VZ brakes

[ruffiano]

Stupid question, but should the brake pedal on the VZ feel any different to most other cars?

This is my first commodore, and I've noticed the brake pedal was spongy and I was getting a shudder under braking. Changed the pads and rotors, helped a bit, but then the sponginess returned, however not as bad as before. Had the brake fluid flushed and bled, same result.

With the car idling, I can push the pedal to the point at which i feel teh brakes bite, but then can ease the pedal all the way to the floor. I've only felt this previously in an older car when I had a hole in one of my brake lines. I'm not having any fluid marks nor am losing fluid in my master cylinder. When the car is off, I can compress the pedal until it becomes almost rock hard.

Called the dealership, they said a bit of this is normal, but I'm taking it in on friday anyways to have checked. I'm thinking it could be the master cylinder..

what says you all?

[ruffiano]

And yes I see the irony of my picture being of the slotted rotors I fitted....

[PaulSV6]

Spongy brakes on Commodores is normal.
If the pedal can be pushed all the way to the floor when the car is idleing, i dont think youve bled the system properly, might be some air bubbles still left in the lines.

Interesting to hear what the mechanic says!

[keza87]

In all honesty I have found VZ brakes to be fairly spongy compared to all other models. It is most noticeable when stopped and you can push the pedal fairly close to the floor, but others can do this as well. I have also found through experience that replacing the green DOT3 brake fluid with the yellowy DOT4 fluid can make it even more spongy.

Is it stopping as expected? Is the ABS system working as it should?

[ruffiano]

Seems to be stopping fine. Had the brakes bled (and fluid changed) by a brake place up near home so I figured that shodul be all good.... DOnt really have teh greatest confidence in the brake pedal...

[06vzcalais]

i find the same thing with my brake pedal, i can push it almost to the floor. I had slotted rotors and pads fitted last week with new brake fluid stops fine but i use alott of pedal to stop (part of the reason i replaced my brakes)
is this the only car you drive, i find my confidence low driving the vz after driving the Navara (no faith in stopping power) its funny the cars weigh much the same but the navara is so much better with braking

[Benboy]

In the interests of road safety I suggest that you take it to a brake Specialist and have then check it out for you. Anything less could be fatal for you or someone else.

[Trevor 062]

I had my brake fluid changed at my 2nd last service & I also found my brakes felt spongy afterwards. So at my last visit to the mechanic I asked him to rebleed the system, as I thought there must be still air in the system. He asked me what the problem was & when I told him what I thought, he told me it's basically how Commodore brakes are & he also said that he could push the pedal to the floor.
Anyway after the rebleed I felt the difference straight away.
So moral to the story STD commodore brakes are shit, but maybe a rebleed will help them feel more safer.

[oz1701]

i recently had my brakes flushed and rebled for the same reason - brake pedal was spongy and felt like it went down to the floor when under pressure from my foot. this was on a hot day and i had been applying the brakes in stop start traffic for about 40 minutes when i had to stop more suddenly than i expected.

after the flush and rebleed there isnt a great deal of difference. the car still stops normally under braking so i guess it is just a characteristic of the brakes in commodores. i have noticed the brakes are more consistant which is something i suppose.

[holdenvtman1123]

my VZ stops on a dime compared to the VT i owned. i purcheased a brake line sucker that sucks fluid out of the nipple on the calipers. no pumping the pedal just connect, crack the nipple and it starts sucking fluid out of the line. the VZ does have brake force distribution too. maybe this contributes to the pedal going so far.

[VzVzVz]

under a decent amount of braking force, mine does the same, pulating pedal and spongyness at idle. It's normal, nothing wrong

[ruffiano]

Got it back from the brakes guys, apparantly it's normal......... Still stops alright though...

[PaulSV6]

Did they check the lines for any air bubbles?

[bigdaddycool]

I do my own brakes...... and just chucked some new slotted rotars on the front. Generally u shouldn't have to push the pedal down much.

If you have to push the pedal down alot, check your fluids and rebleed your brakes. Normally when mechanics do your brakes on the VZ's that dont bleed them at all as they dont have to. They just take the caliper right off, put the brakes in and redo it up.

So yes, spongy brakes, rebleed the brake lines.

[ruffiano]

Did the rotors and pads myself, then got the whole system flushed and refilled by a brake specalist, who also bled them. Took it back to these guys, they said all is well...