I figured even though it's for a japanese car the techs here could still help with this situation.

my 93 lexus LS seems to be experiencing really poor brakes. I realized it because i drove my friend's 91LS today. And I realized that the difference between his brakes and mine are night and day. his are really responsive with a very firm pedal.
Mine, spongy pedal, excessive pedal travel, barking distance twice as much as his, takes twice as much force to brake as it did on my friend's 91.
In the past 6 months the following have been done on the barking system :
1. brake booster replaced
2. Master cylinder replaced
3. All rotors checked.
All the above has been done by the dealer. but the brakes still arent anything compared to the other LS's i've driven.
any thoughts / ideas would be appreciated !

__________________
Whether you think you can or cannot, Either way you're right!. by Henry Ford.

Dear Benz300:

Try to completely bleed the air and flush the brake fluid from your brake system and replace with new fluid. Spongy braking is usually caused by trapped air in your brake system.

Best regards,

Eric

Eric,
thanks for the prompt response. The dealer has, or atleast they claimed, have flushed the system. They said that they bled the system so much that pretty much all of the fluid was flushed out. but that didnt really sound right. as far as the air in the system. I guess I can take it to a private shop and have them replace it.
What type of brake fluid should i replace since there's a lot of discussion regarding dot3 and dot4.

__________________
Whether you think you can or cannot, Either way you're right!. by Henry Ford.

I actually did go and test drive the same year and model cars. 3 of them in the last one week. all the three had firm pedal and responsive brakes. Unfortunately when i take mine to the dealer, the dumbos just don't "feel" that it's not working the way it should. with that said I wanted to know if the callipers could be the cause of a spongy pedal. more over I've noticed that the pressure needed to brake on mine is almost twice as much as the foot pressure required on similiar cars tested..
any more ideas ?

__________________
Whether you think you can or cannot, Either way you're right!. by Henry Ford.

Hi Benz300,

I have a small motorhome on a Ford E350 chassis. I had the brake fluid replaced and the rear brakes adjusted (there was no need to do anything else as only 21k miles on it) last year in July.
The brakes were perfect after that. Firm, short travel etc.
A year later I had a sticking caliper on the driverside front.
Ford dealer installed new calipers, machined the rotors etc.
They test drove it and said it was fine. When I testdrove it, the first step on the brakes showed a much longer travel and mushy feel. I had to ask for a different mechanic, talk to the shop foreman (who also drove it and said it was fine) and insist that I know how good brakes feel because I had them for over a year. They finally put 2 experienced mechanics on it and bled it properly with an acceptable result. Now it helped me that I hadn't paid their bill yet.

I would probably go with your friend in his car and you in your car to the dealer/indy who worked at your brakes and ask the foreman to take a drive with you in both of them.

Good luck

Reinhard Kreutzer

what type of fluid should be used. dot 3 or dot 4 ?

__________________
Whether you think you can or cannot, Either way you're right!. by Henry Ford.