Just bought a used stock-as-can-be 98' Civic HX (mainly for gas mileage). The previous owner told me the car had the brakes done about 3000 miles ago (the car has 80,000 on it). However, when I push down on the brake pedal it has sort of a less-than-solid feel. Not spongy but still not super solid feeling, which isn't the feel I'd like. Is there a way to tighten up the FEEL of the pedal when I depress it?

Thanks

 

check to see if there is air in the system, bleed if necessary. And if everything is cool, you could get stainless steel brake lines

 

i thought all stock civic brakes feel like that because stock civic brakes suck ..unless you upgrade..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bruceee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i thought all stock civic brakes feel like that because stock civic brakes suck ..unless you upgrade..</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats not nec. true. Small cars dont need huge brakes. My car brakes great with no ABS and stock CX brakes in front, and Teg disk to replace the drums in the back. Just get some good pads and maybe some SS lines, and your set

 

What do Stainless Steel brake lines do? Why are they better/more efficient?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rhgindc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What do Stainless Steel brake lines do? Why are they better/more efficient?</TD></TR></TABLE>

They make the pedal feel stiffer, less travel. When you have stock brake lines, the rubber in the lines can bulge out a little when pressure is applied, and it gives a little, making your brakes feel a little mushy. SS lines dont have that little give, and feel more solid. Or so they say. I have them, And I like them fine. A little better feel. I got them cause I needed to replace mine anyway. I am happy with them.

 

Just a sidenote, if you install stainless lines, remember that the whole car has to be bled correctly and the master cylinder may have to be bench bled. I reccomend against Russell's brake hoses beacuse I have them and the outer coating cracked, so don't go with them.

If you are looking for a cheap, easy install item to stiffen the pedal feel I suggest better brake pads. If you get like a ceramic material like AEM uses, this gives better braking and the pedal feel is improved quite a bit over stock because when you put the pedal down, the car actually stops, hehe. Stock our car came with a fairly soft pedal. If your one of those people that likes a short pedal stroke, you could also put the EX model's master cylinder on, which pushes more fluid, so it takes less effort.

If you need anymore info, search for "X brakes on EK" in this forum, I made a whole big *** page with a lot of information, should answer anything you need.

 

You can even get just "new" brake pads. My old brakes did respond relatively nice but I new it was time for some brake work.

I went to Advanced Auto Parts and bought whatever their catalog had in stock and slapped em on. Responded even better. But that's only because new pads are so incredibly thick (they had probably atleast 3/4 a centimeter more padding) so it grabbed/responded even better after installing them.

To the OP: If you're really wanting good braking power, I'd suggest getting a rear disc swap and upgrading to stainless steel lines and upgrading the master cylinder.