Brake FAQs

[d_m_kolb]

Q: Why do I have to push so hard before the brakes work? A: The power brake booster may not be operating properly. Check for vacuum leak on booster. Your linings or pads may be worn out. Inspect and replace if necessary. You may have one or more caliper, pistons, or wheel cylinders, seized or sticking. Check and rebuild if necessary. Your brake linings or pads may be contaminated with oil or grease. Your new pads or shoes may not be seated yet. It will take a while for the new material to seat against the drum or rotor. Q: Why do my brakes feel soft or spongy while braking? A: There may be air in the hydraulic lines. Bleed the brake system. You may have faulty flexible hoses. Check your hoses for soft spots or buldges in the hose wall. You may want to upgrade to stainless steel braided hoses. Your master cylinder mounting bolts or nuts may be loose. Your master cylinder may be defective. Q: Why do my brakes pulsate while braking? A: Your wheel bearings may not be adjusted properly or in need of replacement. Your caliper may not sliding properly due to improper installation or obstructions. Your rotor or drum may be warped or defective. Remove the rotor or drum and check for excessive lateral runout, out-of-round and parallelism. Have the drum or rotor resurfaced/turned or replace it. Q: Why do my brakes squeak? A: Remember that occasional squeal is normal. Severe conditions such as snow, rain, salt, mud, extreme cold or extreme heat may make the condition worse. An occasional squeal does not necessarily indicate loss of braking effectiveness or a need for corrective action. Your disc brake pads may be worn out. The noise comes from the wear sensor rubbing against the disc. Some people call these crickets because of the cricket like noise they make. Replace the pads with new ones as soon as possible. Your linings may be contaminated with dirt or grease. Or you may have the wrong pads installed. Q: Why does my brake pedal travel so far before they are activated? A: It sounds like you have a partial brake system failure. Be sure to Inspect the entire system thouroughly and correct any problems. You may have insufficient fluid in the master cylinder. Check it and add fluid and bleed the system if necessary. Your rear drum brakes may not be adjusting properly. On models with rear drum brakes, make a series of hard starts and stops with the vehicle in Reverse. Rear brakes have a auto tighting adjuster that tighten when hard rear braking is done. If this does not correct the situation, remove the drums and check the self-adjusters. You may need to get replacement parts for rusty, worn, or inoperative components. Q: Why does the brake pedal go to the floor real easily? A: You may have little or no fluid in the master cylinder reservoir caused by leaking wheel cylinders, leaking caliper pistons, loose, damaged or disconnected brake lines. Check the entire system and correct the problem. Your master cylinder fluid seals may be worn (the problem can occur even when the master cylinder is full of fluid). Q: Why does the car pull to one side while braking? A: You may have excessive wear of brake shoe or pad material on your drum or disc brakes on one side. Your front suspension components may be loose or disconnected. Check and make sure all bolts are tightened to the specified torque settings. Your drum or caliper assembly may be defective. Remove the drum or caliper and check for a stuck piston, other damage, or excessive wear.