Air in brake fluid ?

[Jamie84]

I was messing around yesterday and was practising some hefty emergency stops with my pagids.....

One thing that kinda surpirised me was that I couldnt cause the wheels to lock , When I really pushed my foot to the ground the abs would kick in and then the pedal goes really soft and spongy untill it goes the whole way down.

I remember with my MGTF , the pedal would go solid no matter how hard you pushed.

Is this normal or just a difference n braking systems ?

[kenny]

How old is your fluid?
I change mine at least once a year, after a few trackdays it will start to get quite spongy.

[Jamie84]

I had my pads changed few months back by Ali, I'm not sure if he chaged it or not ....is it easy to do if not ? Am I right in saying you can get uprated fluids ?

[kenny]

Ali wont have changed the fluid unless you told him too.
You can get uprated fluid but unless you do trackdays it will be money wasted as the standard is fine for road use.

[VXJON]

You have ABS the wheels wont lock Changing fluid is a easy DIY job





BTW why try????

[Jamie84]

You have ABS the wheels wont lock Changing fluid is a easy DIY job





BTW why try????

Just exploring the cars limits on a quite road yesterday , had the pads well warmed and trying out some stops , aswell as some fast cornering , shat it a few times

Ano most said this in the first place but I probably didnt really need pagids as I dont do trackdays , but hey I prob didnt need 048s either , I do have a bad habit of needing the best/better of most things, when there really is no need. My bird tells me this must change when we move in together

[Jamie84]

Ali wont have changed the fluid unless you told him too.
You can get uprated fluid but unless you do trackdays it will be money wasted as the standard is fine for road use.

No probs , i'll add this to my list of things to do then , Next on the list is painting my calipers (not my pagids ) black.

[Modena Scotland]

Jamie

I don't think you would have boiled s decent fluid doing just a few stops, may be it was too old..... When the ABS kicks in, the pedals should not become spongy. In most cases, the spongy pedal means you ought to bleed the brakes.

Change the fluid to be on the safe side (I doubt you will need anything like the Castrol SRF et. al. until you start to track the car, which you should do at least once )

[robin]

When you stamp on the pedal and try to lock the wheels up, the ABS should cut in, as it does.

There should be a rumble in the pedal but it shouldn't drop any further than you've already pressed it.

Is this repeatable, or did it only happen after you performed repeated heavy braking?

If it's repeatable when cold, you need it checked out ASAP and you should avoid using the car in the meanwhile.

If it's only repeatable when hot, chances are you've got water in the fluid (brake fluid absorbs water from the atmosphere) and it's boiling; I imagine the introduction of water vapour could result in a spongy/long pedal even in ABS/servo'd systems.

You should be OK to just replace with a DOT-4 fluid - Halfords and motor factors will sell it and you can bleed it out easily enough with either someone to help you or a one-way valve. If you have someone who knows what they're doing to help fine; if not, you should take it somewhere - bleeding brakes is not hard, but you can make a right arse of it and leave yourself without brakes if you don't know what you're doing.

Cheers,
Robin

[Jamie84]

When you stamp on the pedal and try to lock the wheels up, the ABS should cut in, as it does.

There should be a rumble in the pedal but it shouldn't drop any further than you've already pressed it.

Is this repeatable, or did it only happen after you performed repeated heavy braking?

If it's repeatable when cold, you need it checked out ASAP and you should avoid using the car in the meanwhile.

If it's only repeatable when hot, chances are you've got water in the fluid (brake fluid absorbs water from the atmosphere) and it's boiling; I imagine the introduction of water vapour could result in a spongy/long pedal even in ABS/servo'd systems.

You should be OK to just replace with a DOT-4 fluid - Halfords and motor factors will sell it and you can bleed it out easily enough with either someone to help you or a one-way valve. If you have someone who knows what they're doing to help fine; if not, you should take it somewhere - bleeding brakes is not hard, but you can make a right arse of it and leave yourself without brakes if you don't know what you're doing.

Cheers,
Robin

I'll check tomorow if this happens when cold , but it defo goes beyond the point when the rumble kicks in but I had been hammering the barkes up to that point.

Thanks for the advice robin , dunno what I'd do without some of the experts around here ! The technical section has certainly saved me a few bucks since getting my car.

[ExigeKen]

Jamie the ABS on the Exige is very smooth and you may not notice it however if you were to turn it off you would definately notice the difference. It is no way as near as brutal as a standard hosehold car.

[thinfourth]

Just exploring the cars limits on a quite road yesterday , had the pads well warmed and trying out some stops , aswell as some fast cornering , shat it a few times

Ano most said this in the first place but I probably didnt really need pagids as I dont do trackdays , but hey I prob didnt need 048s either , I do have a bad habit of needing the best/better of most things, when there really is no need. My bird tells me this must change when we move in together

Go do a trackday even if you just do the beginners trackday thing at knockhill best place to learn how to not stack your car. Far better to be sat in a gravel trap thinking "So thats what oversteer is" Rather then being sat upside down in a ditch thinking "So thats what oversteer is and why is my leg over there."

[mckeann]

Go do a trackday even if you just do the beginners trackday thing at knockhill best place to learn how to not stack your car. Far better to be sat in a gravel trap thinking "So thats what oversteer is" Rather then being sat upside down in a ditch thinking "So thats what oversteer is and why is my leg over there."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, great analogy

[robin]

To be fair, I actually don't think taking the car on track with suspect brakes is the way ahead. I remember when I first got my exige the brakes were so poor that you could actually not get the ABS to kick in come what may.

Jamie, mind and pick somewhere safe to do your brake testing!! You wouldn't want to run into a skip


Cheers,
Robin

[Shug]

You wouldn't want to run into a skip


Cheers,
Robin

Eh... wha? Somebody call?