Brake issue ~ Advise please

RQ7

RQ7

RQ7

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Joined
18 Aug 2010
Posts
166
Afternoon all,

We had some work done to one of our cars - Corolla 1.6 Petrol. The garage replaced all four brake pads five weeks ago, and repaired an issue with the break caliper/piston.

Apparently now, the brakes have to be pressed down very hard and take a long time to become responsive.

Any ideas what this could be, possibly faulty pads or something along those lines?

Thanks all :)
 
As above most likely, but just for completeness, new pads do need to bed in, and until they do you can have to apply increased effort. However this process should not take very long at all, so if you've done significant mileage in the 5 weeks then most likely a poor bleeding operation as above, but if the car has only done literally a few miles in that time it could be that the pads just haven't bedded in yet. This could especially be the case if the old disks are in bad shape and perhaps should have been changed along with the pads.
 
Why are you all quoting that it might be air in the system. :mad:
That is the last thing it'll be if the pedal is hard.
Air in the system would make the pedal spongy and increase travel.
(air is compressible, fluid is not ;) )

Hades said:
Yes they would have to. They may not have got all the air out when bleeding.
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Not for changing the pads they wouldn't ;)
I know, I know, you meant because of the calliper. :p but you didn't quote that. ;)


Anyway, it could be crap quality pads. pads that were contaminated upon fitment, pads that have no bite due to poor choice of material, poorly bedded in pads or a leak to the vacuum servo assistance.
 
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Lopéz said:
No they wouldn't have to - not for just changing pads anyway. As Scuba mentions, the working on the caliper is another matter altogether.
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They probably cheaped out to make the most of the labour costs. Clamping the line just before the caliper, then removing it and losing that inch of fluid.
 
Scubascorpion said:
Why are you all quoting that it might be air in the system. :mad:
That is the last thing it'll be if the pedal is hard.
Air in the system would make the pedal spongy and increase travel.
(air is compressible, fluid is not ;) )


Not for changing the pads they wouldn't ;)
I know, I know, you meant because of the calliper. :p but you didn't quote that. ;)


Anyway, it could be crap quality pads. pads that were contaminated upon fitment, pads that have no bite due to poor choice of material, poorly bedded in pads or a leak to the vacuum servo assistance.
Click to expand...

To be fair, OP doesn't actually say the pedal itself feels hard. He says 'the brakes have to be pressed down very hard and take a long time to become responsive'. First part could just suggest extra effort required, and the second part particularly suggests spongyness due to air. OP is a bit vague to be honest. Still contaminated pads and a vacuum leak are good ones to add to the list, albeit unlikely imho - all the pads contaminated? presumably no vacuum leak before the pad change. If the OP was more specific regarding the symptoms, i.e. increased travel or not, we could be more specific ourselves. Or we'll just see what the garage says :)
 
Hi guys,

Apologies in the vague symptoms, its not my car and am only going on what my bro has told me.

Took the car back to the garage today and the mechanic has said the following :

1. Its not air because that would have been something you would have immediately felt not five weeks after
2. He thinks the other sides caliper could now be in disrepair
3. After taking the car for two hours he found that a 'slider' on the 'other caliper' was broken/not functioning properly he managed to give the caliper a 'clean' and fix the 'bracket/slider' but its still not 'sorted' and needs another day to look at it.
4. he has had all four pads off - and found nothing, they are fine according to him


As far as im aware the symptoms are

1. brakes are feeling spongy
2. you have to press down far down in advance to stop then normal
3. brakes feel unresponsive like the pads are not working properly

Can find out more when I speak to my brother later on tonight
Hmmm! Will keep u posted!
 
RQ7 said:
The garage replaced all four brake pads five weeks ago, and repaired an issue with the break caliper/piston.
Click to expand...

RQ7 said:
Forgot to mention the car is automatic, and apparently the pedal is soft 'to the floor'
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RQ7 said:
Took the car back to the garage today and the mechanic has said the following :

1. Its not air because that would have been something you would have immediately felt not five weeks after
Click to expand...

This is what really winds me up about garages. Why doesn't he just bleed it and see if that solves it (as it really sounds quite likely this is the problem).

He is now wasting your time and his time because he either

a) doesn't want to admit he was at fault
b) doesn't want to have shell out for some more fluid
c) looks forward to charging you more money for 'fixing' the other caliper
 
Amoeba said:
This is what really winds me up about garages. Why doesn't he just bleed it and see if that solves it (as it really sounds quite likely this is the problem).

He is now wasting your time and his time because he either

a) doesn't want to admit he was at fault
b) doesn't want to have shell out for some more fluid
c) looks forward to charging you more money for 'fixing' the other caliper
Click to expand...

I was quite suprised when he almost instantanously ruled out that air could be the issue, secondly when he said it could be the caliper, when asked if it was the same one he fixed, he again instantously denied it was the caliper he 'fixed before' and said its probably the 'other one' -> as its common, and can happen with cars sometimes (his reasoning)

Indeed, now will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon when he reports back what he finds after spending more time with the car
 
As long as he isn't being a charlatan then he is completely correct in that you would not get air in the system after five weeks.
He's hardly likely (I hope) to have given you back an automatic car with a pedal so soft that it goes to the floor from the outset.

If it is as he says, then it's quite possible an already failing calliper he brought back to life with a little beating :D has now expired. :(
**** happens.

Also had situations where after bleeding the brakes, the master cylinder just fails. :( "but it wasn't like that when I brought it in mate".. :rolleyes:

What happens there is the seals within the cylinder, during the bleeding process move up and down parts of the bore that are not encountered in normal operation. When these parts of the bore are corroded, it wrecks the seals as they pass over the rust, knackering the master cylinder in the process.
 
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