Hi there

I have had my fiat 500 lounge for a couple of months now and I have been very happy with it. The other night my husband was driving and thought the brake pedal felt as if it was going down a bit far before the brakes started biting.

Can`t say I have noticed any difference since I got the car but am now wondering how the brake pedal feels in other examples.

The brakes do work and the car has only done 16,000 miles and the pedal feels as if it goes slightly less than half way before having an effect.

Fluid levels are ok and the car passed the mot without any advisories.

How does your pedal feel ?

Thanks.

Probably just different to what he is used to in his car, but nothing actually wrong.

Hi 500angie,

I would be inclined to agree with zanes. We have a 13 plate 500 1.2 Colour Therapy and a 62 plate Punto 1.4 Easy.

Both me and my wife notice the difference between the Punto's brakes and the 500's brakes when we have been driving each other's car; if we have been driving the Punto for any length of time, then the first few braking attempts in the 500 seem incredibly ineffective!

So yeah, it may well be down to that. If you are in any way worried though, drop it into a garage that you trust (Fiat dealer or local independent, whatever suits you) and get them to check it out for peace of mind.

Super Uwe said:

.......... braking attempts in the 500 seem incredibly ineffective!

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I wonder ................

Firstly, I've driven many different cars over the years, and recently too, but our 500TA brake pedal goes only (maybe) one inch before the brakes come on. The feel of ours is exactly the same as any other car I've driven in recent years. No way does it go half way, and if it did I would be very alarmed indeed.

Secondly, there have been many posts on here stating that the 500s brakes aren't too good, whereas I say ours are excellent. I have no experience of driving another 500, so I cannot say how ours is with respect to others.

Regards,
Mick.

What year is the car ?
Brake fluid should be changed every 2 years as its hydroscopic and will soak up small amounts of moisture from the air. This decreases its ability to withstand compression and thus degrades braking performance.
A brake fluid and pad check would be my first port of call, a fluid change will be about £40 if that.

Mick my twin air brakes are sharper than the wife's 1.2 lounge, but both would beat my old X Type brakes by a good margin. The Jag X Type has horrendous brakes.

johnxtype said:

Mick my twin air brakes are sharper than the wife's 1.2 lounge, but both would beat my old X Type brakes by a good margin. The Jag X Type has horrendous brakes.

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Thanks for that.
Good to know, and sad for the X Type!

Cheers! (just poured myself a beer)
Mick.

the brakes on Cinnaminta ( ta) are also very good indeed, requiring little pressure, and as mike says, only about an inch down from the top. Perhaps the "presumed self adjusting rears" are not , therefore further pedal travel. Try something.....
Find a slope, put on handbrake, count how many notches up it clicks. Then release 1 notch at a time, till the car rolls freely. Ifit is, say 3 notches still, release and pull up 2 notches. Then drive and try the brakes. If pedal is now significantly higher, then rears need adjusting.

Super Uwe said:

Hi 500angie,

I would be inclined to agree with zanes. We have a 13 plate 500 1.2 Colour Therapy and a 62 plate Punto 1.4 Easy.

Both me and my wife notice the difference between the Punto's brakes and the 500's brakes when we have been driving each other's car; if we have been driving the Punto for any length of time, then the first few braking attempts in the 500 seem incredibly ineffective!

So yeah, it may well be down to that. If you are in any way worried though, drop it into a garage that you trust (Fiat dealer or local independent, whatever suits you) and get them to check it out for peace of mind.

Click to expand...

EXACTLY ,
it's PROBABLY just the way the specific parts of the brake system work as a whole unit

as an example ;
we have several FIAT's including 2 x panda's - which are essentially a 1.2 500 - brake-wise

my Twin Air punto has "different" brakes..,
to the point where they "catch me out" every now and again.. and my wife absolutely HATES them

I've put it down to the car having EBD.. basically the 1st @40% of ( top to floor) brake pedal travel results in VERY gradual retardation, then the next 10% is SHARP braking,
so VERY easy to go from "oh- we're not slowing"...to standing the car on it's nose

my commiserations..

johnxtype said:

What year is the car ?
Brake fluid should be changed every 2 years as its hydroscopic and will soak up small amounts of moisture from the air. This decreases its ability to withstand compression and thus degrades braking performance......

Click to expand...

Yes, well worth checking, something that is often forgotten, unless you're having dealership services. Many manufacturers now recommend a bi-annual brake fluid change. You can of course help yourself a little on this by checking the fluid yourself with one of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-Brake...919052?hash=item3d07ec1b4c:g:-~IAAOSwhcJWOJwr

I have one and I use it to check my fluid every six months. I checked my elderly neighbours brake fluid on his Megane just last week and it's showing a moisture content of 4%, the fluid not having been changed for over 5 years. I have of course 'advised' him and he promises he's having it done on his major service in Janary. I had the fluid changed in my Saab back in April and it's at 1% as it should be. I generally have a fluid change every 3 years.

Moisture in brake fluid does not make a difference to feel in one off applications such as the OP is talking about; air could and this is effectively what you get when the fluid boils.

It will lower the boiling point of the fluid so during sustained very hard driving as the fluid heats up (via the pistons through the pads) and the fluid starts to boil you will get a spongey feel. Not sure this is an issue for a road car with less than 100bhp though.

More important to change it to keep moisture out of the very delicate internal workings of the ESP/ABS modules- these can corrode internally, wrecking them.

Horsepower got nothing to do whether it boils or not. Constantly being on the brakes downhill can heat things up quickly or braking on and off repeately down twisty corners can do it too. It is very easy to heat up the brakes.

500angie said:

Hi there

I have had my fiat 500 lounge for a couple of months now and I have been very happy with it. The other night my husband was driving and thought the brake pedal felt as if it was going down a bit far before the brakes started biting.

Can`t say I have noticed any difference since I got the car but am now wondering how the brake pedal feels in other examples.

The brakes do work and the car has only done 16,000 miles and the pedal feels as if it goes slightly less than half way before having an effect.

Fluid levels are ok and the car passed the mot without any advisories.

How does your pedal feel ?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Hi Angie.
have you made any progress with this?
Charlie

I thought I would add my recent experience to this older thread,
Long story short, replaced both rear drums, new shoes, one wheel cylinder and new fitting kit,
All worked OK afterwards but the pedal went down far more than I remembered and the handbrake needed to be pulled up quite some way.
Logic says bleed brakes again, no difference, still not happy several weeks later.
I took the hub off for a look everything fine but suspected the auto adjuster was not doing its job for some reason, sometime later and lots of on offs with the hub and racking round the auto adjuster(manually) much better, do the same to the other side and brakes restored to "normal" operation IE braking from only 3/4" pressing the pedal and handbrake that's on after only a few clicks( not pulled up past the seat) FYI handbrake should just start to drag at 1 click and be fully on at 5 clicks or at least for drums.
Still cant see how the auto adjuster actually works, does something press on the rear to push the cam round, could it be the new Bosch shoes are fractionally offset or bigger?
Either way fixed for now and may only need a quick look once a year, which is better(than no servicing for years) as getting the old drums off was really hard.

Mila said:

Horsepower got nothing to do whether it boils or not. Constantly being on the brakes downhill can heat things up quickly or braking on and off repeately down twisty corners can do it too. It is very easy to heat up the brakes.

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In a spirited driving situation horsepower has everything to do with it; more horsepower means you'll be building more speed up between corners and therefore need to scrub off more speed before the next corner which means more work for the brakes (with shorter periods of time between applications too).

Realistically, if anyone is driving hard enough on a public road to boil their brake fluid (or get other heat-related brake degradation) they're a tit (and this includes driving downhill in either of your situations- drive properly).