Yesterday I had my VRS serviced where they changed the brake fluid. Driving today the brake pedal feels rather different. The brakes feel like the initial bite is better but the pedal feels a bit soft compared to before, like it doesn't inspire such confidence. Previously it didnt bite as quick but it felt firmer. The clutch pedal also feels different a bit firmer yet at the same time springier/spongy, although it does seem smoother when pulling away.

It could be I've not adjusted to the change and this is normal after a fluid change? Particularly the brakes. The dealer didnt road test the car after changing the fluid as they said my rear tyres were illegal, not down to tred wear markers yet though. Could there be air in the system or would the inital bite not be there if that was the case?

Brings back old memories of my old renault 5, the master cylinder failed on one circuit, resulting in a brown trouser moment.

mine havent felt right for a while either and the car is only a year old. i would suggest they check the boiling point of the fluid and also bleed them to remove any air that might be in the system from the fluid change.

The boiling point of the fluid won't be a problem as would have to be doing some seriously spirited driving to induce that and the brakes would fade before that happened!

As brake fluid is hygroscopic, it has a tendancy to absorb water, this % water content is what would bring down the boiling point. If the car is only a year old, I would not imagine that there is a great deal of % water in there - more like 5 years old. I've bled emulsion out of my brakes on an old Mk2 Golf GTI before!

Could be air in the system but if bite is good and can induce ABS on demand, I wouldn't worry!

mine got spongier and spongier as the journey goes, no longer has the great bite it had when i got the car. thought it had been sorted when the car was in the garage after the accident. but a few days later it was back to how its been for the past 6 months.

hmm, are you losing any fluid? What was the nature of the problem?

im not losing any fluid. i can pump the brakes up with the engine off and it feels hard etc. we could then drive off down the road and they feel spongy. the handbrake which normal pulls up 3-4 clicks will now need about 7 clicks to pull up..

Could be a small vacuum leak that makes it feel spongy or even the friction material itself once warmed up could become excessively compressible.

As for the hand brake, is it an integrated caliper? (handbrake part of dynamic brake)

dont have a clue what the handbrake type is, sorry.

I've been having this issue since I got the car, http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/new-octy-vrs-brakes/60347/

I got the garage to bleed the brakes again. This time they said they did it the manual way (I assume someone pressing the brake pedal, someone else on the nipple). This has restored the clutch back to normal, the biting point in the same place as before. The brakes feel a bit better although the pedal still lacks feel, I can see I'm slowing down but I'm not feeling much from the pedal. At slow speeds the brakes feel less effective than at high speeds. Could it be the pads? They look like there's plenty left on them (29,000 miles on them).

Starting to wish I didnt get the fluid chaged now...

This has restored the clutch back to normal, the biting point in the same place as before. ...

Are the brakes fluid and clutch directly linked? The bite point in a mates vRS (that has better brakes than mine) is much lower than mine.

I believe they are related in that they use the same fluid reservoir. So when they change the brake fluid the clutch gets flushed through as well. So it also needs bleeding.

The first time they did mine the clutch pedal felt different (softer) and the bite point moved closer to the floor. After the second bleeding it was restored higher up.