Do i need my brakes bleeding or new pads?

When i apply my brake pedal, I'm hearing what sounds like a small burst of air being released from the pedal, its not constant, just one burst of air i think. Do i need to have my brakes bled or do i need new brake pads? My brakes arnt that much affected but ive noticed over the past two weeks, that ive needed to press a tad harder to stop when i want too.


And roughly how much would this cost at a garage, (estimate)

If it is that, is there anything i can do in the future to help this situation and stop it from happening?

Thanks

Re: Do i need my brakes bleeding or new pads?

Hi mate

Your car's fine, what you can hear is the partial vacuum being exhausted (inwards I believe) via a small fibre filter that sits like a Polo Mint around the shaft of the brake rod that pushes into your brake servo.

Standard test for the servo is to sit with the engine off and pump the brake pedal over and over again until you'll hear the hissing noise start to get less and less and the pedal will get much firmer until there's almost no movement and no noise (vacuum depleted).

Rest your foot on the brake pedal then start the engine, you should feel the pedal drop again as your servo gets its "power" back from the engine's inlet vacuum.

Thats it bud, good luck mate

Thanks for the explanation Shaun, you were right. Just curious to why its only just started to make the noise recently though? Is it because the small fibre filter is worn away?

Happy there's nothing wrong though

No worries mate I dont think anything wears away like that, to be honest its probably as daft as not having the radio on on a particular day and hearing the noise, then listening out for it every time after that probably?

Your brake fluid will need doing eventually though, only by virtue of the standard fluid absorbing a little water and after a while (couple of years I think) it could do to be changed.

Try a search on here, if you don't find anything or have a manual for your car, perhaps a separate thread will be best

Either way, you'll get help mate

If brake fluid age is unknown it needs bleeding. Keep the reservoir topped up & run fluid through each corner until its coming out clean. Its a quick job as there should be no air introduced and no need to strip the brakes. Any problems picked up along the way can be sorted before they let you down.