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On 7 Apr 2006 at 23:27, Constantino Tobio wrote: > Here's what I'm noticing on my pedal, which is different enough that I > just want to put my mind at ease. > > It's fairly soft, almost spongy, but I wouldn't go that far. Doesn't > require a lot of force to get it to close to its stop (though enoguh > pressure builds up to stop it). On a second pump, travel is about 2/3 of > what it is on the first pump. I've bled until there was no air coming > out of the bleeder hose. As the calipers age and corrode, the first thing that happens is that the pistons stop retracting on their own like they are supposed to. The mechanism that retracts them is nothing more than the deformation of the square cross section seal ring in there, so there's little actual force available for pulling the pistons back from the rotors. The end result is that old rusty calipers give you a very high and hard pedal. Blocked hoses make this even worse. At the same time, the rotors run extremely hot, the gas mileage goes down a bit, and you'll run thru a set of pads in 500 miles. Everyone's first reaction to getting back in a car that has had its system rebuilt is that the pedal is now spongy, but it's actually back to the way it felt when it was new. OTOH, it's also possible that your pedal is too low. If everything has been well bled (and there's no trick to this, it's easy) then the next thing to check is the rear wheel brake adjustment. These are often set too loose, just because they're not centered as the adjustment is done. Centering is done by rotating the wheel while you do the adjustment. Rotate it both ways, to push the shoe into it's centered, or minimum, position. I will sometimes get in the car, start the engine, and run the wheels forward and backwards applying the brakes lightly in each direction, then get out and recheck the brake adjustment. If you've already done all that and the brakes still seem soft, then I don't know what else to do. I have to admit that some of my own cars seem softer than I'd like. I have one car that seems to lose it's rear wheel adjustment almost instantly. It's like someone comes around and loosens them up the first night after I tighten them. One thing you can do is to set the parking brake and then see how the pedal feels. That limits the pedal motion to the front circuit only. If the pedal feels extra high when you have the parking brake on, then the front brakes are probably fine. If everything seems fine until you actually get out and drive, then check the front wheel bearing adjustment, and if your type 3 is earlier than mid-68, you might need to make sure you don't have the wrong (late) inner wheel bearings installed there. Wobble in the front wheels will push the pads out and require more pedal travel to bring them back in again. I've actually also wondered about brake pads and shoes. Does anyone know if some brands or materials tend to be "softer" than others, to the extent that they'll compress and require more pedal travel? -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~