Long Brake Pedal!?
I am the second owner of my '06 Elise and since taking delivery, I have noticed that the brake pedal takes a "double tap" to obtain a proper feel. The car has 12,000 miles with original brake pads (rears are 5mm,fronts 8mm+). It feels like a pad kickback issue and looks to be at the rear. Has anyone else experienced this and how did you remedy it? The pads don't appear to have a lot of taper wear, but it does look as if the rears pull away from the rotor at rest. Any ideas? I thought about just replacing pads, but was hoping to get some input first.:shrug:
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I have always wondered why double tapping improves the pedal feel. Thats something I am researching right now.
Sometimes the "double (or more) tap/pump" means you have air in the brake lines. Bleeding them should firm up the pedal if that is the cause.
In the particular case of pad kickback, the first tap pushes the pad out to contact the rotor. The second tap is actual application of pad pressure. This is a common phenomenon with many live axle arrangements. It is also more common with floating calipers as opposed to fixed ones. With respect to air in the system, this has already been ruled out. I have run into this on different race cars over the years and have managed to correct it by different methods in each case. The issue is-a race fix is often not a practical street fix. Sometimes rear caliper pad knock can be addressed by a fine adjustment of the piston in the bore. I have seen this on many calipers that incorporate a park brake mechanism(usually a ramp and ball variation). Has anyone attempted to address this?
I just had a brake flush done recently and I swear at start of the car or initial use the brake pedal has a half inch or inch before I feel it start to feel correctly. After the initial brake application it feels fine though...
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