"Soft" Pedal condition....calipers or Master cylinder?

[The Chazz]

My car had developed a "Soft" pedal....meaning I can pump them and get a firm pedal feel, but if not, I have the pedal going to the floor when I Heel-Toe-Downshift.

I have new pads/rotors....blead the lines perfectly.

Soooo.....curious if anyone has any experience with this. It's either the calipers or the master cylinder. Don't want to replace one and have it be the other.

Thanks a ton.

 

[nlzn]

I had to pump with 2 bad calipers unknowingly.
Of course it was pretty easy to tell one was seized when it started smoking.

You might wanna try a bleed before you start replacing stuff.. the little one man bleeder tool harbor freight sells is awesome for this. good thing about bleeding each one is you can visually inspect the calipers @ the same time.

It's early and I just realized you said you bled the lines.. disregard that bleeding stuff, im an idiot.
You can visually inspect and hear the pads grab the rotors if you have someone pump the brakes while you're watching through the pad inspection hole in the caliper.

 

[bmoha2]

Look for; slider bolts that are seized or not letting the caliper move as easily as it should, look for seized calipers (or even pistons that might not be moving as easily as they should), did you replace your brake pad retaining clips? If they are mangled they can present a problem, did you check to make sure that each brake pad is able to move freely when mounted? Some filing might be required. If you bled all your brake lines as well as possible maybe look for another cause.
You might be experiencing an actual mechanical problem. I had one slider bolt seized on each of the front calipers. I replaced those with new ones to find out that I also had, not a seized piston, but a piston that was balky and not moving as freely as it should. It had way too much stiction. I also ran into the worst case scenario. I actually had the passenger side brake line inner sheath delaminate from the outer sheath. It was balling up inside the outer sheath allowing the caliper to be pressurized but then locking that pressure in and causing that caliper to drag. I replaced with SS brake lines. My sticky caliper I turned into my local autozone and got a factory remanufactured replacement. A few months later and that brake caliper was also acting sticky so I took it back, got my money back and went to the dealer and got one directly from them and haven't had any problems since.
Sorry, I guess that is a heck of a hard read. I guess that kinda demonstrates the amount of frustration I went thru with my Talon to get the brakes to preform like I wanted/expected the to. If one corner of your braking system is not working as it should it will produce a soft pedal. Best bet is to really get in there and feel everything, see how everything is working or possibly not working correctly.