ok so today i noticed my brakes were a bit mushy, i have to double pump the pedal for it to work right, kind of out of no where. haven't done any brake work recently or anything. figure i'd probably have to bleed them. look at the fluid and it's a bit low so i add some more, drive around, nothing, same mushiness.

go to inspect the brakes and notice the wheel bearing on driver side is completely fucked, wobbling like a mother fucker. could the wobbly rotor cause the pistons in the calipers to compress too far which give me this mushy braking? i figure thats the only thing.. dunno tho.

halp pls

Year/make/model?

rear drum/disc?

Miles?

Is it leaking visibly?

Most common thing with shit brakes other then an obvious line leak, which you didnt state there actually was, is a shitt'd out wheel cylinder on the rear drum brakes.

Sometimes hard to spot cuz it will leak inside the wheel /onto the rim of the car and you wont notice it till you actually look.

This post was edited by TURBO_DODGE on Feb 10 2015 07:44pm

If your wheel bearing is visibly wobbly that would cause all sorts of issues. Get it replaced before the wheel falls off.

And before it locks onto the spindle and you have lots of fun

If so much fun is to be had, why fix it?

no leaking at all, it's front disk hence rotor, 30k miles. oversized tires ( why the bearing blew out)

could the wobbly rotor cause the pistons in the calipers to compress too far which give me this mushy braking? i figure thats the only thing.. dunno tho.



This post was edited by Fiddy on Feb 10 2015 08:59pm

i'm just hoping it's the bearing cause i don't know how air could have got in the line and i couldn't find a leak any where.

so i'd be lost if it's not the bearing.

unlikely

The caliper and pads are stationary. There is enough slack in the rubber brake line section to allow for movement/turning, a bad wheel bearing would have zero effect on it really unless the rotor is actually gone, and the piston dislodges.

But again, what year make model? Because a lot of caliper pistons (mostly rear with e-brake on caliper setup) these days actually require a tool to turn them to take them out and / or put them back in to compress them.

Its going to be either a straight piston, or a spiral piston.

but again, unless the rotor is gone, that more then likely wouldnt be the issue.


Put the car up on jack stands, take all the tires off, fill the brake fluid reservoir, have someone pump the brakes continuously until you find the leak, or the brakes stiffen. Thats if you dont want to go with a UV dye/light test.

Or try gravity bleeding it. Leave the cap loose, but still covering the reservoir. And let it sit that way over night. It will allow the air to work its way out if it is just and air bubble issue. Ive had to do that cuz the standard bleed procedure on an old car of mine was just being a bastard.

There are so many things you can do. But id start with getting the car up and checking all the lines on all the tires.



And again, does it have rear drums or disk?

you would get a hell of a lot further if you would just provide the simple answers to the basic questions asked. What else is wrong with your car (wheel bearing) besides the brakes itself, is fairly irrelevant.

So... a visibly wobbly wheel from a bad wheel bearing won't cause any braking issues but a warped rotor can make the front end feel like it's coming apart. Hmmm. Most stuff uses a floating caliper these days. If the rotor is all over the place from the WB it would cause pulsing and an inconsistent pedal.


Get the WB fixed, and start looking at the booster if you are not losing fluid and a flush doesn't work.

I didnt say that at all, but that diagnosis wouldn't be consistent with what he is describing as the issue. (or omitting from the description)

I guess he would have to be a lot more specific. Low on fluid and mushiness isnt a lot to go off of, and nothing of pulsing brake pedal (consistent with warped rotor/etc) wasnt mentioned.

He also didnt state if he lost fluid after he refilled it and drove it.

Edit - There is a lot of missing information to really say it is anything specific lol

This post was edited by TURBO_DODGE on Feb 10 2015 10:15pm