Over assisted / servoed / sensitive brakes

[mfl]

If want to drive a car with on/off brakes, try driving a CX2400 Citroen, the brake pedal had no discernible movement at all and operated according to how much pressure you applied. first time you drove one, you'd panic as the brake pedal wasn't moving !

I can't heel toe either, but that is because the brake pedal is too high relative to the throttle and I can't bend my ankles enough,

as for the brake pedal being too servo-ed, I regularly jump into my son's Punto and don't notice a difference, but the travel is noticeably shorter than the Commodores I used to own.

[oldngrey]

I am the Original Poster with an end to the story in case anyone is interested.

Today I drove 2 different Golf 118TSI DSG demo cars, one a wagon and the other a hatch.
Both felt identical to each other and both were fine. After an initial bite, the pedal had good feel and I was able to do smooth stops time after time. So yes, more servo boost than Mazdas and Hondas, but easy to adapt to and drive smoothly. That bears out most of the comments here.

That makes the one I drove last week the odd one out. It was impossible to come to a smooth stop. I *think* it had more servo boost too, but can't swear to it. An oddity and definitely not normal.

[brad]

Maybe the brakes on the one you drove the other week weren't bedded in yet?

i find the Golfs pretty cruisy/easy cars to drive. Stick thumb in bum, mind in nuetral & away you go

[guliver_twist]

Love the brakes on my car, granted not as much travel as other cars I have driven, but works better in my opinion. It helps you lazily tap the brakes without lifting your heal when switching between brake pedal and accelerator, making for a less tiring drive, especially on long distance trips. I find the car stops and feels smooth, delicate and precise with its braking. I don't know what people are complaining about. It took me 2 minutes to get used to the shorter pedal travel, and now I prefer this to other cars.

[brad]

As I stated before, my brakes always feel fantastic when I get the car back from service (even the non brake bleed services). I assume because they get the dust build-up off or something.

Lately they have been feeling a bit like "all the other cars" but I had to do a very rapid decel yesterday from 110 down to about 50 complete with chirping tyres & shuddering (and going to the floor) ABS activated brake pedal (I'm assuming they must have Brake Assist as well). After that, the pedal was right back to normal again, so I assume the big stop took all the furry bits/dags off the brake pads.

Dead-set. I thought I was done for & didn't have a chance at stopping in time but it was all good.

[Brian]

As I stated before, my brakes always feel fantastic when I get the car back from service (even the non brake bleed services). I assume because they get the dust build-up off or something.

Lately they have been feeling a bit like "all the other cars" but I had to do a very rapid decel yesterday from 110 down to about 50 complete with chirping tyres & shuddering (and going to the floor) ABS activated brake pedal (I'm assuming they must have Brake Assist as well). After that, the pedal was right back to normal again, so I assume the big stop took all the furry bits/dags off the brake pads.

Dead-set. I thought I was done for & didn't have a chance at stopping in time but it was all good.

Good to hear you avoided a Lara (Bingle) Brad. I absolutely love the brakes on the TSI. Couple of k's drive to get used to them especially after the Commodore SS pedal mashing experience to get some effect!
Would find it hard to revert to non VW brakes now!
Brian

[cs3110]

Hyper sensitive brakes

The brakes are fine in highway conditions but they are about as annoying as it gets in peak hour.

[Jaap74]

I just recently went from a 1995 Audi 80 to a MKV GTi. I thought the brakes were very sensitive in comparison to begin with but now I've gotten used to them.

[geeza]

I've had my MK 6 GTI for 2 months now and think the brakes are very "grabby" or a little overly sensative - i'm interested to see if its just my car or all GTI's....

I came from a MK1 though so having any brakes is a new experience!

[MACCAA]

Had a friend who bought an Audi A3 Quattro.Brake set up is basically MKV Golf.
He complained about over sensitive brakes,I drove it and they were VERY "bitey".
Took it to a Motorway,got some clear road,and did a bedding in process usually reserved for race-type brake pads.
Basically,you brake HEAVILY[panic-stop style] from around 100kph down to 60-ish,then immediately accelerate back to 100.Repeat 6-8 times,then try not to use the brakes for a bit to let them cool,which should be easy on a Motorway.
His car only had 700k on it,and this procedure imparts a transfer layer of pad material evenly over the discs,whilst cleaning up any rough bits on the pads.
Brakes are now working fine with no excessive initial bite.
Cheers
Len

[Corey_R]

Thanks for the suggestion MAACCA

[Ideo]

Had a friend who bought an Audi A3 Quattro.Brake set up is basically MKV Golf.
He complained about over sensitive brakes,I drove it and they were VERY "bitey".
Took it to a Motorway,got some clear road,and did a bedding in process usually reserved for race-type brake pads.
Basically,you brake HEAVILY[panic-stop style] from around 100kph down to 60-ish,then immediately accelerate back to 100.Repeat 6-8 times,then try not to use the brakes for a bit to let them cool,which should be easy on a Motorway.
His car only had 700k on it,and this procedure imparts a transfer layer of pad material evenly over the discs,whilst cleaning up any rough bits on the pads.
Brakes are now working fine with no excessive initial bite.
Cheers
Len

I did that in my running in period, and now the brakes are much smoother and more progressive.

[acheater]

I had the same issue with my 103 TDI. Having had WRXs for years it was not fun braking. It does wear in and you do adjust your breaking style a bit as they are still very effective breaks. I still have my WRX and to be honest I feel safer in the wet with the Golf these days despite its lack of AWD because the brakes just feel like they really want to stop me. The WRX I think has it in for me!! Must know I have an R on order

[craig_the_german]

My 90TSI has now done just over 15000km. I would say that the initial feel of the brakes was that it was very "bitey" but after 15000km they have bedded in nicely and are the best brakes of any car I have driven.

Here is food for thought......

In the weekend newspaper here in Brisbane, the motoring section had a write up on a new Honda Hybrid. So what you ask.....they put down as one of it's direct competitors the 90TSI Golf (the model I own).

The writer said that although the Hybrid was a great car he was unsure why Honda fitted DRUM brakes to the rear.

I guess the answer to that lies in where the cars originate and were intended to be used. The new Honda Hybrid, I would assume was designed to be pottering around the back streets of a city somewhere and as such the idea of a powerful braking system was not considered important..thus the drum brakes.

Our VWs however originated in Germany (the home of the Autobahn) and having driven on an Autobahn, I know that I certainly felt more comfortable knowing that had I needed to stop from the 180+ km/h we were doing, the brakes on the car were powerful, had plenty of "Bite" and could pull me up hard and fast.

Horses for courses........

[ethosguy]

Pads and, if you like, disks can be changed to reduce sensitivity and improve high heat performance, reduce dust, and increase service life.
Really good (better?) aftermarket components can be had for similar or less $$$ than OEM parts.
If you PM me I'll go and refresh my memory as to what I'm using and suggest some products I'm hahppy with.
Cheers
Pete