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I just had some brake servicing on my '95 Camaro. No parts were replaced up front, but the rears got new pads and the rotors were machined, and the fluid was flushed. Driving the car home, I found that I needed greater pedal effort than I was used to, to achieve a given slowing/stopping effect. I also found that the brakes would lose effectiveness during each application, requiring far more pedal pressure to bring the car to a complete stop. Between each stop, the brakes seemed to recover, but the situation kept repeating stop after stop. The pedal feel remained solid - no excess travel. It was as if the friction material became slippery. I thought it might be a loss of power assist, but when I got home, shut off the engine and pumped the brakes a few times. Found the pedal go VERY hard as you would expect when the vacuum reservoir depletes, so I concluded the power assist was fine and not related to the problem.

After about another 20 miles of normal city driving, the brakes seem to be more-or-less normal.

What caused the fade? Can I assume the brakes will perform properly now?

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The extra effect you likely required is due to the rears needing to bed-in.. Even brand new or machined brakes need to bed-in, as the disks and pads are not a perfect match until they have been through a good few braking cycles together which helps mate their surfaces.

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  • Just a bit surprising since I thought the fronts do most of the work (maybe 60%) and it seemed as though I was getting much less than half the normal braking.
    – Anthony X
    Sep 8, 2016 at 1:49
  • You may find that the front pads had been taken out for slider lubrication etc but not replaced in exactly the same position. This would mean that the front pads would need to bed in again too, this then would feel like you were needing quite a bit more pedal effort for a while before all the friction surfaces mated fully again.
    – Orb
    Sep 8, 2016 at 2:36
  • That makes sense. That is exactly the servicing done on the fronts
    – Anthony X
    Sep 8, 2016 at 3:43

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