Brake too soft?

[dburgjohn]

This is my first Corvette, but the brake seems soft to me. I have put new pads and rotors (they needed it) and made sure there was no air in system. The car also had a new booster, from Mid America, installed when the old one blew. Is there anything else besides that $400.00 :eek master cylinder that might cause this.

 

[vigman]

Well how does the car STOP?

My ABS gave the brake pedal a weird feel..like I was pressing harder & harder.. and not getting the proportional amount of stopping power.. but I have TONS of pedal and I know the systems cool... but it's NOTHING like my C-3.. I just got used to it!

You state that the booster was changed.. but not the master?

Try doing a full flush ( when you do the master)..If the fluid is brown.. you have a fair amount of moisture trapped in the system.. as the brakes get hot..this will boil the brake fluid @ a lower temp.. and you get the mushy pedal effect.

Vig~

 

[dburgjohn]

Soft brake, new fluid

I already did a full bleed on the brake system. Did so until new fluid came out at all four corners. Old fluid was not that bad. I replaced the booster because the rubber inside it blew. Hard pedal and air noise. As for the softness, I was just wishing that there was some other (cheaper) thing I could try before waving 'bye' to all that cash for a new master.

 

[dburgjohn]

answer to question

Opps, missed the question in title. The car will stop on a dime and give change. This whole thing is about the 'feel' of the pedal. Should I just get used to it, or is there still work to do?

 

[jmccloud]

Pedal feel

The service manual calls for 2-3/4" pedal travel; no load to 70 lbs. measured from the steering wheel to the pedal. Longer travel indicates a problem.
It also tries to sell GM parts by touting the performance of factory break pads. One of my kids had one of those DOHC Luminas with special brakes. Replacing the pads with local parts store pads really softened the pedal feel. He bit the bullet and had the Chev dealer put on GM pads and really liked the stiffer brake pedal feel. I drove the car both ways and would not have paid the difference.

 

[Edmond]

Re: answer to question

Opps, missed the question in title. The car will stop on a dime and give change. This whole thing is about the 'feel' of the pedal. Should I just get used to it, or is there still work to do?

It might be that you're not used to it, that was the case with me. The pedal did feel very soft and I thought something was wrong with it being that I was used to driving little Toyota's.

Any other Vette' people in the area to help you out? I've found that Corvette people are willing to help out more so than most other cars.

 

[vms4evr]

I've got a 92 and I would not say the brakes are soft. But I guess it depends on what you have driven and are used to. I just bled my brakes and got air out of all 4 corners on the first 2-3 pumps of the pedal. Then just fluid. Even with the air in the lines they didn't feel excessively soft. Now the pedal seems very firm.

I thought between air in the lines and/or trapped in the caliper or a week booster that is where the softness comes from. I'm confused no how the master cylinder causes this.

Graham

 

[dburgjohn]

Master causing soft pedal

When the rubber cups in the master wear out, they can allow fluid to leak by causing a soft (softer) pedal. Mine does not feel real bad, but not as good as I thought it should. Since this is my first Corvette I have nothing to compare to. I have a friend who has a C5, but do not know any local C4 owners.

Any C4 owners close to Dyersburg Tennessee out there?