# Brake Pedal Travel



## Beavboy888 (Aug 4, 2008)

How far should I have to press the pedal down before my brakes really bite? I just got new pads put on all four, and I've driven a couple hundred miles (mostly highway) and it still feels like I have to press the pedal further before I have good friction. When they were first put on I left the shop and I almost couldn't stop, even with the pedal to the floor. I took it back, they worked on it some more, and now it feels much better, but there seems to be more travel in the pedal before I have good stopping power. I've done the bedding procedure, and that helped some, but I still can't engage the ABS even when stepping on them hard. Any thoughts?


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

*Re: Brake Pedal Travel (Beavboy888)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Beavboy888* »_How far should I have to press the pedal down before my brakes really bite? I just got new pads put on all four, and I've driven a couple hundred miles (mostly highway) and it still feels like I have to press the pedal further before I have good friction. When they were first put on I left the shop and I almost couldn't stop, even with the pedal to the floor. I took it back, they worked on it some more, and now it feels much better, but there seems to be more travel in the pedal before I have good stopping power. I've done the bedding procedure, and that helped some, but I still can't engage the ABS even when stepping on them hard. Any thoughts?









There still may be a bleed issue... ABS should always be able to engage by smashing the brake pedal...
Keep trying to bleed the system, take the calipers off even to bleed if you must (of course with something taking the place of a disk), tap them with a rubber mallet...
From experience we had an issue on 1 vehicle out of 20+ prototypes that had a very strange brake issue, vaccum bled, pressure bled, 2 person bled, you name it, it was done... finally after many many many hrs (more than anyone would believe) the vehicle finally got all the air bubbles out and it performed consistantly with the others...







very strange condition


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## Beavboy888 (Aug 4, 2008)

*Re: Brake Pedal Travel (GTijoejoe)*

I took it back today and they did "everything they could think of" but I still have some brake travel before good bite. They said they called the dealer, who recommended replacing the master cylinder. That's going to run me $300 installed, but if it doesn't fix the problem they're going to give it to me free, so why not. Do you think the master cylinder is plausible?


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## HilF (Jan 10, 2004)

*Re: Brake Pedal Travel (Beavboy888)*

turn the car off, pump the brakes until it get rock hard.
apply pressure to the pedal and if it sinks, then it's the master. 
but i highly doubt it.
which pads did you get? still needs to get bedded in i bet.


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## Beavboy888 (Aug 4, 2008)

*Re: Brake Pedal Travel (white_r!ce)*

I'm not that into it, so I just told them to put new brakes on all four... no clue what brand are on there


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## Beavboy888 (Aug 4, 2008)

*Re: Brake Pedal Travel (white_r!ce)*

I tried pumping the pedal while the car was off. It did sink very slowly. I also ran across this while I was looking at lines:
http://tdiparts.com/catalog/pr...d=785
How do I know if it's this part and not the MC? I'm assuming the labor to put this on is virtually nothing, so they may be able to just throw it on there when they replace the MC.


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## Beavboy888 (Aug 4, 2008)

*Re: Brake Pedal Travel (Beavboy888)*

Also, if it is that vacuum line, is the part different for the 2.0L engine than it is for the TDI? If so, what am I looking for and where can I get it?


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## ATPTourFan (Jul 14, 2003)

> HilF
> 
> Re: Brake Pedal Travel (Beavboy888)
> turn the car off, pump the brakes until it get rock hard.
> ...



I just replaced my rear passenger caliper in my Mk4 Jetta (stock brakes). I have a feeling I didn't completely bleed out all the tiniest air bubbles, and we only did that corner due to darkness approaching.

With engine off, a few pumps will get the pedal to resist moderate pressure at what I'd call halfway travel. I don't think I could get it to move any further even if I press harder (which I don't want to do). There's a healthy elasticity to the pedal, where it resists more as I push harder. There's no give or slow release down to the floor. This seems in line with other cars like my wife's volvo.

However, with engine on, I'm able to lock up the brakes without the pedal hitting the floor, but I could definitely get it down to the stopper on the floor if I pushed a little harder. This was never possible before.

Clearly, I need a 4-corner systematic bleed to get any residual bubbles out. I've heard several bleed orders (like RP, RD, FP, FD) mentioned around here. I can't find in my Bentley what the order should be.

Any advice to purge the air from my lines? What order do you use to bleed these ABS equipped Dubs? Thanks.


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