[V8] Braking power

[Buchholz, Steven]

... I don't know how much braking you are expecting ... after all you've got
a lot of momentum to burn off when you slow down a V8 ... I've always felt
that the UFOs did a very nice job hauling down my 5-speeds ...

Based on your statement that the brake light comes on briefly I suspect that
your impressions are being colored by a bad bomb.  It may be that the
hydraulic fluid level is marginal, so check that first.  Another test you
can do is to shut the car off and see how many times you can depress the
brake pedal before you lose assist (i.e. the brake pedal gets hard).  I
suspect that you will have the pedal stiffen up immediately, which is a
pretty good sign that the bomb is bad ...

If you still are not satisfied with the performance you might want to
investigate other pad sources ...

Steve B
San Jose, Kaleefohnia (USA)
> 
> I've only had my V8 Q a couple of months so I'm still getting 
> a feel for it.
> 
> I am not overly impressed with the sheer braking power 
> despite the remarkable engineering that went into making the 
> braking system (UFO equipped)............in day to day 
> driving it is adequate but the pedal has a spongy/mushy feel to it.  
> 
> I have had to use my brakes aggressively on two occasions to 
> haul the car down from 100 mph and it didn't really seem more 
> capable than my old '86 Jetta which has a quarter million 
> miles on it and admittedly average to below average braking 
> power..........
> 
> Another disconcerting symptom of some kind of trouble is that 
> the lower section of the instrument panel red brake light 
> routinely flashes for a split second whenever I quickly 
> depress the brake pedal............easily replicated by 
> "pumping the brakes"
> 
> The car has 140k on it and the "bomb" has probably never been 
> changed...........this might be one thing to replace (??) but 
> what else could/should I be doing to make sure that I can 
> really stop this beast when I need to as it seems to invite 
> rapid speeds............I already have one speeding ticket 
> (1st in 8 years).  I don't think that I am willing to spend 
> the money for an upgrade to high performance aftermarket 
> brakes although I could perhaps be tempted if the price were 
> right (used stuff??)
> 
> I have not yet touched the brakes but just before I took 
> ownership it got a new set of rear pads, and new brake fluid 
> (I was told that the brake system had been bled--previous 
> owner was a VW/Audi mechanic who had owned the car for nearly 
> a decade).  The UFOs were replaced once several years back 
> due to warpage, and the front pads are at about 50%.  Rotor 
> wear looks even and normal.