[Vwdiesel] Stop me from buying a Camry--brakes question

[Val Christian]

> three).  Still, the pedal is soft and then becomes too
> firm after driving a few minutes. I also have very
> little braking.  It=92s like there=92s no vacuum boost,
> but even crushing the pedal, it won=92t stop.  I=92m
> pretty scrawny, but I=92m a competitive fencer and the
> legs are up to stopping an H2 with a blown vacuum
> booster.  I don=92t know if that has something do to
> with the new front pads not being bedded in or all the
> grease I usually get smeared all over the rotors, but
> I drove it around the neighborhood in first gear
> riding the brakes, and it should have been fine.

A couple of questions come to mind...

-What do the front pads look like?  When you pull them off
and take a look at their surface finish?  If they have a
hard glazed finish, that could be part of the problem.
They may not have seated correctly.  Cheap fix, take em
off, and with 80 grit sand paper on a flat surface (glass,
table saw top, etc.) dress the brake pads.  (Probably not
your problem, but worth checking.)

-A defective porportioning valve could be putting your
brake power to the rear.  If that's the case, you'd hear
your rear tires squealing on hard braking.  Do you?
I know, you can't do hard braking...

***This is another shameless pitch, but a passive IR gun would
be great to check the heat on all four brakes after a drive
through the neighborhood.  Sears, about $50.  My unit is a
Raytek ST25, about $150.  The gun would work on your future
Camry.

-How does the parking brake work? Not a suggestion to use that
instead, but I'm just wondering if it'll help stop the car.

Tell us more about the problem...Oh, any chance you were given
the wrong master cylinder?  That could adversely affect your
mechanical advantage on the brakes.

If you want, email me your phone, and I'll call you some evening,
and walk through the problem.

Val