Soft/Mushy/Inconsistent Brake Fix?

If you have tried to bed in your brakes what was the outcome?

  • The brakes now are 100 perfect. Exactly how I like them. Wouldn't change a thing.

    Votes: 20 31.3%
  • Most of the soft/mushy/inconsistent feeling is gone. Still get a bit of brake softness occasionally

    Votes: 13 20.3%
  • Honestly, feel no difference at all.

    Votes: 15 23.4%
  • Braking seems to a bit better but the the brakes still exhibit quite a bit of softness/inconsistency

    Votes: 16 25.0%

  • Total voters
    64

mike

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It's great that we have some insiders here and especially @P. A. Schilke , a retired Ford Engineer. In this thread:Possible brake issue He mentions to a couple members who complained (like many of us) about the soft/mushy/inconsistent brakes.

His suggestion: " Try this... from 30 mph, brake aggressively to a stop, and repeat 3 times. Now coast to a stop without touching the brakes. Let them cool for 30 minutes. See if this makes any difference. It did for me. you might repeat the process one more time. hopefully this will help."

I did this and I know @Ric has done this. For myself. It took 3 separate times to really feel a difference. I've driven it around now for a couple days and yes, for me, it has made a pretty significant difference, to the point, the brakes really don't bother me. The pedal will still go soft occasionally (sometimes blatantly...like a definite system choice), but the pedal overall feels more firm and able to modulate like most of us who are not liking the brakes feel like they should.

Personally, I didn't think it would work and tried to talk myself out of feeling like the brakes are better, but they really do feel better. One thing I did note during the bed in process, is that the brakes really haul this truck down to a stop. Also wanted to note that I have every single driving aid turned off where I can and minimized where I can't turn it off.

For those that have tried it. What has been your experience?
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t4thfavor

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I had the TSB completed for the same condition, they turned the rotors slightly as it appears they had a bad batch. My dealer also told me that my drivers side axle run out was out of spec, and ordered a new shaft. I suspect they are changing it because they assume it contributed to the brake issue.

Of course parts for a brand new truck take forever to come in, so it's been over a month, and I've not heard about my new axle. I've driven about 2500 miles since, and the brakes are still behaving as I expect them to. (Axle is probably fine...)


Don't go doing the brake bedding thing until you take it to the dealer and have them do the TSB for "inconsistent/pulsing brakes" There's a link to it somewhere in the TSB thread.
 

t4thfavor

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non issue. My brakes work just fine.
Mine definitely did not work "just fine". There's a TSB for it, so you can bet there are some that have braking problems.
 

RCMUSTANG

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Never had an issue with the actual stopping. Only in the pedal feel and when and where it decides to engage.
 


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mike

mike

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Never had an issue with the actual stopping. Only in the pedal feel and when and where it decides to engage.
Ya, same here. I don't drive it like a sports car and I pay attention in traffic so I'm never hard on the brakes. Bedding in the brakes seems to help with the pedal feel. It's still not what I would call ideal, but it seems consistently better than what it was.

Give an example of where it is still not consistent. I go up a long grade through a tunnel and then down a long grade. If traffic is fairly busy, I can't just coast down that long (6 mile) grade and will touch my brakes to slow down from 65 or 70 down to 60. Still, the brake pedal may go down quite a bit OR it may be firm (but it feels better than before). In general though, it feels better in most cases.

As far as stopping power, I was just remarking that during the bed-in process, I was surprised at how well it will actually stop.
 
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mike

mike

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Added another poll choice after driving the truck another couple weeks.

Right now, the brakes are pretty much like they were. Very inconsistent. They might get a better bite after bedding but I am convinced the inconsistency is just a system design.

I will sometimes feel a drop in the pedal that seems system induced. Very deliberate. Really seems apparent when I am going downhill. But other times (although not as often) the brake pedal is firm.

Just going to have to live with it while I have the truck. The inconsistency doesn't hamper the excellent stopping capability.. just interferes with overall driving enjoyment and smoothness.
 

Ann M Scheib

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My Ranger is currently in for the brakes. At times I step on them and it will continue moving forward up to 10 ft. Have to slam them hard to come to a stop.Sometimes when I am at a complete stop it will all of a sudden just move forward.Again as much as 10 ft. Ford needs to find out what is going on.
 

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Master cylinder to caliper ratio is off. Master cylinder is too big causing the horrible pedal feel. I installed larger front brakes and the pedal feel became like it should feel. More positive feel and consistent. I doubt Ford will ever do anything about this. I have no idea why they decided to run a master cylinder this size and felt the pedal feel was acceptable. I already reported this conclusion months ago after I installed the larger front brake kit. It's what i suspected since i looked into this. Look back at my locked thread where i originally brought this up.
 

cactuss4

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Big master cylinder is going to move more fluid for a given amount of stroke, so wouldn't that make the brakes touchy and overly sensitive to input.

@RCMUSTANG your larger brakes are fixed calipers no? For my track car, going from sliding to fixed firmed up the pedal a ton.

I wouldn't describe the ranger brakes as touchy, there is a ton a dead zone from first press to then they bite. Modulation, once they bite, seems ok.
 

RCMUSTANG

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The bigger calipers did the trick. It grabs higher up on the pedal. It's consistent now. Even fixed calipers over sliding won't make this much of a difference. Stock they were very vague and wouldn't grab till you went quite a way down with the pedal. Never said the actually stopping was a problem. The crap pedal feel and amount of travel is the issue. It does sound counterintuitive but the pedal is consistent and engages higher up now. Even when I went to 4 fixed calipers on my Fusion thre pedal didn't feel as different as this did with just the front. Unless somehow the stock 2 piston calipers require way more fluid than the 6 pistons that went in.
 
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CompDude

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The bigger calipers did the trick. It grabs higher up on the pedal. It's consistent now. Even fixed calipers over sliding won't make this much of a difference. Stock they were very vague and wouldn't grab till you went quite a way down with the pedal. Never said the actually stopping was a problem. The crap pedal feel and amount of travel is the issue. It does sound counterintuitive but the pedal is consistent and engages higher up now. Even when I went to 4 fixed calipers on my Fusion thre pedal didn't feel as different as this did with just the front. Unless somehow the stock 2 piston calipers require way more fluid than the 6 pistons that went in.
Do you have a link to the calipers you purchased
 

RCMUSTANG

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Do you have a link to the calipers you purchased
It's a whole big brake kit. Admin isn't allowing me to post who they are since I helped them R&D the kit unless they pay to be a sponsor.
 

hawk43

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It's great that we have some insiders here and especially @P. A. Schilke , a retired Ford Engineer. In this thread:Possible brake issue He mentions to a couple members who complained (like many of us) about the soft/mushy/inconsistent brakes.

His suggestion: " Try this... from 30 mph, brake aggressively to a stop, and repeat 3 times. Now coast to a stop without touching the brakes. Let them cool for 30 minutes. See if this makes any difference. It did for me. you might repeat the process one more time. hopefully this will help."

I did this and I know @Ric has done this. For myself. It took 3 separate times to really feel a difference. I've driven it around now for a couple days and yes, for me, it has made a pretty significant difference, to the point, the brakes really don't bother me. The pedal will still go soft occasionally (sometimes blatantly...like a definite system choice), but the pedal overall feels more firm and able to modulate like most of us who are not liking the brakes feel like they should.

Personally, I didn't think it would work and tried to talk myself out of feeling like the brakes are better, but they really do feel better. One thing I did note during the bed in process, is that the brakes really haul this truck down to a stop. Also wanted to note that I have every single driving aid turned off where I can and minimized where I can't turn it off.

For those that have tried it. What has been your experience?



I hate to say it as I was very skeptical....I'm up to 1200 miles and applying the brakes is like putting your foot in a bucket of mud.. You press and press and then a light grab and then press some more and it grabs hard...So today I did the 3 stops from 30 ish...I buzzed the anti locks twice...and third time it just stopped...I eased in the driveway and then parked...Couple hours later I take off having forgot about it...The first time I stopped I noticed a difference..BETTER


Still have to push and push but that little first pause is gone...I may tray it again once more.

I was so skeptical I was talking to myself..I was calling me a liar..there is no way that little thing helped that much...:crackup:

It won't fix the pedal travel but it might have firmed the feel up by heating the pads up a little and removing some material as well..possible a little more consistent feel which is good...
 

dbrow1982

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Master cylinder to caliper ratio is off. Master cylinder is too big causing the horrible pedal feel. I installed larger front brakes and the pedal feel became like it should feel. More positive feel and consistent. I doubt Ford will ever do anything about this. I have no idea why they decided to run a master cylinder this size and felt the pedal feel was acceptable. I already reported this conclusion months ago after I installed the larger front brake kit. It's what i suspected since i looked into this. Look back at my locked thread where i originally brought this up.
What brand did you go with? Looking to put larger brakes on mine as well. Thanks
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