Replaced brakes, now a slight shudder?

So after replacing my brake pads and rotors this weekend, I’ve been taking it easy on braking as this is one of the recommended methods for breaking in the new pads/rotors.

My daily commute (HWY 26 for those of you near PDX) has me coming down a steep hill every day. I noticed today on the way home when someone cut in front of me in the tunnel that I started to feel a shudder when I applied more than “light easy braking” that I had been doing all week.

Is this normal/ok? Did I mess up the break in process since I’d only gone ~200 miles since replacing by braking too hard?
Or is it possible I didn’t place the rotor correctly? I placed it, put the calipers back on, put the wheel on, and hand tightened the lugs before dropping it to the ground and torquing to 83 ft lbs.

I did forget to grease the drivers side pins before reinstalling the wheel, and am planning on greasing the pins this weekend.

Also, I don’t notice the shudder on flat streets and light braking.

 

I typically break new rotors and pads by driving fast and stopping aggressively (half a dozen cycles) to bed in the pads (close to abs activation) and release in neutral at stops to prevent them from glazing over.

Did you grease your slide pins and were the caliper piston seals still good? (Edit recheck slide pins and regrease from rrading the first post more thoroughly)

Pad springs in place properly and pad pins smooth? Grease in backing of pads between metal backing and piston?

 

05 so the calipers may be internally sticking (pistons in bore) and each caliper has 4 pistons.
As above how did the seals look and more importantly did you clean the seal area with brake cleaner before pushing them in to fit the new pads as crap/rust/dirt can get forced into bores - or simply old and corroded and need rebuild or replacement.
Look at the pads and rotors and you may see where one is hanging up. Pics help.

 

If you didn't perform the following, your shudder will likely get worse.

"To break in new pads with Drilled & Slotted Rotors:

Perform 5 moderate to aggressive stops from 40 mph down to 10 mph in rapid succession without letting the brakes cool and do not come to a complete stop. If you’re forced to stop, either shift into neutral or give room in front so you can allow the vehicle to roll slightly while waiting for the light. The rotors will be very hot and holding down the brake pedal will allow the pad to create an imprint on the rotor. This is where the judder can originate from.

Then do 5 moderate stops from 35 mph to 5 mph in rapid succession without letting the brakes cool. You should expect to smell some resin as the brakes get hot.

After this is complete, drive around for as long as possible without excessively heating the brakes and without coming to a complete stop (Try for about 5 minutes at moderate speed).

This is the cooling stage. It allows the heated resin in the brake pads to cool and cure.

After the brakes have cooled to standard operating temperature, you may use the brakes normally."

 

If you did properly "Bed" your pads and rotors, a pulsating brake pedal is often caused by poor braking technique.
When coming to a stop, especially after repeated hard braking (or at the bottom of a long hill), apply as little pressure to the brake pedal as necessary, just enough to keep the vehicle from moving. A hard press on the brake pedal with hot brakes can result in pad material being deposited on the rotor, causing a change in rotor runout and a pulsing brake pedal.

 

I’ve heard both ways for bedding brakes. Kind of seems like half of people do it one way, half do the other.
i forgot to grease the drivers pins, so I was planning on doin that this weekend. All other contact points were coated in grease (back of shims that contact pistons and sides of the pads that slide into caliper).

As far as calipers go, they are definitely showing their age but I did not notice the seals looking bad. I did not notice any uneven pad wear on the old pads.
I did not spray the calipers with brake cleaner, I just brushed all the stuff off that I could and put it back together. Do I need to spray it down? And I’ll take pics this weekend when I take the wheel off to do the pin greasing on the drivers side.

I’ve heard/read both taking it easy and the method you posted. Problem is, there aren’t a whole lot of places in my area where I can safely get to 40mph and then drop to 10mph. Is your method really better?

 

You’ll know soon enough, after you pull everything apart, grease pins etc, and don't find anything really out of order. I don’t know where you read about the “take it easy method”, but if you visit the Power Stop brake web site, they are pretty specific about the bedding process!
(or maybe you just installed crappy parts)

 

Parts are so bad anymore, it wouldn’t surprise me if the rotor wasn’t cut true.

You might also have done nothing wrong as far as break-in.

Long pedal time on the brakes heat them up.
If you come to a complete stop with hot pads, the can heat soak the rotors and cause a “bad” spot. (Pad transfer) The brakes on these truck are just adequate in my opinion. They don’t tolerate heat very well.
But they are not near as bad as the Honda Ridgeline or Pilots.

Honda finally fluted the rotors and this seems to have helped.
Some say it was for weight reduction at the rotor, but the new design seems to help pad transfer as also.

 

I've done this way on a handful of brake jobs and it works really well, no shudders down the line. I am fortunate to have an industrial park near me that has a 1/2 mile or so loop. Usually its the weekend when I'm working on the cars so the park is empty... run a couple laps, then a cool-down ride home, bobs your uncle.

 

I always bed mine per the procedure listed in the box in which the pads come. Heck, I even re-bed each year. I live in the country so it's not hard finding a place to do it but in my opinion, it makes a noticeable difference.

 

I installed OEM rotors, pads, and shims.
And I guess maybe I misread? The stickied post for replacing brakes says “go easy on them”.

edit: sorry I should also add that the shudder went away overnight. I didn’t notice it at all on the way to/from work. Still going to grease the pins though this weekend.

 

Don't grease the pad retainer pins. All it does is attract dirt and dust. They don't do it at the factory and those brakes work fine for years. They just need to be clean and free of rust

Pad material transfer is a thing.. try not to hold the brake pedal hard at the bottom of a hill. Sometimes, even with good driving habits it will happen anyway, it is common..

Also double check the calipers and make sure you don't have a tight piston hanging up and causing drag. One side can be slightly dragging and you're not necessarily going to feel it like pulling to one side or the other

Lastly, and people will disagree, but cheaply made rotors that aren't cast properly can develop soft spots that will result in runout and thickness variations

 

You can’t see the seals without taking the pistons all the way out of the calipers. Maybe you are talking about the dust boots?

 

Definitely boots then. The boots seemed fine and no tears/grease/fluid was visible.