Tried to do my brakes for the first time and I think I fucked something up. When I tried to drive for a second in the neighborhood, it sounded a bit grindy, and the rotors had these black streaks on them (picture above). Can anyone help figure out where I messed up and suggest steps to sort it out?
I did front rotors, pads and a brake fluid bleed today on a 6th gen Fiesta. The back are drum brakes, so I left them for now.
Edit: Some air in the brake line was keeping the caliper from closing right. Bleeding the brakes a second time, but with help, sorted the problem out! Thanks for all the help.
That's possible. Did you do the brake bleed in the correct order? Typically you start it by bleeding the caliper furthest from the master cylinder, which is typically the right rear one. Then left rear, front right, front left. Air in the system would make your braking feel spongy and have a longer distance before the brakes engage. Also, was it a gravity bleed, vacuum bleed, or did you have someone stepping on the brake pedal while you watched the stream? I do vacuum bleeds, but that's just because i have the tool. Finally, make sure your brake lines in each caliper didn't kink or start to leak. That banjo bolt on the caliper could also be just worn out and need replacement.
Did it in the right order (surprisingly). I tried to use the solo method from this video, but I'm thinking the tubing I had didn't seal well enough on the valve. I might try a hand vacuum pump, or get my partner to pump the brakes while I adjust the valve (we got her a new car recently, so hopefully she'll have patience for my goofy home car maintenance aspirations).
I think you've caught the sloppiest part of the work I did, so that's probably the problem (if there is one). I'm hopefully learning not to try too much for one day in the hot ass summer lol.
In my experience, i've always had a helper in the shop to push the brake pedal. How you do this is pretty straightforward: go to the first caliper, and tell the person to start pumping the brake, and after about 4 or 5 full compressions, tell them to hold the brake pedal down. Now, open up the bleeder valve and watch the stream. It should be coming out with a nice consistent and even flow. If its abrupt, starts to pop, or in anyway is inconsistent, close the bleeder and get them to start pumping again. I usually do this around 3 times. Pump, hold, bleed. Continue to do this with every caliper in order. Also, make sure that your resevoir is full, and the cap is on. Don't want to introduce any air in the system. Pump, hold, bleed, close, pump.
There were some bubbles in the brake line preventing the caliper from compressing. Lesson learned: brake fluid is a two person job!
I bought two quarts of brake fluid yesterday, so it wasn't a big deal to keep running fluid through. The pedal was super responsive afterwards and I was able to break things in pretty well.
Happy to help. I've been working on cars since i was a kid, and i can hate them so much. Moved up to HD stuff and it's even worse lmao. Makes things a bit cheaper when it comes to day to day stuff, though.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: