[M980]

Hello all, I have a 330i with sport package. I have noticed that my brake pedal is much softer than when I purchased the car a couple of years ago. When I first bought the car, I actually googled about the brakes on the car as they would grip extremely hard that I thought it was almost not right. Now, the brakes seem weaker. I would say that they are not any less effective and if you jump on the pedal, the car quickly stops. The pedal just travels further and feels more spongy than it used to. Nothing has been done to the brakes in the last while so there shouldn't be any human error or poor workmanship at hand.

Any thought? Thanks!

[olivojoe]

Originally Posted by M980

Hello all, I have a 330i with sport package. I have noticed that my brake pedal is much softer than when I purchased the car a couple of years ago. When I first bought the car, I actually googled about the brakes on the car as they would grip extremely hard that I thought it was almost not right. Now, the brakes seem weaker. I would say that they are not any less effective and if you jump on the pedal, the car quickly stops. The pedal just travels further and feels more spongy than it used to. Nothing has been done to the brakes in the last while so there shouldn't be any human error or poor workmanship at hand.

Any thought? Thanks!

Sounds like an issue with the fluid possibly.... flush and replace and see if that helps, at least that's probably the cheapest place to start.

[drewnel22]

Originally Posted by M980

Hello all, I have a 330i with sport package. I have noticed that my brake pedal is much softer than when I purchased the car a couple of years ago. When I first bought the car, I actually googled about the brakes on the car as they would grip extremely hard that I thought it was almost not right. Now, the brakes seem weaker. I would say that they are not any less effective and if you jump on the pedal, the car quickly stops. The pedal just travels further and feels more spongy than it used to. Nothing has been done to the brakes in the last while so there shouldn't be any human error or poor workmanship at hand.

Any thought? Thanks!

Yes you need to replace the fluid and bleed the brakes. Symptoms point straight to that. If you want you can upgrade to stainless lines while you are at it.

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by M980

Hello all, I have a 330i with sport package. I have noticed that my brake pedal is much softer than when I purchased the car a couple of years ago. When I first bought the car, I actually googled about the brakes on the car as they would grip extremely hard that I thought it was almost not right. Now, the brakes seem weaker. I would say that they are not any less effective and if you jump on the pedal, the car quickly stops. The pedal just travels further and feels more spongy than it used to. Nothing has been done to the brakes in the last while so there shouldn't be any human error or poor workmanship at hand.

Any thought? Thanks!

Do you experience hard brake pedal after car has been sitting for a while like overnight just before you start the engine, and as soon as engine starts pedal becomes softer? If so, you may have small leak at your vacuum hose brake booster connection. There is a DIY for it if you search you will find. The old fluid maybe more likely culprit but yours being 2006 can have this issue if it has the symptom above.

[M980]

Okay, both of the solutions seem relatively cheap and easy to do. I will give them both a try and see what happens. Thanks for the advice!

[Gizm0]

Flush your brake fluid. After years in the system, brake fluid absorbs air. Liquid is not compressible but air is, so when you press the brake pedal, the pressure in the braking system will increase over 500psi, all the tiny air bubbles in your braking system will compress and give that "mushy" feeling to the brake pedal.

[M980]

Alright, so I did a brake fluid flush but the pedal feel still hasn't improved. I haven't looked for vacuum leaks yet, any ideas where I should look next?

[Miller335]

If you did a correct flush and there's no leaks, your pedal feel should be back to factory specs.

So its either in your head or you didnt flush correctly.