Ive searched and it seems like a lot of people have spongy/soft brakes on their tCs. I have the same thing but I'm starting to question whether its normal. I took my car into the shop today and they noticed the brakes were very soft and that they could be pressed almost the the floor fairly easily.
Pumping them up does not make much of a difference. They said it was not normal and i need to get them fixed asap. It seems like you can hear air in the passenger side engine bay. Do they need to be bled?

They stop fine. It just takes more force than most cars. The only issue I've noticed with the stopping is when I'm braking and going over bumps or gravel i get the scraping sound/feeling and it doesn't stop well. Is this normal?

I don't want to spend them money on getting my brakes bled or the master cylinder changed if its not going to make a difference. Ive read on several other posts that bleeding the brake line and changing the master cylinder didn't make a difference.
Is this just how the tC brakes are and i'm gonna have to live with it?

Thanks for any info.

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i have the same exact thing...in a way it feels like a pedal pulsation as if the rotors are warped or something when goin over bumps and all
mine usually are real weak when stopping from like highway speeds it seems like
i took it to the dealer before about it but the said they found nothing wrong with the brake system and of course "could not duplicate the problem at this time"
im goin to take it back to them soon about it tho

 

I have pretty much exactly the same conditions you described - mine is an 05 too....interesting. Noticed it after I changed the pads and rotors the first time, at about 40K. Brakes were fine, just put on drilled/slotted rotors instead. Wasn't really bad at first, but got gradually worse. I'm at 104K now, just did pads and rotors again at about 100K.
Bleeding doesn't help - bought a power bleeder, went through 2 full quarts at a time; did it several times, before and after the new rotors. No air in the lines, but pedal is still the same after bleeding. It's firm when the car is off, but 'drops' as soon as the engine is started.
Service manual checklist says suspects are master cylinder, booster, etc. Replaced both the booster and mc at 100K before the most recent rotor change, with one from an 09. No improvement.
New pads and rotors improved the feel a bit - stops fine, brakes apply within the first inch or two of pedal travel. Wouldn't drive it otherwise. Just is not firm, can be pushed almost all the way to the floor. My wife has an 09 Camry, night and day between the two - that pedal is solid. (need good brakes for when the accelerator sticks lol)
Can hear the air in the engine bay too - seems to be the ABS unit. ABS works fine though, confirmed it in the snow a little while ago. Couldn't find any info concerning bleeding that, or if that could possibly be it.
I know a guy who works at the dealership, he asked a few of the techs, but didn't get any further than I did on my own with the service manual.
Not looking forward to bringing it in to have it looked at, just getting over a $4800 repair bill on my son's Jetta.
Update if you find out anything, I'll do the same.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I guess this is kinda what i expected. I've heard it from other tC owners also. The spongy brakes just must be part of owning a tC. I haven't had any issues with stopping hard. It usually stops fine and is responsive
just have to push in the pedal farther than most cars and there is more play in the pedal. I dunno. If anyone else has some advice for us its greatly appreciated. Id rather spend money on new mods to my car then fixing this issue if its just normal for our cars.

Thanks again.

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Me too I went to a brakes/alignment shop, the guy told me to take it back to the dealership to get it repaired under warranty. The dealer could not reproduce the problem of course and gladly took my money.
I installed SS brake lines, bled them out, no difference. It certainly stops fine, but not like any other car with SS lines - they have rock hard pedal feels... not the tC.

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Thats called antilock brakes. That is all you are feeling. That is why they could not duplicate the "problem" since there isnt one. Same with the "scraping" sound the op is talking about. Most cars made in the last 20 or so years have antilock brakes The reason some say it takes longer to stop (due to ABS engaging) at high speeds is your tires, not your brakes. Tires with less grip = more engagement of ABS = longer stopping distances.

some complain, but the brakes on the tC are very good. A guy in our autox club (see scca.org, Pat Washburn from that front story right now is who I am talking about.. so it was someone who has autox'd countless vehicles over countless years) drove it at a test n tune and his first comment was "good brakes!". I mention that so you know this is not jsut my personal opinion only. That was 100% stock on the brakes other than the pads. I have never had any issue with their performance, nor have many others that autox or race the tC on a track.

 

I actually dont mind that they are spongy really just as long as there is nothing wrong with them and they dont fail on me when i have to stop quickly. Thanks for the responses. I appreciate the input.

 

I dunno... I test drove a new tC to test out the brakes... felt the same as my car with stainless lines.

I drove my friend's RSX Type S, he has SS lines as well and you cant even push the pedal to the floor its so stiff.

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That is comparing completely different cars, so it doesnt tell you much.

And I have yet to hear, other than the couple in this thread, anyone that didnt notice a difference in SS lines on this car.

But all SS lines do is take the give out of the lines, so if they didnt make a difference, that tells you the stock ones were pretty decent ;)

 

Great post! I was going to ask about the pulsing too! Is anyones brake pedal loose? I can take my feet and move it side to side

 

Check to see if the calipers move freely. My mom's corolla's brakes wouldn't grab until the pedal was almost on the floor(Felt like there was massive free play). Countless bleeds and a master cylinder later we found that one of the rubber boots protecting the caliper pin had a tiny hole in it and the pin was rusted.

I can push the brake down to the floor on my car and both my parent's cars(the aforementioned corolla and an accord). It isn't a race car(although that doesn't seem to stop people).

 

my brakes are okay just the pedal inside the car seems loose and can be slide back and forth

 

faulty vacuum booster or just normal from your pads starting to go down

 

Worn pads wont cause a spongy pedal feel like he is describing.

 

I also put on SS lines and it didn't make THAT much of a difference. I had to have em bled. $40 from Just Brakes here in Orlando, IDK what you have in your state. I did notice they take a little more depressing to engage but it doesn't bother me much. Why don't you have em bled to see? That would be the cheapest trial fix, wouldn't it?

 

Hmm, so what do u guys think? Is it worth trying to bleed the line or is it not going to make a difference? Whats a vacuum booster btw?

Daniel, my pedal is like that also.

Engifineer, so do you personally believ that the spongy pedal is normal or should i really have this inspected to see if there is anything wrong?

 

I had the same thing, then tried bleeding the brakes but nothing happened, just had to learn how to drive with the brakes like that.

 

i think thats just the abs? anti break locking?

 

Well, im not talking about the abs pulsing feeling or any of that. Im talking about the soft spongy feeling brake pedal that it feels like all of the time. It has some give to it and the brakes dont catch until the pedal is pressed in about half way.

 

bump for any more responses. Im tryin to get this figured out. Thanks!