2000 brakes overly hot?

i just replaced the brakes on our 00. i installed new rotors, pads, calipers, and rubber hoses, as well as the drivers front steel line from the MC to the rubber hose. Power bled them with tank-type pressure bleeder; no problems there.

After an 8 miles or so test drive, and after the usual 40mph-to-0 about 6 times, the brakes seem too hot to me. i get out my little point-n-shoot thermometer, and i see 90* on the left rotor, and 130* on the right rotor. i can smell "brakes".

do these just need more time to "wear in" and the smell and heat will discipate? i do not recall ever having this issue on any of the other brake jobs ive ever done.

the jeep "rolls" easily; as in nothing really dragging. rims do not get hot to the touch.

I'd suggest that one of the pads on the right side didn't seat quite right and is dragging enough to heat up and smell, but not enough to cause drag. I had the same situation on my '01 and it was just that...the pad was not installed quite right. There was a small tab on the backside that didn't get properly into its guide hole.

Did you thoroughly clean the rotors prior to install? During the bedding in process you may smell brakes. They will get hot, a lot hotter than the 90 and 130* you listed.

Like Tylan said you have to clean the preservative off of the discs (sometimes oil, sometimes wax). And sometimes they have preservative overspray on the pads. I always sand the pads before installation, you may get unlucky and the pads have wax (preservative) on then and the first time you try to stop, it doesn't stop (been there done that). The pads have to break in and they get a glaze. Avoid overheating them the first few hundred miles.

90-130 degrees is nothing, a drive to the store and mine get hot enough to put a blister on my finger if I hold it on there longer than an instant. If a light touch burns the end of your finger black, they are likely too hot.

You always have to make sure the calipers can move a little side to side, not a lot, but if you push and yank with moderate force, you can feel a little movement. If they stick (on the rods) they can push more on one pad than the other. They sell a special brake lube so the calipers don't get sticky, I use Moly motorcycle chain lube.

And don't forget to check and/or grease the caliper slide pins. They are the metal bushings in the rubber boots. They should move fairly freely.

i have never noticed the smoke that seems to be coming off these pads on any other brake job......but i now agree and understand it is the coating that they came with.

i checked the temp of the brakes on my DD pickup when i got home and they were in the 170* range, so i am not worried

some zilch said:

i checked the temp of the brakes on my DD pickup when i got home and they were in the 170* range, so i am not worried

Click to expand...

Still cold.

If you didn't remove the coating on the rotors you may have contaminated the pads.