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Brake pedal drops during burnout

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Old Feb 7, 2021 | 11:36 PM
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Default Brake pedal drops during burnout

I was in a parade in 2019. The car has a 700R4. The onlookers loved burnouts. The sheriffs didn’t care. I had my foot on the brake and began. I’m smoking the tires when the pedal dropped half way down. The pedal always engaged a couple of inches down. Always firm. Perfect. I’ve replaced every brake part except the calipers. No leaks from any of them. Bled perfectly. The last thing to check is the pedal assembly itself. I was thinking I bent the mount? Is that possible? I can’t really see it, but I can feel it. Again, everything is new and adjusted properly including the rod between the master cylinder and the booster. I’m stumped. Any ideas?
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Old Feb 8, 2021 | 03:33 AM
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You know what happens when you do burnouts like that, right?

The proper way is to isolate the rear lines. This video shows an example of a C3 that has done the mod to keep pressure in the front lines only.

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Old Feb 8, 2021 | 04:01 AM
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Burnouts holding the brake??? really? When I lived in the states I did a few 4th of July parade burnouts. spun um all the way down the street. Never , never touched the brake!
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Old Feb 8, 2021 | 10:05 AM
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Here's a proper line lock burnout.


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Old Feb 8, 2021 | 11:04 AM
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Your rotors might have runout, check with a dial indicator
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Old Feb 8, 2021 | 11:22 AM
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Ok thought everyone knew what a line lock was 🥺
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Old Feb 8, 2021 | 04:11 PM
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Cant do rolling burnouts in a parade. Doubt your pedal mount is bent
Maybe the pads got hot and needs more force to control?
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Old Feb 8, 2021 | 08:10 PM
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did the pedal stay down after the burnout or return to normal?
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Old Feb 8, 2021 | 08:17 PM
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How about you blew one of the piston seals in the master. Either rebuild or replace depending on MC bore condition.
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Old Feb 8, 2021 | 09:43 PM
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If you have power brakes.... (which are activated with engine vacuum)...it would not be a surprise that the brake pedal would be affected when the engine was making almost NO vacuum.

P.S. Doing that kind of burnout in a parade without a Line-Loc (or equivalent method of activating only the front brakes) would be risky...if not downright dangerous.

Last edited by 7T1vette; Feb 8, 2021 at 09:46 PM.
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 11:10 AM
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Low vacuum causes pedal to be hard and high.
Again MC piston seal failed.
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 08:21 PM
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Originally Posted by 4-vettes
Burnouts holding the brake??? really? When I lived in the states I did a few 4th of July parade burnouts. spun um all the way down the street. Never , never touched the brake!
Well, live and learn. So why did my pedal drop?
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 08:23 PM
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Originally Posted by bruiser
Your rotors might have runout, check with a dial indicator
New rotors.and pads.
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 08:30 PM
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Originally Posted by cv67
Cant do rolling burnouts in a parade. Doubt your pedal mount is bent
Maybe the pads got hot and needs more force to control?
Thank you. I didn’t want to hit the folks in front of me. The pads are ceramic. I’ve checked every pad for signs of anything. The brake fluid in the reservoir wasn’t low. That pedal mount looks pretty strong. A mechanic told me he’s seen the base bend the thin metal it’s mounted to. I checked that.
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 08:31 PM
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Originally Posted by vetten76
New rotors.and pads.
But did you check the runout? You could have cooked the rear discs. Or the calipers. Or both.

Use a tool like this or with a magnetic base.

When I rebuilt my trailing arms, both rear caliper mounts were bent/broken. The skid rigs I've seen often have their rear calipers removed.

Last edited by Bikespace; Feb 9, 2021 at 08:33 PM.
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 08:33 PM
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Originally Posted by derekderek
did the pedal stay down after the burnout or return to normal?

Pushing the pedal half way stayed from that moment on.
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 08:38 PM
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Originally Posted by MelWff
How about you blew one of the piston seals in the master. Either rebuild or replace depending on MC bore condition.
i thought that it must be in the calipers. All pistons show no signs of anything. No oil leak. All brakes have stainless steel lines. I’ve not checked the proportioning valve. It’s the only thing I’ve not looked at.

Last edited by vetten76; Feb 9, 2021 at 08:39 PM.
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To Brake pedal drops during burnout

Old Feb 9, 2021 | 08:42 PM
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Originally Posted by MelWff
How about you blew one of the piston seals in the master. Either rebuild or replace depending on MC bore condition.
Master cylinder and vacuum booster new. Rod properly adjusted. MS properly bled.
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 08:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Bikespace
But did you check the runout? You could have cooked the rear discs. Or the calipers. Or both.

Use a tool like this or with a magnetic base.

When I rebuilt my trailing arms, both rear caliper mounts were bent/broken. The skid rigs I've seen often have their rear calipers removed.
Cool tool. Bent caliper mounts. That I’ve not looked at. When the pedal dropped, it fell mechanical. There was no mush. I’ll give that a try.
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 08:54 PM
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Originally Posted by vetten76
Cool tool. Bent caliper mounts. That I’ve not looked at. When the pedal dropped, it fell mechanical. There was no mush. I’ll give that a try.
The bent and or cracked mounts are independent of the brake rotor runout, but both are certainly worth checking.

Also, just to be clear, did you replace everything AFTER the burnout and partial brake failure, or before?

Last edited by Bikespace; Feb 9, 2021 at 08:55 PM.
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