehicles for many years and I never had such a long break in period.

[ROCKETMAN8060]

Originally Posted by compdr59

I have 90k miles on my 05 Touring Convertible Turbo. I am on my second brake job. I just installed the MX841 pads and had the rotors cut. When I started to drive the car I had no stopping power and the brake pedal was low. I drove it around town very carefully and eventually started to feel some bite and the pedal started to feel closer to normal. I believe the pads needed an extremely long time to match the surface of the rotors and the stopping power is not as good as when the car was new or with the cheap Pepboy's pads that just wore out and I just replaced. I thought these were going to be equal or better than the factory pads. I have driven over 100 miles today. The braking is OK, but not what it should be. Should I change to another pad? I don't think the car is unsafe, but I've been installing brakes on multiple vehicles for many years and I never had such a long break in period.

They are very decent pads! Did you bleed the brake lines?

[cruserdad1976]

are the ones you put on ceramic??? f spo they do take longer to seat in

[compdr59]

I didn't bleed the brakes because I never opened the system. These are the semi-metalic pads and the pedal is high now. I just don't have the same stopping power I had with the previous set of front pads. I've driven over 200 miles since they've been installed.

[xwing777]

How to Bed-In Ceramic Brake Pads:

How to Break in Ceramic Brake Pads | eHow.com

[carolryals]

We use wagner brakes exclusively in our shop. Very few comebacks and those are usually related to the rotors we get which, depending on availability are not always top shelf quality. I'm running wagner brakes on my truck now and braking performance is great, low dust, no noise etc. Mate the wagners with some good quality rotors like brembos and you'll have an exceprional braking system for not a lot of money

[compdr59]

After about 500 miles the brakes are fine. I just never experienced such a long break in period. Using the factory rotors that were just machined by the local shop. Thanks for the advise and opinions.