Legacy brakes suck a#@

I cannot figure out why my brake pedal is incessantly spongy. I have installed Goodridge brake lines, Hawk HPS pads, Motul fluid and properly bled the system. What is it gonna take to get a firm brake pedal devoid of excessive free play & a little more initial bite. Better booster? I mean the brakes scrub speed if I stomp on it but the feeling of modulating the brakes borders on crude. The 06 Camry LE I rented last week had better brakes & no free play what so ever that I could detect.

Any hits on this would be appreciated

I cannot figure out why my brake pedal is incessantly spongy. I have installed Goodridge brake lines, Hawk HPS pads, Motul fluid and properly bled the system. What is it gonna take to get a firm brake pedal devoid of excessive free play & a little more initial bite. Better booster? I mean the brakes scrub speed if I stomp on it but the feeling of modulating the brakes borders on crude feeling. The 06 Camry LE I rented last week had better brakes & no free play what so ever that I could detect.

 

Any hits on this would be appreciated

you still have air in the line, check again. Having new pads and lines really improve the feel (but not TOO much on braking performance as the condition of your tires determines more of that than the brakes itself).

You can also adjust your brake pedal dead zone as well if you want to get rid of some of it. Just make sure you dont have it adjusted too high to where the brakes are on but the brakes lights are off! Another thing is that you dont want to adjust it soo high to the point where you are dragging your brakes even when you are completely off the brakes.

You just have to get use to some of the car's dynamics. It can stop, I would know

How much better is braking just with upgraded tires? More significant than upgrading pads/lines/fluid?

The braking distances will be better with better tires, but the feel through the pedal will not improve. When people say they don't like their stock brakes, they are refering to how they feel. SS lines and upgraded pads take care of that. Better tires make the most of the feel improvements by actually shortening stopping distances. Realistically, you very seldom use 100% of the available braking power on a daily basis, so feel is what you notice all the time.

not enough vacuum to the booster.

i feel it on mine also.

when the car idles faster it gets a lot better.

try wearing out a set of brake pads down to the backing plate.. then tell me how the brakes feel then.. all that pedal travel to get the pistons to push on the pads and then to the rotor.. you'll start to realize how wonderful it is to have any NEW set of pads.

There shouldn't be any more travel with worn pads compared to new ones, the pistons don't retract back into the cylinders when you let off the pedal, they only come off a few thou.

Thanks for all the shouts.

I am definately aware the brakes on the GTs are decent I just have never driven a newer model vehicle with properly operating brakes that had such a huge dead spot before the brakes bite (although I am sure others have brakes that would make the Subies feel awesome). My 02 Tundra which I always felt had a mushy pedal even feels somewhat more responsive. To clarify the "dead spot" feeling can be somewhat intermittent for example occasionaly when I am crusin & hit the brakes the pedal feels reasonably firm where as other times the pedal travels in what I would say is an excessive amount befor the brakes appear to activate. I know the brakes are gonna haul the car down fast enough if need be but just want more of a sporting feel in the pedal. Begining to think that if after I bleed thease brakes again as suggested & the mush is still there then I am gonna have to just deal.

My daily driver prior to the Legacy was a 99 325 w/ incredibly linear brakes.

Obviously tires play a vital role in overall braking numbers, but the Spec B has much better tires than the LGT but the braking numbers (100-0) were not dramatically different.

i personally think the stock brakes are ok at best..the initial bite on the stock pads are horrible IMO. But overall they stop the car in panic situations pretty well. It is the initial bite (or lack there of) that I hope to remedy soon.