Soft brakes

Hey team

I noticed quite recently that my brakes are feeling quite soft when I try to stop suddenly at slow speeds. In general I have not noticed any problems with the brakes while driving, they feel responsive and the car slows without issue. It’s only at slow speeds when I try to push hard on them that I notice. The brakes don’t clamp with any sort of firmness, the pedal is firm but kind of goes soft at the same time and I have to put heaps of pressure to stop the car quickly.
It’s not noticeable when driving normally. The car slows and stops without issue around town etc. it’s only noticeable when I want to stop in a hurry.

Does that sound to you like I just need to bleed the brakes? I had the rear pads and fluid flushed at the last service 5-6 months ago, so I am surprised it would need to be bled again.

I can happily bleed the brakes myself, but if you think it sounds like something more serious I’ll need to book it in

is the fluid still clear or gone "milky"?

Whats the car

Fluid still full or getting low??? Classic for doing it. Does a pump of brakes fix issue??

Check for vaccum leaks?

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Could be old flexible hoses. When they get past their use by date they will bulge under pressure and use up some of your stopping power.

Otherwise it could be a master or slave cylinder seals beginning to fail. But this usually shows up as tiny black bits in your flushed out brake fluid.

2009 Suzuki escudo.
Fluid still full, and still clear. I’ll give it a flush as I have everything needed and will go from there.

What car? Manual setup, electronic?

It could be several things, but adjust rear shoes first if it has them. Could be a vacuum leak to of in the booster.

Bleed brakes adjust rear shoes then check front caliper sliders you might have a siezed one

If its fading away im picking master cylinder, or booster especially if the fluid is clear and up to level. By fading without losing fluid and having new'ish fluid in the system it means its loosing pressure

@blip is possibly onto it. If rear brake shoes have worn and have not been adjusted you will be using some pedal travel distance moving slave cylinders far enough to take up excess clearance between brake shoes/ brake drum, effectively giving a ‘spongey’ brake feeling. Brakes still work though. Automatic adjusters are prone to not working correctly due to ‘gumming up’ with brake dust etc. Ford Couriers and others are chronic for this. May be worth checking out.

Just giving him the cheap options first. People put the wrong grease on the sliders and they start sticking as normal grease swells the rubber. Use rubber grease

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Originally Posted by blip

Just giving him the cheap options first. People put the wrong grease on the sliders and they start sticking as normal grease swells the rubber. Use rubber grease

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Just did the brakes on neighbours car and some numpty used copper anti seize on the guide pins, i use permatex ultra was about 30$ for a 2oz tube have done the guide pins on 7 cars so far so goes a long way still 1/2 full

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Originally Posted by Carbine

Just did the brakes on neighbours car and some numpty used copper anti seize on the guide pins, i use permatex ultra was about 30$ for a 2oz tube have done the guide pins on 7 cars so far so goes a long way still 1/2 full

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I've used silver nickel antiseize on marine trailers - this is just down to the immersion issue and rubber grease going as solid as hell. Not sure what's in copper antiseize but the silver nickel seems fine and hasn't swollen the rubber that the trailer calipers run with. On everything else I'm using rubber grease and no issues as per (for what that's worth).

As far as the 2009 Escudo - is that a manual park brake or electric switch? Is it combined disc/drum rear brakes (service brakes are disc and caliper with a drum setup for the park brake completely separate) or combined drum - or combined disc with a separate actuator? If it's combined drum with manual hand brake and the shoes are worn you should note the number of clicks on the handbrake lever increasing. If it's a different style this test won't help.

My experience with seized calipers, if they are fully seized normally the brakes get more firm not less as there is less slack in the system for the hydraulic fluid to take up. What you are describing would seem to be either a mechanical issue with a seal or cup worn somewhere that is allowing pressure to be lost, a vacuum booster issue or impending failure of a flexible component like a hose. Possibly a combination of the lot, with worn brakes pads as something else to check. Effectively with hydraulic systems, if you are increasing the volume that the system is trying to push hydraulic fluid into, the result is a spongy feeling pedal - the cause could either be wear somewhere, losses in the system due to something not working correctly or for some reason something has started to compress that shouldn't. Chuck the thing up on stands or blocks and pop the wheels off, and get someone to cycle the brakes while looking at each brake assembly on the corners. If everything looks good, then it's probably the actuating system...

Trailer brakes usually dont have rubber bushes on in the slider area

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Originally Posted by No.3

I've used silver nickel antiseize on marine trailers - this is just down to the immersion issue and rubber grease going as solid as hell. Not sure what's in copper antiseize but the silver nickel seems fine and hasn't swollen the rubber that the trailer calipers run with. On everything else I'm using rubber grease and no issues as per (for what that's worth).

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The antiseize in the neighbours pathfinder was all hard and crusty so couldn't take the heat like the brake lube's can, which is weird considering it works on spark plugs and exhaust studs a treat maybe abit of brake dust mixed it doesn't help it any. i use to use silicone grease but watched a video about brakes and what products etc and how they work and hold up and the ultra stuff did the best so use that now and no issues but rubber grease is brake rated so shouldn't be any issues there.

Normally i will remove the guide pins and use a soft bristle brush on a drill and clean out the hole and then regrease the pins its a 5 minute job and saves money down the
line on brake pads, rotors and drums so no brainer then while there will put a 2ft long section of clear line over the bleed nipple and let it gravity bleed about 1 1/2ft up the line
then close the bleeder then refill the master cylinder once done all 4 wheels costs maybe 8$ in brake cleaner, pin lube and brake fluid and calipers have new fluid in them from bleeding.

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Originally Posted by blip

Trailer brakes usually dont have rubber bushes on in the slider area

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Trojan don't, some others do.

Yea trojan and cm would be the most common trailer brakes youd come across.

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Originally Posted by Delphus

Hey team

I noticed quite recently that my brakes are feeling quite soft when I try to stop suddenly at slow speeds. In general I have not noticed any problems with the brakes while driving, they feel responsive and the car slows without issue. It’s only at slow speeds when I try to push hard on them that I notice. The brakes don’t clamp with any sort of firmness, the pedal is firm but kind of goes soft at the same time and I have to put heaps of pressure to stop the car quickly.
It’s not noticeable when driving normally. The car slows and stops without issue around town etc. it’s only noticeable when I want to stop in a hurry.

Does that sound to you like I just need to bleed the brakes? I had the rear pads and fluid flushed at the last service 5-6 months ago, so I am surprised it would need to be bled again.

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any update @Delphus

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Originally Posted by Carbine

any update @Delphus

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Na not yet. I have a few days off next week and was going to look at it then. Yesterday I went to the supermarket and noticed a 20cm pool of reddish fluid dripping from the car. Im pretty sure its the trans leaking.
Its now parked up at the mechanic to be looked at Monday ffs. Ill just get them to look at the brakes while they are in there.

Im going to cut my losses and get a Triton I think.

So the mechanic had a look today. He lifted it up and put it in drive and turned around to find a pool of coolant dripping onto the floor. There were a couple of nicks and cracks in one of the pipes that he thinks were done when the motor was replaced. It’s been leaking for a while, just pooling so hasn’t been noticed dripping. Good thing I took it in because I had no idea!

The trans leak was the o-ring at the bottom of the dipstick. Replaced that and no more leak.

He flushed the brakes and that solved that issue too!

Overall a good trip to the mechanic

If anyone is in the market for an escudo know a guy selling one haha