E30 hard brake pedal?

So my E30 has had a pretty hard brake pedal the entire time I've owned it. I'm OK with it, but Colleen (my GF) hates it, and she drives the car the most. It felt to me like a bad brake booster, even though it still holds vacuum fine. This weekend I changed the booster, and it still feels the exact same. I've changed the front brake pads recently, and the rears about six months ago, and all the sliders were free and smooth, and I greased everything up while i had it apart. This is the only E30 I've ever driven, so I don't have anything to compare it too, but it doesn't seem normal. If you put it gear (it's an auto) before it idles down all the way you need to use some serious leg muscle to keep it in place. Any ideas?

Oh, and I've checked for vacuum leaks and everything looks great. No leaks at all. Could it be in the ABS unit? The ABS warning light has never come on, but I've also never felt the ABS kick in, so I wonder if there's a problem with that.

That doesn't sound typical, the brake pedal feel shouldn't be that hard on an e30. I would have suggested the brake booster as the likely culprit - was the one you swapped in used? If so do you know if it was a good one?

My first impression driving a co-worker's 325is was that ALL of the inputs were crazy hard. Super strong spring on the throttle that pushed back against your right foot. Stiff brake pedal. Pushing in the clutch was like hitting the leg press machine at the gym. High-effort steering. Not that I didn't like it, just that it was WAAAAAY different from most cars.

I'd say it's normal. For an E30, that is.

Does not sound normal, having it creep while in drive is over the top.

ABS unit is a possibility, Ive had one on an Elise exhibit the same symptoms - insanely hard pedal and high effort required to stop. A used unit took car of the issue.

You could try cracking the bleeders one at a time to see if one circuit requires high effort even with the bleeder open. If you find one blocked circuit work your way up the line until the restriction goes away.

bleeders -> ABS unit output lines -> master cyl lines.

1988RedT2 wrote: My first impression driving a co-worker's 325is was that ALL of the inputs were crazy hard. Super strong spring on the throttle that pushed back against your right foot. Stiff brake pedal. Pushing in the clutch was like hitting the leg press machine at the gym. High-effort steering. Not that I didn't like it, just that it was WAAAAAY different from most cars. I'd say it's normal. For an E30, that is.

Huh, I'd say the exact opposite. Compared to other sports cars of that era, I think E30's have some of the lightest inputs. What kind of shape was the one you drove in?

Now, comparing it to a modern, overboosted car is a little different. It has the inputs of a 20 year old car.

ansonivan wrote: Does not sound normal, having it creep while in drive is over the top. ABS unit is a possibility, Ive had one on an Elise exhibit the same symptoms - insanely hard pedal and high effort required to stop. A used unit took car of the issue. You could try cracking the bleeders one at a time to see if one circuit requires high effort even with the bleeder open. If you find one blocked circuit work your way up the line until the restriction goes away. bleeders -> ABS unit output lines -> master cyl lines.

That's a good idea. I bled the brakes when I first got the car, but I don't remember if I noticed any odd pedal feel while doing it. I may have even been so focused on the task at hand (and probably in a hurry) that I didn't notice.

Easy check of the booster. Pump pedal several times to exhaust any vacuum. Hold foot on the pedal, start the engine, pedal should drop slightly. It's possible that only two wheels are braking. easy to check.

The stiffer the pedal the better. Makes for much easier brake/throttle modulation whilst working 3 pedals with 2 feet.

I do believe that you have an ABS issue though.

In reply to maddabe:

Re-read the OP. Keeping SWMBO happy takes precedence over pedal modulation.

Tommy Suddard wrote:

1988RedT2 wrote: My first impression driving a co-worker's 325is was that ALL of the inputs were crazy hard. Super strong spring on the throttle that pushed back against your right foot. Stiff brake pedal. Pushing in the clutch was like hitting the leg press machine at the gym. High-effort steering. Not that I didn't like it, just that it was WAAAAAY different from most cars. I'd say it's normal. For an E30, that is.

Huh, I'd say the exact opposite. Compared to other sports cars of that era, I think E30's have some of the lightest inputs. What kind of shape was the one you drove in? Now, comparing it to a modern, overboosted car is a little different. It has the inputs of a 20 year old car.

Hmmm. Very odd.

The 325is in question was in very nice shape, good maintenance, with maybe 200k on it. It felt like a MUCH newer car.

My wife's recently acquired E36 328iC shares many of the same traits, although it is an automatic.

I haven't driven many sports cars of that era, but the bimmers inputs are way stiffer than my '88 RX-7 Turbo II, and certainly stiffer than any of the myriad 80's and 90's sedans that I've driven.

Perhaps I'm overstating the degree of stiffness, but the bimmers feel, well, stiffer to me.

I've had two E30s (a four and a six) and effort-wise, they were comparable to our Miata.

RexSeven wrote: In reply to maddabe: Re-read the OP. Keeping SWMBO happy takes precedence over pedal modulation.

So true. If it were just me driving it, I'd just deal with it.

So it definitely feels like the back aren't doing much, and with some of the advice in this thread and some thinking while I was bored at work, I decided to give it a once over when I got home. The car has been in a few accidents, and working on the restriction theory I decided to just give it a visual last night looking for any bent, smashed, or crimped lines. No dice, but there was a small repaired spot right in the middle of the main line that goes down to the rear wheels. If someone got a little carried away with the compression fitting, that could cause a restriction. I'll be checking it out in more detail this weekend.