Brakes Spongy Brake Pedal

Vettn71 · Mar 18, 2015

The saga continues :0)

I had changed my brake pads to ceramic pads and bedded them in. I tried to bleed the brakes, but my right front caliper bleed screw decided it was not going to come out, period. I took this opportunity to go to 99 - 04 front calipers and stainless steel brake lines. Nice cheap upgrade. While bleeding them I ran out of brake fluid and noticed my water pump gasket was leaking. Since I had a credit from some earlier work at a local garage, I'd let them handle it. Got the car back today. The brakes just don't feel right. The pedal goes down too far (not to the floor) and feels spongy. Now I'm wondering if I let air get into the MC, although I kept it topped off. The garage said the brakes were good

Any suggestions?

Jim

7991LXnSHO · Mar 20, 2015

Songy? It that mean they whistle a happy tune? My pads are doing that as the weather changes, or at least I hope that is the only problem.

It does sound like you have air in the MC or lines. It is time for another bleed, preferably a power one if you do not have an accomplice.

WhiteCobra95 · Mar 21, 2015

I agree. It sounds like there could still be some air in the lines.

I'm not that familiar with the '99 and up calipers, but do they require a different master cylinder? I'm wondering if they changed it to something like the Cobra master cylinder.

Vettn71 · Mar 22, 2015

Bled the master cylinder this afternoon and it seems to have fixed the problem. I'm not certain how I got air in it, as the level did not drop much when I changed lines and calipers, but it did. One more problem down!

Jim

addermk2 · Mar 22, 2015

For future reference. Any time you need to disconnect a brake line, or brake hose... Fully depress the pedal and put something in it, like a breaker bar, pry bar etc, to hold it depressed. This closes off the ports in the master cylinder and will keep fluid loss to a minimum. It will also cause a vacuum lock on the lines and hoses, to keep them from draining.

Once the system is all reconnected, release pedal and gravity bleed the system. After you've gravity bled, close the bleeders and slowly pump the brakes. after this is done, and the pedal feels ok, open the bleeders one last time to let the remaining small amount of air from the calipers. close them up, and drive away.

Vettn71 · Mar 22, 2015

Great advice. Hopefully I won't need it anytime soon, but itsworth it's worth making note of

Jim

90lxwhite · Mar 24, 2015

addermk2 said:
For future reference. Any time you need to disconnect a brake line, or brake hose... Fully depress the pedal and put something in it, like a breaker bar, pry bar etc, to hold it depressed. This closes off the ports in the master cylinder and will keep fluid loss to a minimum. It will also cause a vacuum lock on the lines and hoses, to keep them from draining.

Once the system is all reconnected, release pedal and gravity bleed the system. After you've gravity bled, close the bleeders and slowly pump the brakes. after this is done, and the pedal feels ok, open the bleeders one last time to let the remaining small amount of air from the calipers. close them up, and drive away.

Thanks. I'm gonna put that in my back pocket.

90lxwhite · Mar 24, 2015

Vettn71 said:
Great advice. Hopefully I won't need it anytime soon, but itsworth it's worth making note of

Jim

Say man, quick question. I have a '95 that could use a brake job. What's the advantage of the '99+ calipers? Do they use the same rotors as the 95's? How about the master cylinder, can I reuse my oem or do I have to get one from a '99?

Chythar · Mar 24, 2015

The 99+ use the same rotors as the 94-98 calipers. Most folks use the same master cylinder, though I couldn't tell you if our master cylinder is the same as the 99+. The 99+ dual-cylinder calipers will give you more braking force than our stock single-piston calipers. It's a cheap upgrade, though you won't get as much braking force as you'd get with Cobra calipers.

Vettn71 · Mar 25, 2015

There's not a night and day difference, but they do stop better. Worth the small price. I don't know of a comparison between the braking difference, but it would be interesting to know how much, if any there is

Jim

90lxwhite · Mar 25, 2015

Vettn71 said:
There's not a night and day difference, but they do stop better. Worth the small price. I don't know of a comparison between the braking difference, but it would be interesting to know how much, if any there is

Jim

Yeah it's always hard to give a fair comparison when changing old brakes w "new and improved" brakes.
*Edit* I looked on rockauto, for an extra $160 if it's not nite and day I'll pass.

addermk2 · Mar 26, 2015

I removed my Cobra brakes for a set of 99+ GT calipers. I noticed no real depreciation in brake performance.

I also only had 400hp then.

90lxwhite · Mar 27, 2015

addermk2 said:
I removed my Cobra brakes for a set of 99+ GT calipers. I noticed no real depreciation in brake performance.

I also only had 400hp then.

How bout the 99 vs the 95?

addermk2 · Mar 27, 2015

The dual piston caliper offers better clamping force over the single. And its aluminum body releases heat faster than the cast parts.

If I had a GT. A brake upgrade would be my first task. And the 99+ is a super cheap option.

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