hello everyone, iv been having a problem with braking for aslong as iv had the car but have only just come to addresing it. basically the braking is dire, if i tried my hardest i could not lock them up, the discs and pads are fine, i havent got a clue what it could be... any ideas? (1.9tdi estate)

vacuum pipe that goes to the brake servo .... they quite often split and cause the brakes to be dangerously poor ( depending on the size of the leak 

are you pretty confident that what it is? my dad ad a stab at it being sumat to do wi the servo... have you done this on a car? and cheers matey

i havent done it but quite a few on here have ... it seems pretty common .... if pads discs fluid etc is all ok i would have a stab at it..... its meant to be a bit of a ****e job to do .... but if you locate the vacuum pipe and follow it you may see a split / some damage .... they you can order a new one off ebay, tps , dealer etc ... and swap them over 

yeah it seems to be pretty well hidden tbh, cheers mate thats helped alot, il avalook after work tomora n post what iv found n fingers croossed il get it done saturday... while ya here though, is there ote else to look at for bad brake feel/make em abit sharper?

if brake fluid hasnt been changed in a long time might be worth a replacing to give you a sharper feel ....

there's asmall one way valve near the vac pump that can clog up over time  

I had exactly this problem on my Fabia tdi and it was the vacuum pipe that goes to the brake servo .... they quite often split and cause the brakes to be dangerously poor.

 

About £25 to buy and the brakes were fantastic afterwards, it took about 15 mins to fit.

 

Brian.