Lousy Brakes

[big mally]

My avensis has done 95K and is an ex-fleet car. The brakes are pretty lousy and you need to pump them once to get them to take you seriously. Passed the mot recently, but wondered if this is normal. I have had French cars before and they had seriously good brakes.

Any thoughts on whether I should get a new set of disks or is this fairly normal?

[Parts-King]

You do of course need to make all the normal checks, no damaged brake hoses, fluid leaks etc, but it is normal for the pedal to have quite a bit travel in it, it's all to do the the EBD

Kingo

[Cyker]

Check 'em.

When I bought this Yaris, I felt the brakes were a bit off but when I took it for servicing the dealer didn't mention anything. It was only when I had to do an emergency stop that I discovered that they really were not working properly and near-ran into the back of the car in front of me!

On closer examination, only about a cm and a half of the brake disc had any wear which suggested the pads were faulty or not fitted correctly. Had the both front discs and pads changed and now the car stops so hard it will easily lock up the seat belt!

If you brakes are working properly, slamming them hard to the stops should throw you against the seat belt and make the nose of the car dive down noticeably (If you want to test this yourself, do it somewhere quiet and empty!!)

In my case, the pads were worn very unevenly such that only about 30-50% of their surface was actually touching the brake discs which was why my car basically wouldn't stop! It was very disconcerting as it had good braking force initially but as I pressed down the brake pedal more, the braking force did NOT increase, until the ABS started cutting in before I was anywhere near the limit of the pedal.

With my new brakes, the braking force is much more progressive and will stop the car so hard it's scary!

[dinoj_611]

it's probably as simple as there's air in your pipelines and they need bleeding, any garage will do it for you

[jumbojake]

NEVER leave brake concerns ... need to get them resolved asap!

I agree ... fluid change is often overlooked, but should be every 2 years... apart from a visual check, its the cheapest first thing to do ....quick and simple.

Visual check is free and you should see signs of uneven wear or low pads. ... also check your flexi brake pipes for any surface cracks (although I'd expect the MOT to pick on that.

sometimes the pads can get a glaze layer... rubbing them over some course sandpaper can help.... again no cost!

[Cyker]

Good call on the brake fluid, I always forget about that!

[My first toyota]

My front brakes are making a clicking noise when I brake. Its most noticeable when the car is about to stop.

I think its the front discs because theres a slight vibration in the steering wheel too. Anything else I should look into?

My car passed its mot with no faults in early July. Advisory note was blank too. Woop woop!!

[big mally]

Thanks guys for the advice. Found some other replies which mentioned that it is quite normal for the avensis to have long travel in the pedal and that because of the EBD they don't feel as responsive as some other cars. I will get my garage to have a look at the discs, pads and cables etc. The abs does work fine, when I tried it recently about 15mph and stood on the brakes.

Cheers.

[mokhali]

After driving my wife's c3 for 2 months i went to buy my current avensis d4d. At the dealer i went for a test drive, push the brakes and nearly went off the road. I was concerned but still bought the car. On the way back i tried testin how bad the brakes were and realised that the brakes are all good it just takes a longer push compare to the c3 i was driving. I checked discs pads lines fluid and all was good.

[Galad]

My 2007 Avensis had only 5k miles when I bought it from a main dealer. It took me 2 days to notice the spongy brake pedal even though I had 3 test drives before purchase. I took it back to the dealer who confirmed the brakes were fine. Tried a couple of emergency stops in a car park just to reassure myself. Eventually got used to the brakes by pressing the pedal twice to get a firm feel. The brake fluid change at the service interval made no difference. Bought a new model Avensis in June and, like Mokhali, inadvertently stood on the brakes during the test drive - much, much better!