Hard brakes
 

So I was reading up on posts on the forum and came across someone talking about brakes feeling rock hard indicating that was an issue.

From the day we bought our 2000 S the brakes have felt super hard.
Like the pedal moves between half an inch to an inch when fully depressed.
It doesn't require excessive pressure it's just that the pedal doesn't seem to move but relies more on pressure instead of travel.

I always just chalked it up to Porsche idiosyncrasy, but reading the post made me wonder.

Is this not how they're supposed to feel and if so what should I start looking at ?

Thanks guys.

First things first;)
Do the brakes stop the car like it should????

If you have a hard pedal you could have:
A vacuum leak at the brake booster
A hole in the diaphragm of the brake booster
issues with the master cylinder
issues with the brake lines. such as... the rubber lines tend to begin to fail and swell internally reducing brake fluid flow.
brake caliper pistons could be sticking
ABS system could have issues.
Contaminated brake fluid.

If you have a hard pedal and you think it is an issue you have to go thru the brake system, systematically and find the cause.
Start with the simplest most likely place for an issue and work your way thru the system step by step.

Yeah it stops perfectly fine which is why I figured it was just a "Porsche" thing :)

Only problem comes when someone in the household moves from one of the other cars to it and have to re-learn braking by pressure rather than travel.

But yeah. It "feels" like a car with a non-working brake booster except it still brakes perfectly fine and it doesn't require (much) more pressure than any of the other cars here.

I guess it's time for me to go hunting and see what I can sus out.
At least now I know that it's not actually "correct" :)

There is usually a manufactures pedal travel spec. free travel and total travel.
For both brakes and clutch pedals.
But I have no idea what they are.
Perhaps someone who has access to a factory service manual may be able to look it up if Porsche provides it.

Lacking that just go thru the system step by step.

I have 3 vehicles - silverado 3500, escalade, and the 986. the silverado and escalade have a much longer brake pedal travel than does the boxster and the stopping power of those vehicles very much relies on pedal travel first and then pressure only at the end of travel (like if I'm towing a heavy load down a steep hill with a trailer that doesnt have any brakes). my 986 pedal relies more on pressure than travel - the other day i did a hard stop from 60 - 5 in about 50 feet or so and with me STANDING on the brake pedal it still didnt have much travel (but it stopped none the less).

blue's point is a valid one from a systems approach, but i think its very easy to read threads on this forum and start down a rabbit hole. if the brakes work, dont mess with it.

Correct
"If it ain't broke don't fix it";)
As my first post says.
First things first
Do the brakes stop the car like they should?????

for me my 2000 the brakes are rock hard and not like my 03 at all. I think this is an indication of my issues with my 00 I am having.

I have had boosters fail on my while driving, MC's go out, calipers & even had a piston break during breaking once.

Yours could just be normal. Take it out to a gravel road, get up to speed and then slam on the brakes to see if ABS kicks in. Obviously do this where it is safe to do it. You should feel the ABS kick in.

This is one area that is hard to describe in a message on a forum as it can have many variables and where knowing how it should feel vs how it actually does is hard to describe in words.

Hard? Hard, but when?

Do this.
Pump the brakes when the engine is OFF until the brake pedal fills stiff.
Now, push it a few more times, hard. Does it still travel a bit, but just requiring more force?

Now, keeping your foot on the pedal (normal pressure/force, not too hard, like normal braking situation), start the engine.
The pedal should soften and travel lower.
If it does - you are all GOOD.

Mine are hard as well.
The car stops great. Pedal is hard, but in a sense of having nice and soft travel only to become hard then it starts braking, meaning pads are in contact with rotors and any further force is proportionally translated into barking force. No spongy pedal anymore.

The other side of the hard pedal is the brakes themselves. You got calipers on both sides of the rotors. Each pad has two of them. They push from both sides.
It is better (i.e. easier to operate) than the one caliper situation when the caliper must push and pull the other pad as well via sliders. The whole assembly is a bit soft in a sense it may bend a bit to be felt under the pedal as being softer.

I hope it makes sense.


As for problems with soft pedal - oh well, there are many...