I already tried searching. My brake pedal is not very firm for the first couple inches of travel then after that it feels good. There is a little bit of freeplay at the very beginning but not enough to account for the mushy first bit of brake travel. I just recently flushed the brakes with ate super blue (my first ever flush). I basically had my girlfriend hit the brakes while i quickly opened the bleeder screw then closed it again. I did this many times at each corner and then went back and did it all over again; very thorough. How can i fix my brakes? I want a firm pedal from the very beginning. Is there something wrong with the technique i used to bleed? Thanks very much for the help.

 

better fluid and pads.

 

I've used ATE Super Blue for several years now, with no "mushy" feel. It's not the fluid. There may be some air in the system, and the pads may not be very good.

Did the "feel" get worse after you bled? Were you careful to make sure that you didn't empty the reservoir (if not, you may need to bleed the brake master cylinder).

 

There was a similar problem this week over in UTH. I experienced this when flushing my system and the solution was to engage ABS a few times in order to work the problem out. I do not know anything technical behind this solution, but it worked. Try it if you can

 

Yes, you probably got air in the master cylinder/ABS modulator (reservoir level got too low when bleeding) so need to activate ABS a few times and bleed to get rid of this air. If you can find a sandy patch in a safe place you can do this at very very low speed.

 

I made sure that the master cylinder was topped off at all times. The feeling i am getting with the pedal is the same as before the bleed. I had hoped the bleed would cure it but it didnt. The pedal feels alittle better than before but not as good as i think it could or should. When the car is on a very slight decline and wanted to roll forward i have to go through about an inch or more of pedal travel before the car stops. This is a 2001 with 32000 miles btw. There is a noticable difference in pedal feel after the first 1.5 inch of travel even when the car is stopped. It feels soft during this distance and then it feels nice and firm. Oh ya i engaged the abs all the time, before and after the bleed.

 

i have the same problem, this happened to me twice

the very first time i brought it back to Goudy Honda and they charge me $90 by using their vacum bleeding

it wroks somehow and i can't recall if it was good enough but $90 is a lot

the 2nd time, i asked mechanic Ben at DB Honda and he said nothing to do with the ABS, just some air u need to keep bleeding

however my brake is still like that and i can't fix it

i've heared that if u can't get the air out of the master cylinder, u need to level it or make sure the reservior is on the higher side

also there is another thread talking about gravity bleed, the oldest way sounds working great, but i just haven't tried those method yet

i donno if this helps, but myself need to try all method to get the padel feel like when i just bought it, sigh

 

detail your method of bleeding. Let's analyze your process. I have found that the ONLY way to properly bleed and seal the brake lines is to have at least two people working. One on the brakes, and the other on the bleeder. I mention this because I also have speed bleeders.
Speed Bleeders work very well for pushing fluid out of the system, but when it comes to sealing the system, only the old-school method of press, release, and tighten work. My brakes are tiyeet! But for a while there, they sucked.
Happy motoring.

 

I'm not convinced from your description that there's anything wrong. There's supposed to be a bit of free travel before you engage ABS. Can you predictably modulate your braking effectively? Can you predictably engage ABS effectively? If so, that's the way they're supposed to be.

If the pedal feels different each time you use it, you have a problem. Otherwise, I'm not sure you have a problem (other than possibly misplaced expectations).

 

DO indeed do a thorough bleed and seal of your brake fluid using Motul RBF. Then, put in a set of Hawk, or Cobalts for race compound pads.