Just curious, as mine is a bit spongious at the beginning (with a kind of "psss" noise), then very hard just after. In fact, i don't really like the feeling of the brake pedal in this car, i find it too hard and gives not enough feeling. I have Compbrake 4 pots callipers, braided hoses, but it was the same before with standard callipers and DS2500 pads. Is it the same for you all ?

 

no mine is nice and firm throuout pedal travel, its a very nice pedal feel, do yours feel better once warmed through or are they always like this?

 

a tad better when warmed, but it's still a VERY VERY hard brake pedal... could it be a master cylinder problem ?

 

when was the last time you changed the fluid?

 

last week !!!

 

Did you follow the precise procedure for bleeding

 

well, i've always known how to bleed brakes, but maybe it's different on this car, so don't really know... what is the exact procedure ?

 

Have you got a workshop manual?

I cant place mine right now, it regards IGN on and off when doing rear brakes...

 

i have it yes... what is IGN ? "ignition" ???

 

aye yes mate, have a quick flick through see what you make of it...

 

will give it a try tomorrow

i also have a violent shaking in the steering wheel when catching brakes at around 60 mph, what can cause this shaking in the steering wheel ?

 

most likely a wheel ou of balance, this can cause a horrible vibration.

 

acutally re-reading what youve posted, you getting a bad vibration when braking at high speed, warped disc most likely. sorry didnt read yor post properly

 

but all my brakes are new, full new big brakes kit on front, and new discs + pads on rear, they all have around 200 miles max !!

 

well put it like this!! if you could brake at 60mph with no vibration before the big units were fitted, but now you cant now the big brakes are on their is an issue with the brakes, seems very strange youve got appauling pedal feel with vibrations at high speed braking, somethink isnt right, you really ant afford to not be sure when it comes to breaks, get it jacked up wheels off and thoroughly inspect the brakes, and look for scoring, blue discolorations

 

good luck with it dude!!!

 

well in fact it was already shaking before the new big brakes, that's why i upgraded the brakes in fact
and now with everything new, it's still shaking... so i'm sure it's not the discs nor the callipers nor the pads...

 

Pet,

have a good look at the brakes you have fitted and make sure you have fitted them right.

eg, the alloy space is the right way.

the steering wobbe could be the caliper rubbing the disc and the hard brake pressure could be the caliper pistons not moving.

had a similar thing on mine the other day.

found out i have got 32mm discs instead of 28mm discs and the caliper was very slightly rubbing on the rotor!

have a good check.

 

have you experienced any knocking? particuarly on hard acceleration or hard cornering?

 

check Wheel Bearing and Ball-Joint as well

also check your strut-top bearing & cap make sure it not cracked and broke

 

1. pedal feel -> on mine it's nice and firm, not such gey, spoongy feel liike on many modern cars. But its very different to any other I've driven. The bleeding procedurte requires that you bleed the rear by pressing peda l half way ad turning ignition on - the hydraulic pump will bleed the rear by itself you only hold the pedal as it was. Fronts yu bleed normally - YOU SCHOULD CONSULT THE MANUAL. Braking system on Escos and Mazda GT-R is very unique.

2. Shaky steering underbraking is disc warping or similar. Check if the discs are good fit on the hubs, maybe one of the hubs needs cleaning, some rust maybe? It maybe that new discs aren't 100% straight and require skimming, but as you said it was there even before I would suspect problem with hub or damaged hub. Of course if you have any play anywhere is the suspention the problem will be much bigger. Do you feel the shaking more through your body or the steering?

 

My brakes are what I would call severe, you only have to touch them lightly, otherwise you'd be through the screen.

Re: Steering wheel shaking... I had the same prob you've got on a previous car Pet, it was a Mk V XR3i. Doing between 55-70mph, the steering wheel used to shake like hell. Had all wheels rebalanced both on and off the car, swapped wheels round, balanced again, tracking checked and still didn't cure it.

The problem was finally diagnosed as a driveshaft. Apparently, when you fit bigger wheels, it alters the original angle of how the driveshaft sits in the socket, this wears out and makes the driveshaft loose in the socket.... (I think that's how it was explained to me). Anyway it cured the problem when I had a new exchange driveshaft fitted.

 

that could be a solution then !!!! i might give it a try

thanks for all the answers

 

Also bad TCA bushings can cuase a shake when brakeing.

 

Was gonna suggest that myself. Worn front end bushes are quite a common reason for shaking during braking.

 

WTF!!

Do explain.....I've got to change my fluid soon.

 

both my TCAs are new too...

 

I had the very same problem and it was the strut tops.... both cracked all the way round.. fitted new ones and the problem had gone ...
Good luck..
Matt...

 

IMO wobble under braking would be down to discs or as above front suspension bushes

Redkop is right about a wobble under normal cruising speeds being inner driveshaft joint, usually more obvious on slight bends at high speed...


Jason, ask paul if you can borrow his manual

 

Just printing mine out now! Fooking 990ish pages.....

 

to bleed the rears the system is self purge, you need to switch ign on then hold the brake pedal down

no longer than 15 seconds or youhave to let the pump cool down

peice of piss

ps , my pedal is firm

 

i will do this then, as i used normal bleeding procedure for rear too (ie engine on, and push several times until pedal is hard)
what problem could it cause to bleed the rear like you do on other cars ?

 

That there would be air left in the system. Rear is 100% operated by hydraulic system not master cylinder.

 

thanks

 

Hi Pet,
If it did this before the brakes were fitted, it could be a warped hub, as these are known to happen on Escort Cossies. Unfortunately they are a part that is no longer serviced .

You can check the hub "run-out" with a dial gauge.

In the meantime, I take it that before you fitted the brakes, you cleaned the hubs meticulously - and by this I mean that you removed ALL the wheel studs (if you don't, then you can't remove any build up around the studs properly) and faced the hub with a wire brush / emery cloth so that it was as flat as a flat thing and as smooth as a baby's bottom ? If not, it could be that a build up of dust / rust on the hub is causing your "run-out" issues .

 

Mike the hub itself is still avalible and penty of them. It's also avalible as OEM replacement part by other producer I thik - I've seen one by some company on the catalogue. It's the bearing carrier/upright (people call those differently) that is not avalible.


I don't think it possible to remove all studs after some years easily,a nd if they won't go out easily you face destroying wheel bearings :-(

 

Never had a problem personally .

 

I purhased long wheel studs sometime ago from Cossymad and wanted them all changed - the result was the only abouthalf of them could be removed without hammer bigger then 5kg's, still have two short ones on left side rear because it wasn't possible to remove two others :-/ Probably it's a matter of hom much is a car used in salty winter time too...

 

it never rains nor snows where i'm leaving, so corrosion is not usually an issue. But the hubs may be a guess i imagine, but this way the car should chatter when going foward without braking too, no ?

 

Petrucci all things like hhub warping get A OT worse when braking, so you may not feel it while driving. Think abot how git is the diameter of the part of the disc that has contact wich the wheel and how big is the diameter of the part that has contact with pads. So this may be the reason.