slp223

i dont like the feel of my brakes they are mushy and will not lock up or activate the abs anymore. I have all new rotors, pads, steel lines, and have bleed them i am guessing i have a bad master or bad booster both are original 12years old and 160k. I dont have any leaks. what is the life of these parts? should i repace them together? thank you.

Dave K

I'm not an expert on brakes but my system has the same feel... for me it started after I went to the HOT cam so I was thinking maybe I'm lacking vacuum. The pedal will hold just fine, but it's not putting out the braking effort is should be. Master cylinder problems usually result in a pedal that won't hold pressure (if you hold it down it will slowly travel all the way to the floor). This is more of a "won't apply the same braking force". No doubt it doesn't help that the brakes for LT1 f-body are total crap. I'm doing the C5 upgrade before the car goes back on the road this year.

Lazlo

I've been chasing this crap for years now, I still got nuthin. When I bought the car(100k miles) the brakes felt great, then ever since the first brake job I did it got the mushy pedal. The manual said a GM scan tool is required to agitate the ABS pistons while you bleed it, so I payed the dealer $70 to bleed it, but that did nothing. The hard part is that it feels right to anyone driving it for the first time, and when you swear up and down that it's soft they just dismiss it like you don't know what your talkin about. Recently I did the LS1 front upgrade and it stops alot better but the pedal's still the same. After the swap I flushed it all and went to DOT4 fluid, then we bleed the crap out of it, went and locked em up a few times, bleed it, and I bleed it 4-5 times over the next week, but still the same.

I've heard alot of theories on the problem too, but nothing pans out. The only thing I didn't try was GM OE rotors and pads, that stuffs pricy, but I was told cheap pad compounds could cause it. I'm pretty sure it's not air in the lines, but there are posts around here saying these cars are just a pain to bleed and that's the problem. I'm pretty close to ditching the ABS and see if that's it, but the ABS has saved me a few times, and I don't want to do that.

If you guys happen to fix this make sure and post what you found please, and anyone else with an idea please speak up.