Hi guys,

This site rocks!! Thanks tech for helping me out with my heater core problem.

This time the old girl (V70 99 - 174000miles) is apprently having a problem withthe brake pedal being too hard to press ( I say apprently, as it's my wife and daughters that are nagging me to death about this) I took it for a test spin, several infact,and I can't feel anything wrong with it, but the women inmy family swearthat everytime theyhave to pressthepedal is so hard thatthey think they are about to crash and die. It doesn't seemTHAT bad to me maybe a little hard but I can't remember what she used to be like.

I have heard conflicting explanations by two different mechanics. Maybe Brake calipers, or brake booster. I already bleeded the brake lines to see if there was problems there, but the fluid came out fine and looked clean. I installed new brake pads and rotors 2 months ago, and everything was working fine until apprently 2-3 weeks ago. There are no hissing sounds. No sounds at all. Does this mean my brake booster is ok? Is it Bad fluid? Master cylinder?

I have no idea where to start with this problem

regards,
atwialt

 

why are you letting women drive you volvo..........

By too hard to they mean that its too hard or is it that its taking to long for it to grab the breaks. I know that at freeway speeds the brakes losen so that when you hit them it doesnt grab really hard. If you going 30 they grab quicker. So could the brakes be acting like the car is going 60 when tis only going 30 and thus being too hard to brake since it takes longer to grab -or- are they saying their is too much pedal resistance?

That would sure make me feel like I cant break. I also have a feeeling that I am completly off, but wanted to get alittle more info sicne you say you dont feel anything wrong.

 

well, when you live in a household with 4 female's it soon makes sense to take the path of least resistance....so anyway,...apprently..lol... they say they have toapplymore force on the pedal in order to stop then they ever did before. I personnally took the ol' girl for a road trip to Vegas last week and she drove like a freaking dream, talk about a smooth ride. I was so comfortable that I totally forgot to take note of the breaking issue. However, I have been threatend to take the matter more seriously or else wiffy is taking it to the dealers and have them rape my wallet instead. So, now I really need to figure this out. lol.

I checked the rotors and brake pads and they look normal to me. A good contact and normal wear tear.

 

Oh, btw this is city driving. Speed doesn't seem to play a role in this.

 

Well im afraid thats as far as I could go, I dont know that much about the brake system. Hopefully tech will be in here soon. I have a feeling its one of the two things you mentioned in your first post.

 

Aftermarket pads and rotors?

 

yes, BUT this is the 3rd time I have installed them. Never had a problem as such with them.

 

I mean I had some bad aftermarketrotors before but this time spent good money on aftermarket rotors and ceramic pads. Like I said they look good to me. Are the calipers sticking or something?

 

did they start comlaining right after? The pads and rotars might be harder to push?

 

No, they didn't ( I just asked them) It was something that happened at least a month later from one day to the next it seems. I just checked the booster by pumping it prestart and then starting the engine and feeling it kick in, so it seems to work well. I alsoown a 2001 V70 that I compared it with. Those brakes do seem a little softer/normal to me.

 

Trade cars with your wife and you start driving the one she is complaining about. My wife has taken the yellow T5R off of me because she keeps getting compliments on what anice car SHE has. Even got a note on her windshield one time.

 

yeah, if only it was that easy. It was mycommuter carbut now I drive a truck and wife does not want that.

I'm taking off the brake calipers tonight to clean them out and see if they are sticking or something.

By the way, nice R volvo's you got there. I always wanted one of those.

 

I have had many cars do the hard braking when aftermarket pads are on there.
I installed OEM pads and all went back to normal.
Had this happen about 15 times in the last year.

 

sure seems to make more and more sense. Pads... So even tho they are supposed to be made for this model these ceramic pads are no good huh? Ok, going to try and getsome OEM pads and see if it works. Thanks for the help guys!

 

Some have good luck with the Ceramic pads others don't.

 

I put Akebono "Euro" ceramic pads on the front of my V7- 2.4T about 5000 miles back - absolutely no problems with noise or braking + the dusting is down by at least 90% (the rears get dirty far faster than the fronts) and, so far as I can tell, there is no wear showing on the disks - no ridges, no roughness - look like they were just installed

 

Just a stab in the dark, but could this be a booster issue? Is there any hunting at idle with this car? If it is a minor leak, it might not be noticable by you.....Just my two cents.

 

alfaromeo1green, If you have an unsteady idle, you need to get the Electronic Throttle module recall done, call Volvo.
It sounds like the moderators have the brake issue pegged.

 

The results are in!

Tech seems to have got it right again. I bought OEM pads yesterday and installed them. I let the wife take it for a test drive and she came back happy!! It would seem the ceramic pads were not giving a good enough friction on the rotors. I proved this theory out by cutting groves into the ceramic pads decreasing the surface area of contact on the rotors and found the brakes to be a slight bit harder to press again. Suggesting the pads were at fault. Although ceramic pads were supposed to be better then average ones (certainly with dust control)in this case either the material is too hard or the total area of contact on the rotors was not large enough. Either way, once the OEM pads were installedthe problem went away! Lesson learned.

Thanks to all you guy's out there for putting in your 2 cents.

 

I have tried non-OEM pads twice and both time had to replace them with OEM. I've been driving Volvos for 23 years now and will probably always just buy OEM pads. I do use Brembo rotors though.