I'm fresh out of ideas here

The car is an '88 CRX Si with 282k km's on it. For the longest time I've had very bad brake feel. The pedal travels about halfway down to the floor before biting, and even then feel is mushy and unresponsive. With a ton of force applied the car will stop, and it rotates well in autoX, but the feel just isn't there. My mom's Geo Metro has better, more responsive brakes than I do.

Things I've tried: Replaced master cylinder and booster, replaced brake fluid (Ford Heavy Duty), replaced rear brake pads (I'm using Raybestos pads all around to try and get better initial bite), and upgraded front brakes to Integra DA units. The brakes have been bled regularly and I bench-bled the master cylinder and booster before installing. The crap pedal feel is very annoying and I'd like to fix it soon

Any ideas people? Should I just fork over the dough for a steel braided brake line kit? Rear brakes out of adjustment? What could it be?

 

caliper?

 

how often do you bleed your brakes.. I bleed them twice the night I do something to the car, then bleed them again after driving them a day or two

 

man times its just the rear brake adjust ment..

adjust your e-brake too..

then there are some cars that never seem to get it right...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Outsane &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">then there are some cars that never seem to get it right...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Tell me about it

CRX25: I bled the brakes twice after swapping the DA knuckles, hubs and calipers on. I don't think they're seized at all as I had no problems installing the new pads. AFAIK a seized caliper won't cause a soggy brake... will it?

I'll go home and readjust the rear brakes again tonight and re-bleed the system. I made sure to adjust the rear brakes as tight as I could - ie some slight drag on the drum... but who knows

Keep the suggestions coming guys

 

bleeding brakes really sucks. i did mine like 4 times before they worked right.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Outsane &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">adjust your e-brake too..</TD></TR></TABLE>

I just thought of something...

if I pull my ebrake up slightly, so that it begins to engage the rear brakes, and then press the brakes, the pedal is very firm with almost no travel.

Does this mean the ebrake is out of adjustment?

 

get new brake lines. u know like those stainless stell brake lines u can buy for like $100. because since stock it uses rubber, when u press the brakes the rubber will expand cause less pressure, esspecially when u got a car that old, the rubber will be old and even more flexible, causing bad brake pedal response. get it ? so get some new stainless steel brake lines, well doesnt even have to be steel, any type of aftermarket should be good, but i think steel would be the best

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SPORT INJECTION &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">bleeding brakes really sucks. i did mine like 4 times before they worked right.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Heh, I agree. When I first did mine and saw the color of the old fluid vs the new fluid it made me want to grab 2 more bottles of it and bleed the **** out of it.

 

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

I just thought of something...

if I pull my ebrake up slightly, so that it begins to engage the rear brakes, and then press the brakes, the pedal is very firm with almost no travel.

Does this mean the ebrake is out of adjustment?</TD></TR></TABLE>

This means your rear brakes are not adjusted properly. After adjustment, spinning the drum by hand, it should only rotate 1-2 times before stopping. This will have them within the correct adjustment range; if it keeps on spinning and spinning, there is too much play and this accounts for your soft pedal. Your e-brake should engage at 6 clicks (Honda recommends up to 10, I've always done 6 and always have a good pedal feel).

 

As I have it adjusted right now I think the brakes might actually drag, let alone spin freely I'll definitely have a look at it tonight!

 

Well, that 1.5 hrs spent adjusting the rears paid off - a LOT. Pedal seems a lot firmer now! I think the old brake lines are shot now and that's the main problem. While the pedal doesn't feel very hard, I was easily able to lock up the front brakes at 30mph with a quick stab of the pedal.

I'm thinking about picking up some Earl's SS brake lines now... reeeeeeeally old rubber brake lines aren't doing it for me... $85 USD ($130 CDN).

Thanks for the help and suggestions guys

And BTW, my ebrake is fully locked now with 2-3 clicks, to give you an idea of how tight it is

 

i need to add that to my to do list, b/c mine suck too. i stretched out my e brake cable too much fromall my slidin days....fun, but breaks crap...this was 2 years ago...

 

I think all crx's are like this. When friends drive it they think the brakes are out. When I drive other cars they stop when I put 2lbs of pressure on the brakes. Every crx I've driven is like this, I don't think it's really the age of the lines, b/c my dads 82 rx7 has some of the most sensitive brakes I've felt.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by raene &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I'm thinking about picking up some Earl's SS brake lines now... reeeeeeeally old rubber brake lines aren't doing it for me... $85 USD ($130 CDN).

</TD></TR></TABLE>

where you find those ss lines for $85 US?, i can only find them for $115 plus.

 

there is an adjustment to raise the brake pedal engagement point. if u do an archive search under pedal adjustment in the roadrace fouum, u should find my thread on it. if not, ill post the link later on when i get home. also, try bleeding the brakes. with the engine running, rr, lf, lr, rf. it sounds like an odd way to do it, but it works realy well.

-spenc

 

Earl's lines are available at Mopac for $130 CDN... not sure if you guys have Mopac where you're from!

I think it's the rear brakes that's really made them feel soggy. I went back and adjusted them too loose because they were dragging on the rear drums, overheating, chunking and grabbing The drums evidently are out-of-round so I'm going to have those machined and then adjust the brakes again... should help a bit

Lo-Buck EF: I don't think it's the pedal adjustment point... I know how to do it - remove the pin-bolt from the pedal, unbolt the MC/booster from the firewall, undo the locknut on the booster, spin the shaft in or out, then put it back together - but the brakes DO engage with a tiny little bit of pedal travel - they just don't engage with any force. It's like I get 1-1.5" of pedal travel with minimal brake force before they really kick in.