Dembo

The story so far....

A year or so ago, I bought Goodridge braided hoses and fitted them myself. I literally had about 10 goes at bleeding the system (i.e. going round and round the car), but the brakes were terrible. They wouldn't hold any pressure; I had to pump the pedal to get the car to slow down and the pedal would just fade away and my foot would fall to the floor.

I'd been pushing the pedal right to the floor whilst bleeding, so at this point I was convinced I'd damaged my master cylinder.

I took it to Honda on a Saturday, and they bled them, but they were still terrible and when I asked they said it was "because of your aftermarket discs". So it went back again and ended up leaving it with them a couple of days. When I got it back it was okay, but I still wasn't convinced, it still seemed a bit too spongey.

But I lived with that, and did a couple of trips to the Ring and a couple of trackdays (including Bedford), so it couldn't have been all that bad. Things started to go wrong when bedding in the Ferodo pads the day before Rockingham, and at Rockingham I was doing shorter sessions than I wanted because the brake fluid was letting me down.

Today I got around to replacing the fluid using my one man bleeding kit (pipe with a valve), and it's now at least as good as it was pre-Rockingham. When you press the pedal there's some give before anything happens, then the brakes start to work but still feel a bit spongey, then if you press harder it becomes firm. It's okay, and I'm sure it'll be fine as is.

So my question is: is this how it is for everybody with braided hoses? Or should I be trying to make it better than this?

Crispy Rice

I have the same discs and pads as you, and am not totally happy with pedal feel. Infact i was planning on getting braided hoses.

My brake fuild boiled after a a spirited drive along country roads on wednesday, so i think maybe .4 fluid might be the answer.

Bibbs

I've braided hoses, and the pedal moves a few mm then goes solid.

Dembo, you are fairly local, is it worth popping over to check how my setup compares?

lower

If you pump the pedal when the engine is off, ie no servo, does the pedal go and remain solid?

Dembo

Yep, it was rock solid until I started the engine.

Red S2000

No braided hoses on mine but I did a brake fluid change today on mine using Billman250's gravity method (8th post down) when I swapped a caliper and the pedal feel is now excellent, small bit of movement then rock hard and instant brakes. Much better than before.

Dembo

So you just undo the bleed screw and leave it? How long does it take?

Don't see how that's any different. The problem as I see it is that the bleed screws leak, so any time you have it open you're letting in the air. Can't see how leaving it to work by gravity is any better/worse than pumping it through with the pedal.

I think I probably have about an inch of movement before it starts to happen.

Red S2000

Left each caliper dripping for 10 mins, long enough for the old yellower fluid and some new to drip through, I love the feel now, about half an inch of movement is the same as mine.

Dembo

I might have to give that a try tomorrow just to see if it makes it better (and I have another litre of fluid to waste).

Why has this been kept such a secret?

What order did you do? I just went round the car clockwise starting from right front. I've seen several different versions of the "correct" order on this site, so who knows?

Red S2000

Drivers front (new caliper), passenger front, passenger rear, driver rear. Anti-clockwise from nearest to master cylinder really. Worth a try

Went for a spirited 10 mile drive afterwards and it was feeling superb by the end of it. I used Halfords DOT 4. Did the clutch fluid too while I had some left.

Geometry to do next (not by me) then i'm all done.