Morning guys,

car is now "finished" ready for IVA this week. The only thing I'm currently not happy with is the brake feel. I've never had non-servoed brakes so I'll describe what I mean to see if its an issue:

Basically I would expect the pedal to be pretty firm from the top of the stroke, but there is a certain amount of travel which is "soft" (about 1.5 inches). It then takes another .5 of an inch before the brake lights illuminate. There is still loads of firm travel left in there after this, and I can lock the brakes easily.

I suspect this means there may be air somewhere but I bled the brakes as advised from previous posts on here: furthest to nearest, through a hose into a pot of fluid and twice round until the fluid ran out of the caliper smooth. Could there be air trapped somewhere still? What can I do about it?

Also I'm running a bias bar setup, could I have set this up incorrectly, so its "loose" or something?

[Edited on 16/5/10 by cd.thomson]

Sounds like brakes want bedding in to me

quote:

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Originally posted by madteg
Sounds like brakes want bedding in to me

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Yep, new pads can take a hundred miles or more to properly bed in. I remember having the same reservations when I finished my car - a few days of driving sorted them out.

cheers guys

i was confused as it didnt really feel "spongey" and there was no pumping up/pedal creep symptoms

The other thing that could cause this is an air bubble under the brake light switch (depending on how you have it mounted)....

If you have alloy calipers they probably aren't 100% true to the disc, bedding in the pads will reduce BUT won't cure it completely.