Sensitive Brakes

[clapton924]

At slow speeds in parking lots and such my brakes are very sensitive.  I softly put my foot on the brake and I almost get whiplash from the brakes grabbing so hard.  This seems to come and go with my car....happened again tonight coming home from school. Any ideas as to why this does this? I sometimes notice this happens after I wash my car/wheels too.

[suleman_manji]

Since it's happening after you wash your car also along with random times I would suggest it's just because all the debris has been cleaned away from the rotor.



PS: I WISH I HAD SENSITIVE BRAKES! good. Mine are soft (no not really an issue, same thing as my old one; bled it a week after I got it because I saw some gunk at the bottom of the MC)

[timot_one]

I've never heard of anyone complaining about their brakes being too sensitive.  What brakes do you have.

[CrackerTeg]

I actually get the same thing when the car is cold in the morning. I just shrug it off though because it goes back to normal after a mile or two.

[clapton924]

I've never heard of anyone complaining about their brakes being too sensitive.  What brakes do you have.

It's not really a problem per-say. It just makes driving feel very jerky. I just have OEM brakes....original pads, rotors, calipers etc.

[timot_one]

How many miles on them?

[clapton924]

How many miles on them?

74K miles. I just examined the pads and rotors about 5k ago with a buddy who is an ASE mechanic and said they were fine. Only thing I have not done is replace the brake fluid and bleed them.

[Mike]

Is your car Manual or Automatic. I've noticed the brakes feeling a little different with my car in the D3 setting on the auto transmission. I know this shouldn't have any effect, and it probably isn't the brakes that make it feel different but, it's just something to think about. Also if it's when the car is cold like stated above it could just have to do with the compound of the brake pads not being up to tempature.

[clapton924]

Is your car Manual or Automatic. I've noticed the brakes feeling a little different with my car in the D3 setting on the auto transmission. I know this shouldn't have any effect, and it probably isn't the brakes that make it feel different but, it's just something to think about. Also if it's when the car is cold like stated above it could just have to do with the compound of the brake pads not being up to tempature.

It's an auto.

[Philly Steve]

Is your car Manual or Automatic. I've noticed the brakes feeling a little different with my car in the D3 setting on the auto transmission. I know this shouldn't have any effect, and it probably isn't the brakes that make it feel different but, it's just something to think about. Also if it's when the car is cold like stated above it could just have to do with the compound of the brake pads not being up to tempature.

I believe D3 restricts the car from shifting above 3rd gear, so the increased braking you're feeling is the engine being in a lower gear and slowing itself down from friction.

[Jeff Likes Bagels]

clapton924, I have the same exact problem. When I'm backing out of the garage and going out the driveway, then stopping to wait for my gate to open, I very frequently get that whiplash you're talking about. My car has 41k miles on it, and this problem is very annoying, lol. I've just coped with it, because it's easier to slowly push on the brakes at higher speeds to not get that whiplash feel. At low speeds, however, it's hard to keep your foot pushing down slowly, so I always end up jerking the car to a stop, lol. I think it's because our OEM brakes just flat out suck. It's like, you push the brake pedal slowly, nothing happens, you push it just a tad bit farther, and you feel like you're about to get flown into the windshield, lol.

[clapton924]

Yeah, I have just gotten used to it. Doesn't happen all the time...maybe just when my car is mad at me for not driving it more lol.

[Jeff Likes Bagels]

Yeah, I've learned to control that jerking over the course of driving my car, but it can still happen sometimes, like when I've got to do a hard stop at a light that's about to turn red and i won't be able to make it.