Brakes are very, very spongey with brand new EBC and RedStuff, pls help!

[Ej1749]

I've just had brand new EBC discs with Red stuff pads and I did the correct bedding in process 100 miles gentle braking - then 5-10 hard stops from 60mph to 10 mph and boy did they smoke. I let the brakes cool right down after the 5th hard stop, before I did the last 5 hard stops equating to ten stops. However, the length in which I have to press the pedal for them to actually work is concerning and its a soft linear increase in pressure on the brakes, what could this be? When they are hot they do work well (still very spongey and a deep press on the brakes) at high speed and the fade is amazingly better, but there is no violent lurch forward when you hit the brakes. They feel like the most unsensitive brakes I've ever felt on a car. I press the pedal and immediately there is no violent bite as I would have expected, the further I press the pedal the more stopping power I get. I get peak stopping power right before the ABS kicks in and it's kinda scary as I have a child on the way.

My partner has an A3 2016 and her stock brakes are violently grippy in fact they are more violent than the ceramic brakes I had when I was using an Aston Martin Vanquish (FYI wasn't mine unfortunately) , just tapping the brakes and you head butt the steering wheel in the Audi A3 and then violently slow you down, best brakes I've ever used on any car, but obviously fade after about 5 minutes.

For my EBC's Please could someone recommend or help as I'm worried that these are going to cause me an accident?

I'm going to bleed the brakes and replace with EBC high temp juices and also the EBC braided brake lines but,
I have been told it could be the master cylinder thingy under the brake fluid reservoir.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I want to keep my soon to be new born daughter safe!

Thank you in advance.

[rajb]

Tbh I've never been a fan of EBC stuff but know a few who have used them. I wonder if the brakes were ok before fitting these it may be because the red stuff pads perform at a higher operating temp and so require more heat in them before they bite. Might be worth checking their operating temp and then comparing to other brands or OE pads.

[Ryan90GTI]

I'm running redstuff pads and I'm sure the bedding in process was 300 miles of steady/normal braking then good to go.

[Ej1749]

Yeah they are better when they are hot. However, I spoke to EBC and they said they should have a good biting point right from the get go. So I bled the brakes and it has made a bit of a difference, much less scary and I feel I can rely on them a bit better now. I do think my master cylinder need replacing though and some high temp EB brake juice in the system.

Tbh I've never been a fan of EBC stuff but know a few who have used them. I wonder if the brakes were ok before fitting these it may be because the red stuff pads perform at a higher operating temp and so require more heat in them before they bite. Might be worth checking their operating temp and then comparing to other brands or OE pads.

[fredgroves]

If you are going to the trouble of swapping the fluid and the master cylinder out, I'd put in some braided hoses too.

Might as well finish the job while you've got it all drained down.

[rajb]

Yeah they are better when they are hot. However, I spoke to EBC and they said they should have a good biting point right from the get go. So I bled the brakes and it has made a bit of a difference, much less scary and I feel I can rely on them a bit better now. I do think my master cylinder need replacing though and some high temp EB brake juice in the system.

Ah ok fair enough. Good that a bleed has helped.