ivor.bigun

Hi, I'm having trouble getting my brake pedal firmed up. The first brake of a run has a lot of travel (but not to the floor) and little braking until you press quite hard. After the first brake or two of the journey there is still more travel than I'd like, but the brakes do work pretty well if you give them a good press. If I press on the pedal while stationary it goes down a few inches then does stop hard before it hits the floor. I have bled the lines several times with various methods including two person, air pressure from modified Gunson Eazybleed and vacuum from speed vac. Last night I even took off the lines going into the master cylinder so I could bleed that separately (that rear line was a PITA). I have fairly new GodsSpeed Kevlar pads and grooved discs all round - I've tried taking those off and sanding discs and pads too and then gave them few good brakes to bed them in again. It's a '99 Impreza with 4 pot callipers in the front and single pot in the rear.

I am not sure exactly when the problems started. I took it on a track day and the brakes did fade after few laps, but got better when allowed to cool down - but then there is plenty of pressing hard on the brakes anyway. I changed the fluid after the track day and it got a bit low, but I didn't think it was completely dry.

I'm tempted to change the master cylinder, but I'd have thought the pedal would go to the floor while stationary if this was bad? Also tempted to change the pads, but they are pretty new, so seems a waste. I am also tempted to make do, but that first brake of the day will really bug me. Is it just the pads do need a bit of heat in them despite claims they work great from cold or am I building a bit of pressure up in the system with this first brake?

Any thoughts of where to look next? I don't really want to keep throwing time and money at it.

Thanks

Also, no fluid loss or visible leaks and all wheels do get hot by a similar amount either side after a series of heavy braking.

Tony Harrington

iTrader: (8)

I had all new discs, pads, braided brake lines & fluid changed & had an issue with the amount of pedal travel & pedal firmness.

Sometimes when applying pressure to the peddle it would be hard & the brakes would kick in at the top with hardly any pedal travel.

Other times the pedal would be softer & pedal travel was about 2-3 inches before brakes kicked in.

The issue was traced to air in the system. The garage were I took it (CAMS Performance) sorted it but it took about an hour of plugging away. Brian said sometimes it can be a PITA & you just have to keep at it to bleed them correctly.

After that the pedal was consistent in the amount of travel & firmness before the brakes kicked in.

Hope this may help bud