I have a '92 CX with stock brakes. I somewhat boiled the fluid about a month ago at an AutoX with a fast ending, so it was time for an upgrade.

I purchased Cobalt GT Sport front pads and Valvoline fully synth Dot 4 fluid (couldn't buy better fluid because we did this on a Sunday).

We installed the pads and purged the fluid. We must've bled the system 3 times and my pedal "feel" still isn't that good. It almost goes to the floor. The funny thing is that they do grab, but the pedal goes about halfway to the floor compared to what it did before.

Please help...I have a track day coming up here this Sunday!!!

 

Its possible to have damaged the M/C seals when you bled the system if you did not put some sort of 'stop' in place to keep the pedal from going all the way to the floor. I did this on my car, and its easy to do on hondas with high mileage original brake systems from what i've seen.

Autozone reman M/C's are $50 or so and usually in stock the day after calling them.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Its possible to have damaged the M/C seals when you bled the system if you did not put some sort of 'stop' in place to keep the pedal from going all the way to the floor. I did this on my car, and its easy to do on hondas with high mileage original brake systems from what i've seen.

Autozone reman M/C's are $50 or so and usually in stock the day after calling them.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Damn...you think? If my MC went bad don't you think I'd really know it (no stopping power whatsoever?)

Thanks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Yellow Dragon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Damn...you think? If my MC went bad don't you think I'd really know it (no stopping power whatsoever?)</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not always. Can you pump the pedal a few times while driving and get some pressure back in it?

 

You say that you still can brake well right? This may or may not be your problem, but I have always experienced this when I put a race pad on a car. stock pads have alot of bite and no fade resistence. Race pads tend to have less bite but lots of heat and fade resistence, especially autoXing when they are cold. They just feel different. Maybe you just aren't used to how much pedal pressure you have to exert to get the same feel as the stock pads.

On my road race CRX, putting on Panther XP's from the stocks made the brakes "catch" about 1/8 inch lower. It isn't that there isn't pressure on the rotors, itis just that the actual braking torque you get form the same force is less because the coef of frictin is lower than the stock pad. My XPs need two good brakes to get them warmed up enough to feel good.

I adjusted my pedal height to my comfort zone, and my car has the best brakes in my class.

I don't know much about Cobalt materials. Is it a good autoX pad? the crx is a light car, and needs softer compounds.

 

Also, did you go over the rotors with emory/brake clean and bed in the pads?

 

Todd, you just described my pedal feel earlier this year. It turning out to be a blown MC. I ended up driving at Expo3 with lousy brakes - not fun at all. My pedal went almost to the floor before the brakes grabbed, although they did grab pretty well. I'd rebuild your MC or swap another one in.

 

My vote is MC.

Although, I have experienced an increase in pedal stroke required to engage the system when I install used (read:thiner) race pads. I am not sure why this happens as I thought the system was "self-adjusting."
If the same held true for your brakes, you should experience a "higher" pedal. ???
P.S. Im tired as fawk so I dunno if this makes sense. Ill check back tomorrow

 

if you get a new m/c go with a 91 ex civic,because it is a 7/8 mc and It's a bolt in 100% fit on cx/vx/dx eg. auto zone stocks them

 

a MC is bad only when the pedal "sinks" after keeping constant pressure. a bad MC means the seal is bad.

if the pedal just needs to be pushed further than normal, or feel mushy, then you got air in the brakelines. air could be in the MC, but it doesnt mean the MC needs to be replaced. its hard to get air out of the MC, gotta take it out and bench bleed it and start bleeding all over again to be sure.

its also possible the brake pads are softer. i found my hawk blues installed gave me a much softer pedal feel. noticed the difference before and after replacing with my street pads.


Modified by Tyson at 4:13 AM 9/4/2003

 

What do you guys think of a remanufactured M/C from Autozone or Advanced Auto Parts? Will they work good?

 

I got rear calipers there, fine so far. Did you bleed the rear brakes? Any chance the rear brakes are hurting? Bad rears or poor adjustment can make the pedal soft too. I would still suspect internal leakage in the M/C. As asked before, can you pump the pedal up temporarily then have it fade down? If so, M/C for sure.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mohudsolo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I got rear calipers there, fine so far. Did you bleed the rear brakes? Any chance the rear brakes are hurting? Bad rears or poor adjustment can make the pedal soft too. I would still suspect internal leakage in the M/C. As asked before, can you pump the pedal up temporarily then have it fade down? If so, M/C for sure.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes I bled the rears also. My rears are still stockers and I did check them. They're okay still as far as pads/rotors.

As far as being able to pump up the pedal, that only seems to be possible when the car is shut off. When the car is running I cannot pump up the pedal.

-Todd

 

Todd,

I had the same problem with my del Sol. You have good braking ability but the pedal goes further down than before. When you pump the brakes, nothing changes?

When putting the caliper down over the rotor after replacing the pads, one of the inside pads came loose from its retainer clip. This allowed the pedal to go much further down than before.

Check that out before you get a master cylinder.

BTW, how was HC at MAM- had to work otherwise I would have gone.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by delSolLS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Todd,

I had the same problem with my del Sol. You have good braking ability but the pedal goes further down than before. When you pump the brakes, nothing changes?

When putting the caliper down over the rotor after replacing the pads, one of the inside pads came loose from its retainer clip. This allowed the pedal to go much further down than before.

Check that out before you get a master cylinder.

BTW, how was HC at MAM- had to work otherwise I would have gone.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well...$$ and much hard work later by my roommate and I, we thought the hatch was ready. We changed the MC and the brake booster!!! All seemed well at first until I drove over to Wes' (White Dragon) house for the BBQ the night before the H-T track day. Just as I got off on the interstate I noticed my driver's side front smoking!!! I pulled over...looked like the pads were smoking. WTF?! I limped it to Wes' place (2 miles or so) and that driver's front caliper was sticking! I seized up the caliper. My rotor was red hot. We messed with it at his house, but couldn't get another rotor and caliper in time for the event. I ended up taking my WRX on course. Good time either way. I sure wished I had my hatch out there though.

 

Todd,

You might have a problem with the MC pushrod clearance. Had that trouble with my car as well. Causes the calipers to stay partially engaged. Everytime you press on the brakes, it engages a little more until they lock up.

Just a thought.