Break pedal feel

[62dave]

Hi chaps,

Potentially dumb question but here goes!

My Evora 400 brakes are generally very good. There’s a nice pedal feel and I’m really starting to get the hang of heel and toe thanks to the pedal feel. I’ve struggled with this on other cars of mine which have had over servoed brakes making it hard to heel toe without braking too hard.

One issue I’ve found though is that when its wet the effort needed when braking is significantly harder than when it’s dry. Is this a consequence of the feedback associated with these brakes compared to the numb brakes I’d have experience elsewhere (M3, M135i etc)?

There doesn’t seem to be a problem stopping the car but it sometimes catches me out a little as I initially brake with the same force on the pedals and then have to slam them down a bit harder once I can feel the lack of response.

Side note - Ive had the car serviced recently and plenty of life in disks, pads etc.

Again sorry if this is a stupid question but I’ve never noticed this on any other cars (including my old Evora S) in 20 years of driving

[Peegee355]

Not sure if this is your issue, but with my 400 in the wet, there is a noticeable lag between force on the brake pedal and anything happening. Might only be less than a second but it can seem like a long time!  Hitting the brakes harder reduces that time till they bite.  It used to be really bad and when they were inspected, the majority of the drilled holes in the disks had filled up with gunge - cleaning them out made a big difference

[62dave]

That sounds very similar to what I’m getting. I’ll do a gunge check later!

[Whitey]

In the wet the pads will take a split second to clear the surface water from the discs before stopping power begins.

[EGTE]

Same on the NA in my experience.

[Peegee355]

8 hours ago, Whitey said:

In the wet the pads will take a split second to clear the surface water from the discs before stopping power begins.

 

Split second yes, that is true for all the others cars I've had, in that braking is near instantaneous regardless of conditions. Not on my 400, there is a half second delay in the wet. You can get around that by riding the brakes so they are always hot and dry but that's not something I want to do

[Whitey]

Well it must still be the water clearing effect the pads have ( or don't have) on the discs which will depend on how wet it really is - i.e. torrential with standing water or just damp drizzle. The cross drilled holes being clear  or blocked may make some difference also. I have driven mine in the wet and done an extremely wet day at Anglesey and have had no problems. May need to press a little harder initially but it still stops extremely well.

[Simon Bateman]

Can this general feeling of delay be attributed to the slight dead spot at the initial braking phase?

It's definitely there and can sometimes be hard to smoothly apply the brakes until you've had a couple of goes at regulating your right foot.

After that, the brakes are epic and certainly I've experienced no notable brake fade during alpine descents and other enthusiastic driving.

 

[122]

Mine (S1) also suffers from this in wet weather (under light braking - not tried with a heavy foot.) It's a bit unnerving if you're not expecting it, but clears up after the first application.

[Beady]

aha - i am happy somebody else has finally raised this problem as i have it too.

Never felt in on the NA or the S i had but it is REALLY noticable in the 400 but only when its VERY WET.

about half a second to a full second delay for sure.

I though i was going mad - had silverstone check the brakes twice but found nothing wrong;  Had the brake fluid changed as a precaution and for my own sanity (and the front pads as they were 70% worn) and it still does it....  

looks like they all do that then..

 

[Peegee355]

I feel this same way and went through what you went through.  Pleasing to see this forum acting as a peer support group!

[62dave]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Good to see it’s not just me!

I’ve gone ahead and bought some new ferodo pads from seriously lotus so will swap those over and see if it makes a difference. 

Edited January 17, 2020 by 62dave

[EGTE]

I wonder if clearing out the ventilation holes on the disks might improve this? 

[Peegee355]

It definitely helped with me, the lag went down from a second to half a second (probably less than that but when you brake and nothing happens, then time tends to slow down!)

[62dave]

Hi all - I had my pads changed and discs cleaned up.

seems to have improved it quite a bit. There’s still a tiny bit of lag but it doesn’t feel scary like it did previously 😀

[augiedriver]

I'm picking up this thread which is similar to my own post entitled 'Alarming lack of initial breaking in the wet'. What pads have you changed too?

I've now spoken to both A P Racing (Elise and Evora front calipers) and Circuit Supplies who distribute pads for A P Racing. Neither company had heard of this problem. A P Racing do not manufacturer pads but buy them in but thought it could only be the pads as a disc will dissipate water immediately. However, Circuit Supplies didn't think it could be the pads and questioned whether the servo was the problem. But I only have this problem in the wet.

Apparently the calipers on the Elise and Evora, although different, are specific to both cars and not supplied to any other car manufacturer. 

[62dave]

Hi there 

I got these ones https://www.seriouslylotus.com/braking/brake-pads/evora-bbk-front-brake-pads-ferodo-2500-392

when I got them fitted I also asked for the drilled disks to be cleaned out (as suggested by someone above) so that could have been contributing to the problem