Just testing the water,

Octavia 2003 model.

I have had a soft brake pedal for the past five weeks, took the car into an independent garage, fitted new front pads, bled the brakes three times and reported no signs of hydraulic oil leaks anywhere , but still had the soft pedal i.e. brakes come on after depressing pedal around three inches of downward travel.

Told garage to fit a new master cylinder and of course bleed the brakes.

Result, a much improved pedal which now travels in a downward direction of around one and a half inches before anything begins to happen.

My question! How much free travel do you guys experience with your brake pedal? or am I being paranoid?

I'd say the original problem is that the master cylinder had air in it and it needs to be bled too. Its not something that is well known about the brakes on the later VW group cars unless you do them every day. Since effectively the whole system is new (new pads, discs and master cylinder), I'd expect the effect on the pedal to be immediate, but not bleeding the master cylinder will give you all the symptoms you describe for both issues.

I'm not a mechanic and will glad to be put right if anything above is incorrect, but its my understanding of things.

Mine has (what I'd consider) to be too much pedal travel, about an inch and a half, certainly a lot more than other cars I've driven. My mates VRS has even more, and we've bled the brakes twice on his and made sure we bled the master cylinder at both bleeding points too.

The last time mine was serviced at Impossible Performance Mike did something with VAG-Com to bleed air out of the ABS system so I'm wondering if this has to be done too?

I'll have a good check on it tonight on the way home, but I'm pretty sure my brakes start working the moment I touch the pedal.

Just checked the Ross Tech website and its not necessary to bleed the ABS pump unless its gone dry...

Details Here

Just checked the Ross Tech website and its not necessary to bleed the ABS pump unless its gone dry...

Details Here

Cool thanks

Just checked the Ross Tech website and its not necessary to bleed the ABS pump unless its gone dry...

That indeed is very interesting.

Edited 9 September, 201015 yr by hussarman