Braking problem

I just thought that GA brakes were different when I bought this car because I had only driven 2 other vehicles. Now i'm wondering if there is something wrong with them.

You have to press the pedal in really far for the brakes to catch at all and when they do catch its like they're not getting tight enough. I wanted to test them so I went about 50 down a hill and slammed on the brakes. I slowly came to a stop and my wheels wouldnt' even attempt to lock up. I thought my wheels were supposed to try to lock up, and then ABS should kick in so I don't start skidding. This can't be behaving right.

I started worrying because I was following at 2 car lengths going about 30mph, woman in front of me hit her brakes and so did I. I slammed into her trailer hitch (luckily no damage to her car) but my whole bumper, bumper reinforcement and front headlight was wrecked.

I don't even know what to tell a mechanic to get it fixed if this isn't right. Oh, and my pads are at about 50% if that matters.

thanks

mine is the same way, cept my calipers are sorta messed up... on mine, discs up front and drums in back...

there is more brake pressure being put on the left (driver side) than the passenger... I think the other has a kink'd hose or something like that

What I did to 'help' is I bought new rotors along with new brakes... they only squeeked for about 3 weeks after they were placed on.. small help but it helped... you could if you want purchase a pair of the slotted rotors.. that would help alot...

another problem Ive noticed is a pulse feeling, like my rotors arent vertically straight up ]/ |[ or something... I brake and the tension between me and stopping pulses... Do..do.do dooo.. doooooo. Not ABS either... it happens on the most lightest stop from 20mph


Now, ONLY thing I can think of recommending would to just have ur brakes bled or looked at by a place that does free brake inspection (not just pad inspection)

Becareful with that, you don't want to wreck the car worse! Check your brake fluid and make sure it's filled up all the way. You could be a little low on fluid, have some air in the lines or maybe even a small hole in one of the hoses that's prevent from you getting full pressure when stopping. The worst case scenrio is your master cylinder is going out. But like Gir said bring it to a shop that checks brakes as a whole not just the pads to get a full on diagnostics. Good luck and be careful!

Like was said, try bleeding the brakes.

If the rear is drum, make sure they are adjusted properly. Under-adjusted rear brakes will cause the pedal to be lower.

50% left on the pads really doesn't mean anything. Brand new cheap pads may not stop well enough.

Look at the front brakes. If the rotors look glazed, like they got too hot, you will want to replace the rotors and pads. Also, if the rotor is thinner than it should be, it will heat up too quick and braking will be less effective. The quality of rotors varies very little from top-to-bottom of the line (as far as stopping ability). The only differnce in cheap rotors is the lateral runout or parallelism may be far enough out to cause a pulsation.

I would go with the best pads available.