# brake pedal travel & force



## oldrivers (May 2, 2009)

when replacing brake components its not uncommom for the pedal to be a little low until everything re adjusts itself , you could try slowely pumping the brakes a few times to get the pads shoes to readjust .. take up the slack that was reset when removed. slack is the distance betwenn the pads /shoes to the rotors/ drums that will slowely become less and less as you use your brakes meaning less pedal travel.


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

oldrivers said:


> when replacing brake components its not uncommom for the pedal to be a little low until everything re adjusts itself , you could try slowely pumping the brakes a few times to get the pads shoes to readjust .. take up the slack that was reset when removed. slack is the distance betwenn the pads /shoes to the rotors/ drums that will slowely become less and less as you use your brakes meaning less pedal travel.


Thanks for your reply.

I thought the free play was out of spec but it probably isn't, and it turns out that the pedal 'feel' in my 2003 truck is not much better than in this Civic. 

I e-mailed MD DMV and we'll see what they say. If necessary I'll measure the pedal force with a bathroom scale.

Maybe the hard and high pedal I got once was an unusual occurrence, and the vehicle didn't have a brake booster.


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## BryantS (May 26, 2009)

I think that when they did your brake job that they some how didn't get all the air out. Sometimes when replacing either wheel cylinders or calipers or just anything in the brake system for that matter sometimes it traps fluid. If you where getting a sinking pedal I would lean toward a master but since you say that it doesn't sink it just feels poorly maybe there is still air in the lines. How far does your ebrake handle come up when pulled. Maybe they need to adjust your shoes. Not all rear shoes have self adjusters on them. We are assuming that they bench bleed the master cylinder and that might not be accurate. If you have help then you and a friend can bleed the brakes. If you have access to a jack AND STANDS then you can pull the rear drums off and adjust them. Or find a shop that you trust and let them do it. :thumbsup:


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