So I did my brakes over the weekend, Rotora and Stoptech slotted discs with Stoptech pads, some SS brake lines, flushed with new Motul 600.

Finished the job Saturday, and took the car out to bed the pads/rotors; did several speed-to-nearly-stop passes starting at lower speeds and working my way up.

The brakes stop the car pretty well, but one thing I'm surprised at is that the pedal feel is not what I expected. I anticipated having the pedal engage the brakes noticeably almost immediately, but it feels like I have to push the pedal quite a ways to get the brakes to engage.

Is this indicative of additional bleeding being needed, or is it just the expected feel of the factory m/c and abs system?

 

Did you bleed the brakes? If not then you might have air in the lines.

 

try re-bleeding if you haven't allready, cause it should stop like bmw (best brake feel) with that set up.

 

soft pedal feel = air in brake lines. need to re bleed the lines

 

Did you bleed them in the correct pattern LF, RF, RR, LR.

Re bleed them. Also i have seen a few on the TL side now that have had to replace their master cyl now and they have said it has much better feel.

 

I bled the brakes like crazy, in the correct pattern too, according to the service manual. For some reason, I really expected a very immediate pedal feel, and I don't have that... I'm assuming you guys are right with the suggestion of air in the lines, but I bled each corner until there were NO air bubbles coming out, then went around the whole car again just for good measure.

I guess I'll bleed again and see if I can get more air out of the lines....

 

If you have many miles on the car or the brake fluid was never changed or the master cylinder was just worn out this would happen when adding new fluid to the system. Otherwise you still have air in the lines.

 

This is an interesting perspective... I have 115xxx on the car now, and as far as I know, the brake fluid was never changed.... I flushed out with Motul600, so that part is sorted out, but the master cylinder wasn't touched.

Do you think I need to replace the M/C?

 

If the brake fluid was never changed what will typically happen is the dirty fluid will damage the seals in the master cylinder and basically work with the contaminants in the fluid to continue working. Once the fluid is changed, the contaminants are removed from the system and fluid is allowed to bypass seals where it was once held back by contaminants. That is a crash explanation but it is what happens when you do not change the fluid and have so many miles on the car. Call the dealer and ask them about it. I have seen in happen several times. It has happened to me in fact. If you bled correctly try it one more time and if you get the same result you have a worn out master cylinder which needs replacement and you need to start changing your brake fluid more often in the future. Every 20000 is a good measure.