brakes feel odd!!
Discussion
my brakes work but don't feel right! i've got the austin princess 4pot's with vented disc, disc's and pads are new front and rear, front callipers have been refurbed and master cylinder is brand new but the brakes seem to have a long travel on them before anything happens! they do stop the car but just feel odd and spongy. what effect would the bias valve have on the brakes (don't really understand how it works or how to check it) or could it be the servo causing problem. i've bleed brakes (a few times) and fluid is new racing blue.
Altertatively.... how much do you drive your wedge? If the answer is "not daily" then here's my advice - take it out for a drive, and give the brakes a few good hard pokes from 60mph down to 30. Then do this every time you take a drive - I usually approach my village 30 zone at 60, then about 10 yards from the sign slow down to 30.
My 400SX had very poor brakes when I got it (4 pots too at the front) and this style of use brought them back to life in about 2 months.
My 400SX had very poor brakes when I got it (4 pots too at the front) and this style of use brought them back to life in about 2 months.
GV said:
I would re-bleed and bleed again until they felt firm enough to inspire confidence. I would also bleed the BMC if its new before doing the calipers...
is there a set way to bleed the 4 pots (4 bleed nipples is 3 too many for my liking! ), should i do the rears first or front (left or right) and how do i bleed the master as i can't see a bleed on it?adam quantrill said:
Altertatively.... how much do you drive your wedge? If the answer is "not daily" then here's my advice - take it out for a drive, and give the brakes a few good hard pokes from 60mph down to 30. Then do this every time you take a drive - I usually approach my village 30 zone at 60, then about 10 yards from the sign slow down to 30.
My 400SX had very poor brakes when I got it (4 pots too at the front) and this style of use brought them back to life in about 2 months.
today was my first drive in 2 years!!! so i'll class myself as little use! My 400SX had very poor brakes when I got it (4 pots too at the front) and this style of use brought them back to life in about 2 months.
the problem is i don't feel safe taking it to that sort of speed at mo and worried about warping disc until they're bedded in, i expect the brakes to feel weak due to being new but its the pedal that just feels wrong, it won't pump up and feel firm! if the servo was leaking would this just cause the pedal to be hard to push or could it make it go soft? may be i should put some viagra in the reservoir that'll make it go hard!! al 350i said:
is there a set way to bleed the 4 pots (4 bleed nipples is 3 too many for my liking! ), should i do the rears first or front (left or right) and how do i bleed the master as i can't see a bleed on it?
Bleeding brakes can be an arse.Some people say it one way and other say another.
I always start at the nearest to the master i.e. shortist pipe length.
So do offside front then nearside front, then rears.
But as I said some will say start at rear and work forward!
My way works for me!
Andy
Hi
When we rebuilt no 1, with completly new brakes etc, it took a couple of months for the brake pedal to feel OK.
They worked OK as it passed it's MOT but they didn't give confidence, for a few weeks!
When it did we then re-bleed the brakes again, then it was even better!
So bleed them again and again, then use it and see how they go!
Andy
When we rebuilt no 1, with completly new brakes etc, it took a couple of months for the brake pedal to feel OK.
They worked OK as it passed it's MOT but they didn't give confidence, for a few weeks!
When it did we then re-bleed the brakes again, then it was even better!
So bleed them again and again, then use it and see how they go!
Andy
al 350i said:
today was my first drive in 2 years!!! so i'll class myself as little use! the problem is i don't feel safe taking it to that sort of speed at mo and worried about warping disc until they're bedded in, i expect the brakes to feel weak due to being new but its the pedal that just feels wrong, it won't pump up and feel firm! if the servo was leaking would this just cause the pedal to be hard to push or could it make it go soft? may be i should put some viagra in the reservoir that'll make it go hard!!
Sounds like the problem then - you need to drive it to bed them in a bit and remove surface gunge, do drive it as hard as you can, find a bit of straight little used road and give it some, brakes, throttle, repeat. the problem is i don't feel safe taking it to that sort of speed at mo and worried about warping disc until they're bedded in, i expect the brakes to feel weak due to being new but its the pedal that just feels wrong, it won't pump up and feel firm! if the servo was leaking would this just cause the pedal to be hard to push or could it make it go soft? may be i should put some viagra in the reservoir that'll make it go hard!! Your last concern should be warping disks - sounds like you're not using them hard enough yet anyway.
The 4 pots will cause more pedal travel if you are using the original master cylinder, but pedal should still be solid. If it's spongy you've either got air in the system somewhere or master cyl seals are leaking ...
Have you driven it with the 4 pots before ?
Mine was terrible after putting new seals in master cyl, it took AGES to get the air out, problem was the rear, I reckon the pressure limiter makes bleeding slower..but eventually it was fine.
Have you driven it with the 4 pots before ?
Mine was terrible after putting new seals in master cyl, it took AGES to get the air out, problem was the rear, I reckon the pressure limiter makes bleeding slower..but eventually it was fine.
Edited by RCK974X on Saturday 9th June 06:18
When i pieced the taimar back together with new calipers i connected everything up, brakes etc.
Then what I did was fill the reservoir and let the calipers bleed out without pumping. After that (this was suggested to not set off the brake shuttle) then did the shortest pipe length first.
Me and my dad bled them all then went and bled all of them again!!
Never been a problem
Then what I did was fill the reservoir and let the calipers bleed out without pumping. After that (this was suggested to not set off the brake shuttle) then did the shortest pipe length first.
Me and my dad bled them all then went and bled all of them again!!
Never been a problem
think it'll be the van for a while yet, still a gearbox and noisey cam to sort yet!
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