s44life

I haven't been able to find anything on this topic. I have a 2007 Scion tC.
I'm not sure if there's something wrong with my brakes or this is just how weak they are. My calipers are 6 months old, and I just had the rotors machined. Despite all that, I have to press down quite hard on the brakes to stop. Calipers were replaced by the dealership in December. I'm assuming the dealership bled the brakes after changing the pads but who knows.
I have to push down (pretty hard) good 3 inches on the brakes in order to stop. The first inch or so doesn't even do anything.
I frequently drive other cars (Chevys, Fords, Nissans) and out of all those my car has the weakest brakes. This is ridiculous.

I'm thinking about bleeding the brakes myself, just in case. Maybe buying better brake pads. Does anybody have any ideas? I'm getting really frustrated.

Thanks

Jiggaman

iTrader: (1)

take it back to the dealership...this has been happening for 6 months already? the second it happened i would be right back in the techs face asking why my brakes dont work.

Jdub86

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like they just need to be bled, I would be raising hell at the stealership.

DezodDon

The brakes on the tC are weak from the factory. Normally when you change your pads you don't need to bleed the brakes. You only need to bleed the brakes when the hydraulic circuit has been opened. You stated that the calipers were replaced so they should have bled them, depending on how dry they got the system there might be air in the ABS hydraulic module, if you have ABS, in which case I'd say bleed them again, however since the dealer did it, take it back to them and ask them to take a look at it under warranty.

If everything checks out fine and you want a firmer pedal I suggest stainless lines and motul brake fluid.

http://www.dezod.com/pd-dezod-motors...less-steel.cfm

http://www.dezod.com/pd_motul.cfm

engifineer

I certainly have to disagree that they are "weak" from the factory. This was backed up by a top placing nationals ST contender as well (autox) after taking mine out for some runs. The feel may not be the same as others, but the brake system is pretty well set up on this car for a street car. He was very impressed with it.

The stock pads do not have the initial bite that some do, which is why aftermarket pads are a good idea.

But, like Don said, they may need to be bled since they replaced the caliper.

If you had them install new pads, bedding them in will help as well with their performance, especially if they are higher performance pads.

engifineer

And while it is annoying to have to go back, why is everyone all about "getting in the techs face", "yelling at the dealership" etc right away? Go back, tell them the issue and see if they can check it out. If they take good care of you then chalk it up to a not so well bled system. If they try to deny it, then I can see getting mad. Obviously, he drove it this long, so it wasnt a blatantly obvious issue, so they may not have noticed it either on a test drive at first.

But, why did they replace the calipers? Do you mean they replaced the pads? Or did you have a faulty caliper? If they really just replaced the pads, there would be no reason to bleed the system like Don said above.