deepbluejh

I just had stainless steel lines installed in my car and the first thing I noticed after driving was "wow, I have a lot of pedal travel now". My mechanic made some adjustments and the pedal improved, but I've still got more travel before. Right now it feels like not much happens in the first inch of travel, then after that it bites pretty hard (better than before, when I had rubber lines). Previously my pedal only needed about 1/2 as much travel before it really started to bite.

He told me he did a "pedal pump" bleed, and not a drip bleed. I'm wondering whether that would have contributed to the longer pedal throw than before. He also told me he doubts there is any air in the system because he bled all of the corners twice. The mechanic is a fellow S2000 owner and has experience installing brakes, so i'm inclined to believe him.

Do I need to perform a drip bleed to improve the feel of the pedal or is something else going on here?

cdelena

In my experience there is very little difference in feel from stock with braided lines so I would guess they need to be properly bled.

Car Analogy

The only possible reason for increased pedal travel is air.

Find the Billman gravity bleed diy. Follow it. Problem solved.

Be careful not to let MC run dry during the procedure or you'll have to start over. I like to combine this with other maintenance like oil or trans/diff fluid change since there is a lot of waiting. You can do other tasks while waiting for each corner to bleed. Again, just be sure not to let MC run dry.

deepbluejh

I actually did a drip bleed on the system today and did not find much, if any air. Pedal feels the same as it did before I did the bleed.

The brake pedal doesn't feel bad, it just doesn't feel like I was expecting it to. I was expecting it to feel like I'm stepping on a brick. Instead, it feels like a normal braking system, with a surprising amount of bite once you get about 1" down on the pedal. It does feel like there is more travel than before when I was on the stock lines - which is baffling.

Car Analogy

From all I've read ss lines don't improve the pedal feel at all with these cars (I've used them on other cars with tremendous results). But I'd be surprised if they could make things worse.

I still think you have air in the lines. It can be tricky to get it out, especially when lines have been replaced, which introduces a lot of air. Might have to remove each caliper, and twist and orient so that air can flow to bleeder.

Billman250

Air, 100%.