yea, my buddy has a power bleeder. I am going to try that out and hopefully it will get all the remaining air out and solve my problem. Thanks for the insight all.

 

Damaged abs sensor or warped rotors? Are the rotors new? Inspect when you pull your wheels off.

 

yea, everything is brand new.

 

well after a few days of working on them I am still stumped. I have used a pressure bleeder and am getting no bubbles whatsoever out of the calipers anywhere. When I spin the rotor with the car jacked up I can feel it kind of catch in one place, like the rotor is warped or the pads are uneven but I used a straight edge and the rotors look fine. Im thinking about pulling the abs fuse maybe to eliminate that possibility but with the car off I dont see how it can be a factor when I rotate the wheel. Any ideas? Maybe try to bleed brakes with the car on?

 

Inspect ABS sensor. Disabling ABS is a good idea to verify. The rotor catching (assuming the rotor surface is true) is probably because you either havent bedded thoroughly or they are just still too green. Use a torque wrench to fasten the lugs.

If you somehow drew air through the master cyl and abs lines (let the res run dry) it could be messing with the system, kicking in unpredictably or whatever. But other than that I think just a little air in the lines would result in a sloppy pedal, not crazy abs vibrations. Ive driven my brembos with air in them (after doing SS lines) and she just wouldnt stop, no vibrations.


If you want to be hardcore about removing air, remove the top caliper mounting bolt and loosen the lower one.

Tilt the caliper till its vertical. Bleed Caliper.

Tapping caliper lightly with rubber mallet.

Bleed order for your calipers is outboard screw first then inboard screw.

 

thanks for the info guitman, I am certain that I have got all the air out of the lines. I have done everything possible with the rubber mallet and power bleeder and pumping the brakes. The pedal is solid, they grab hard and brake hard, just have that vibration like something is bent, shaking the steering wheel. I used a dial indiactor and the rotor appears to be fine, not going over .004 anywhere. Im gonna try to bed the brakes more significantly and see if that helps at all.

 

I am not too familiar with Akebono calipers; however, is there more than one bleeder screw on a caliper? I have seen such on expensive and track/race-type brake calipers.

One symptom described appears to be, as if, your ABS is engaging. Have you contacted Akebono about your symptoms?

 

In situations like this, it helps to consider even the least possible cause. See the figures below. If you followed the DIY that is in the suspension area "Tech installs" forum you could have installed the shims backwards. When you do that, they interfere with the pad movements. You would realize you have to push the shims down very hard to get them to install the wrong way as in the second picture B. The right way installs pretty easily. I followed the DIY and installed the first of my caliper shims the wrong way. Just something to think of

Figure A.

The right way. The Plate/Bracket hooks are facing upwards. Highlighted in the red box.





Figure B.

Wrong way. As you can see the top shim is inverse from figure A. And the hooks are facing downwards

 

no I havent, I was going to call CZP who I bought them from and see what they recommend. And yes, there is a bleeder on each side of the caliper.

 

yeah, it has to be something small like that. I have the bracket installed different than the picture you have there. I have mine flipped over. I just was unsure how many shims I needed as they didnt seem to all be required. I had 2 on and took them off, just running one with the pad.

 

had the same issue when i installed 370 akebonos on my m35x. bleeding them is kinda a pain but when you do it in order and are patient its worth it

 

hows everything now?

 

everything is great now. it stops this 4200lb beast alot better than i expected. its also sized pretty damn close to my 350z's stoptech 355 setup. although i read somewhere on some overheating issues on roadcourses, but it could be an issue with pad selection, fluid, etc.

 

Mine work amazingly well. I only have any vibration when I slam them on and I stop literally on a dime.

 

Damaged abs sensor
Air trapped in the abs network
Rotors are not seated on hub properly (remote possibility i know)

Really cook them when you bed her in...after warming them up. Cool them down properly (ideally no stopping for 15 mins) when youre finished and do it again the next day.

Are you running spacers? What pads (sorry if you already mentioned)? Also describe the vibration a little more...frequency, depth of undulation, all the time, just sometimes, a lot of force, a little force, etc?

 

longshot but in my dd i had a vibration under hard braking, turned out to be a bad wheel bearing... just an idea

 

avatar earned ^

If it wasnt doing it before install its probably a only remote possibility as well...

And if youre talking about shims between the pad and pistons you definitely only need one per pad

 

yea i tried really bedding them in hard today and it seemed to help. Im not running any spacers. I have the centric posi quiet pads. When I have the car off the ground and rotate the wheels you can hear the wheel spin and get to a spot where it gets tight and stops it from spinning. Its very odd, nothing seems to be wrong, I have spent days working on it. I used a dial indiactor and the rotors are withing .004 so they are ok. Its not the abs, I can barely apply the brakes and it will pulse the pedal and shake a bit. After 20 hard 60-10 stops today its much better but still not 100%

 

yea, I considered that but before I put them on everything was A ok.

 

I think the fact that it happens when you barely touch the pedal tells me it absolutely could be an abs isssue.

When you measured the rotors did you measure across the entire rotor face, both sides (play the record lol)?

But if it got better keep at it

But centric posi quiets shouldnt require so much bedding...