[byronn5]

Here's the situation- I got Pagid RS-14's put on my Elise late last year. I could feel a difference before I got out of the parking lot of the dealer. The brake pedal was firmer and they felt excellent. They continued to for the next months. After the brake flush a month or so ago, they still felt good. I did a track day at VIR North course in mid March, and while my instructor who drove the car part of the time said they felt good to him, I thought I noticed the pedal getting softer, as in it went down further when I pressed it. I didn't know if they overheated or what happened. The pedal just felt softer.

Last week after the lines were bled to hopefully get any air out that may have contributed, it still feels that way. It does still brake good, but the pedal just doesn't feel as firm to me as it used to. I can't say it's lost any stopping power, but the brakes just don't seem to have the initial bite feeling they used to. Any thoughts?? Thanks!

 

[Elise 323]

Pedal feel

In my limited experience as pads wear down the pedal does not feel as good as when the pads were new. I don't know what causes that change in feel. :shrug: Possibly the increased volume of brake fluid in the caliper as the piston extends further due to less brake pad thickness? Wear on the rear brake pads seems to affect pedal feel more than wear on the fronts. Just my observation.

 

[CALtd]

Maybe you have reached the end of the useful life of the brake fluid. You may need to do a complete flush with new fluid. When you bled the brakes, was the fluid really dark?

 

[byronn5]

Thanks for your replies guys. As for the wear on the pads, I think there is plenty left on them. As for the flush, which was a month ago, although it did need it, they felt good before and after the flush. The real before/after that I can tell a difference was the VIR North course track day.

It's getting closer to time for new rotors- could that be a factor?

 

[dstevens]

Is it an 05? It sounds like the 'brake pedal relay lever' bushing has gone soft. If you've never seen this fine piece of automotive engineering, get your head deep into the passenger footwell and have someone stand on the brake pedal. One end of the link is a rubber bushing which fits into in the brake pedal (the rubber goes soft) and the other end has a pin to drive the booster push rod (which from memory was in single shear and flexes). It's all a bit of a disaster for brake feel.

 

[Sergialized]

Gimme a brake

Have a look at this thread.

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47814

 

[elise/europa]

I think that the reason can be something else. After intense track day, the pad material is coming porous if the pad was overheated. This porosity is creating sprongious pedal feel.

In term of solution, remove your pads, and remove the porous material by using sandpaper (not sure about the name of this paper used to remove stuff, but the usual paper, with grade like 100) on flat surface. Take care to obtain a parallel surface with the steel parts of the pad.

Another solution is changing the disc brake. The actual drilled rotor have chamfered holes, which are not ideal to machine the porous material on the brake pads. Drilling the holes to have square edge can increase the risk of disc cracking around the hole. Many discs have sharp slot on the disc to machine the pads.

The best of the best is use brake pad not requiring machining from the disc like racing pad from Hawks.

Or never brake enought to overheat the brake pads.

 

[RichS]

It's getting closer to time for new rotors- could that be a factor?

Yes.

I just put new front rotors on my car along with new pads. I use my pads up pretty quickly chasing (and passing!) Vipers. (O.K. I had a bit more experience than the Viper driver, but it still felt cool and if I can't brag on the internet, then where can I brag?).

The switch to new pads with the old worn out rotors was good. The switch to new pads with new rotors is AMAZING. Before everybody said that my car braked very, very well. Now it's braking much, much better than before.

 

[carlover]

Here is another thing you can try.

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=69015&postcount=5