lightsaber2003

I've been trying to figure out if my brakes are spongy or just working as normal but not as well as a newer vehicle. I went several years without driving my trans am and kind of forgot how the brakes felt. I have a similar age s10 but it also needs brake work and so isn't a great comparison. when the vehicle is off and i build up pressure the brakes get hard but there's still about 1 1/2 inches of pedal travel before it can't be compressed anymore. 1/4" of that is just slop in the pedal connections. i can see that the brake booster rod doesn't start moving till about that far in. the other 1 1/4" there is resistance but its a constant pressure and not hard. I adjusted the rear brakes and that helped greatly but they are out as far as they can go without rubbing. I've also bleed the breaks multiple times, trying it with a speed bleeder, gravity bleeding and with a reverse bleeder. I've also replaced the master cylinder I don't think there's any air left in the system but can't be for sure. The brake booster and check valve seem good I have a soft pedal once i start up and it doesn't get hard till several pumps when the engine's off and it holds vacuum for days. I did have to replace the drivers side caliper as the old caused the car to pull to the right, I also just recently replaced the hose for it once i found i couldn't get brake fluid to travel out it , it had worked just a few days earlier but was old. Any ideas if this is normal, I've seen alot of threads on spongy pedals with no good resolutions but none have really mentioned pedal travel distance. I can stop fine it just takes depressing the pedal more than my daily driver which i get an immediate response from just the slightest press and little to no pedal travel when its off.

gearhead141

I own an '85 T/A with the same brake system of disks in front and drums in back. I have to agree with you that I have about the same pedal travel. I'm not sure if it is just normal for these cars. Even though my car is thirty plus years old, I am still on the original hoses, which I check periodically. Now, these may be part of the issue. I read other posts where the hoses were changed out for the stainless steel sheath hoses. Perhaps it helps, but I am used to the feel of the brakes and they work just fine. My car isn't used for anything other than commuting. Hopefully others will chime in with their experiences.

lightsaber2003

Thanks. I kind figured that was more or less normal. Its good to have someone confirm it.

I saw in another thread someone mentioned using a 10 lbs wilwood pressure valve on the drum brakes help with low pedal. I may look into it more if i decide it still bugs me. Just have to get used to it again.