Driving a 2wd 5sp with no ABS I find myself wandering between extremely impressed to distressed with the brake feel.

When braking in emergency situation I find the vehicle stops well. However the effort is required is inconsistent.

Also, in normal braking and in stop and go traffice I find my calf muscle is getting a great workout most of the time.

After 10,000 KM I am surprised that I can't predict how the brakes will work from one moment to the next.

For braking - when it works well, it is excellent.

Against - Honda needs to make it work consistently well.

Dave

Have you stopped by your dealership to have them check your brakes? Perhaps they are in need of adjustment.

My Brakes are just great after 11,000 miles...I have had no issues what so ever.

Just an idea!

St. Louis Penguin,

Hi!

The brakes work fine. I mentioned it to the dealer when I went in at 7,000 KM for my first oil change. The manager threw me the keys to a Y package with the upgraded package. The brakes had the same pedal feel and afte a few test stops I felt that the set-up was the same as my base package. In fact, at a stand still or under light braking I can push the pedal all the way to the floor with little effort on my base and also on the Y package model I tested.

The brakes are impressive when they perform as expected. It is just that some times they bit sooner or later than normally. I may find my self having to applying the brake with more force than normal for an extra second or two and the pedal goes lower and lower to floor. Then all the sudden the vehicle brakes as if I had slammed the brakes on hard. It's as if the brake has to catch up when I'm in stop and go traffic.

Once again, at highway speed when I push hard and quick on the pedal to bleed speed, or under emergency braking, the brakes work very well and do so consistency.

Sounds strange to me....I also have a 2wd 5spd and have not noticed this at all. I find that the brakes are quite responsive all the time. I have not noticed anything inconsistent. Maybe it's worth getting the dealer to check them out again.

Brakes just slow you down!

I have found that the brakes on the E behave the same way as those on our Odyssey. Personally, it takes getting used to that's for sure. I don't know if its the electronic brake distribution or what, but it's a lot different than my old Pathfinder...

On vehicles with disc brakes on all four wheels, I'm used to the brakes feeling a certain way: the pedal travel is very minimal, and the feel is very solid.

However, on my Element, it's a different story. The pedal travels a great deal, and the brakes seem to engage with different levels of force at the same amount of pedal depression, depending on how FAST the pedal moves, instead of how HARD I press on the pedal.

Is anyone else experiencing anything similar?

On other vehicles I would suspect that the brake system needs bleeding, to remove air from the hydraulic lines... but based on some of the brake-related posts I've read here, I'm not sure.

On vehicles with disc brakes on all four wheels, I'm used to the brakes feeling a certain way: the pedal travel is very minimal, and the feel is very solid.

However, on my Element, it's a different story.
By chance do you have an EX, and is it your first 4-wheel-disc vehicle with ABS? The additional hydraulic circuits in ABS modify the overall feel versus non-ABS, especially with all-wheel disc vehicles. The slight variability may possibly be accounted for by normal ABS modulator cycling, which it does when you start the vehicle just to keep everything moving and in-tune, and for self-diagnosis.

I noticed that it was slightly "different" in the E for the first couple of days, and it hasn't bothered me since.

[quote:53ef75dae3=" MikeQBF"][By chance do you have an EX, and is it your first 4-wheel-disc vehicle with ABS? [/quote:53ef75dae3]

It is an EX. My other vehicle also has 4-wheel disc ABS brakes, an Acura Integra... so it's similar technology, coming from Honda. Although... it is ten years old.

The spongy feel I'm observing is always there, every time I step on the brake pedal. If I try to "pump" the brakes, it doesn't change -- brake system that have air in the hydraulic lines tend to "firm up" when pumped, but I'm not getting any firming up happening. That's one reason I posted here... perhaps there is something about these brakes that's just different?