My brake is very weak. The pedal is firm like normal, but the braking power is not there. I have to slam on the brake really hard to have any decent braking power. Does anyone know which part might be broken?

 

check fluid, might want to take off the tires and check for leaks or what not. and might want to try bleeding the system

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by john666 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">check fluid, might want to take off the tires and check for leaks or what not. and might want to try bleeding the system</TD></TR></TABLE>

The fluid are fine. There is no leak and the pedals are very firm like it is supposed to be.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by john666 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> might want to take off the tires and check for leaks or what not. </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Change your pads brotha.

 

i dont know if you fixed ur problem but i had a similar problem on my mr2 i was jumping the batter and the cables hit the brake master cylinder which caused the internals to expletive up. the pedal feel felt fine but it wouldnt grab. had to replace it

 

when the master cylinder goes bad fluid simply bypasses the piston causing the pedal to go lower than normal, this isnt the case, if the pedal is firm as normal, or FIRMer, chances are you have a bad brake power booster. check the vacuum going to it first, as a vacuum leak going to the booster will cause this problem. worn pads, a leak, or a bad master cylinder wont cause any of your problems

 

are you running stock equipment? You prolly glazed your pads and rotors from hard braking, ie. high speeds, or repetitive. Just put some new ones on, follow break in procedure and enjoy. Or upgrade to some better ones, slotted with ceramic/semi-metallic and really enjoy.

 

once again, i will repeat, glazed pads wont cause high pedal effort. they will reduce braking efficiency, but not enough for most to notice during everyday driving. from the way i understood it he is standing on the brake pedal and barely stopping.

 

thanks for all the replies.

My pads are new, fluid are new, rotors are new....
Also checked the vacuum hose. No leaks.

So it really seems like it is the booster.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by schardbody &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">once again, i will repeat, glazed pads wont cause high pedal effort. they will reduce braking efficiency, but not enough for most to notice during everyday driving. from the way i understood it he is standing on the brake pedal and barely stopping.</TD></TR></TABLE>

little touchy? If you look at the times you'd notice they were posted pretty much right after eachother, which means i was typing mine when you typed yours. I don't doubt you know your brakes, from reading your posts, but he never complained of a high pedal. He said his pedal felt normal. I don't know aobut you, but i can definetly tell when i have glazed my rotor or pads or both. Either way, your prolly right, i just have one more question, did you break in your pads, or did you go out and stop hard.

 

no i didnt mean to come off like that at all, sorry bout that. i just wanted the facts straight about the pedal effort.

 

the brake booster more or less just amplifies the power of your foot pushing the rod right? So, in other words your saying if you have a bad booster it'd be like the old days of standing on the brake pedal as hard as you can

The only thing i'm saying is that after i did a track day, which i was killing my brakes, over heating them, the brakes sucked after that. Normal pedal, but like you said, lot longer to brake.

So is there a way to distinguish between the two. He said is pads are new, so i would say booster too, unless he took out his new brakes and TESTED them out

 

could just have air in the lines or a bad line

 

air in the hydraulic system causes a low pedal, it wont cause anything else. by bad line i hope you dont mean leaking line, cuz that would make the pedal go to the floor.

 

oh and conehead, you are correct, glazed pads will cause longer braking distance. basically its just the resin that bonds the friction material heating up and rising to the surface, causing less friction while braking. pedal effort is usually unchanged.

 

Makes sense, now wheres the owner of this thread, i want to know

impatient

 

check the brake booster valve and make sure it's pointing in the correct direction...

also, check the brake booster to see if it's functioning correctly...

another thing you might wanna do is clean the rotors and make sure the rotor and pads are in good condition

 

depleted pads