Soft brake pedel feel

Hi Guys,

I have been told that the brakes in my D40 seem soft when applied, like they need to be bleed. I have been driving this for almost 24000km's now and I guess I am used to it but knowing that there is a brake issue with these D40's being hard pads and soft rotors I thought thats how it was meant to be and thought nothing of it.

What do others feel? Are they the same or do you have good pedel feel.

Mine brakes really well when really stepped on and pull the truck up quickly but its more when easing the brakes on it feels soft.....

I believe there all the same, you could go and test drive a new one to feel for a difference. I quized a Nissan mechanic about the soft pedal feel, He said I wasn't the first and he agreed that the D40 pedal has a spongey feel, but didn't offer an explanation. I personally think the brakes stop fairly well for a 3 tonne truck, also I've read some where the King Cabs uses different rotors and pads, but I haven't confirmed this yet., mine has no excess brake dust/ black rims.

It's there but i don't notice it unless i'm at a stand still applying pressure.The thing pulls up really well.At the last nissan sevice they told me i need new pads and rotors.I said no worries,i will keep an eye on it.I'm getting them this sevice 10000kms later.Goes in on tuesday for the 70000.

Yeah I find my abs is useless as well locked up other day stopping for bunch of roos. If they get really soft bleed them they feel better I did it once at bout 8000km felt better

correct me if I am wrong but hasnt the 2008 onwards got a slightly different ABS set up? I am stoked with my brakes and ABS, have thrown the anchor out a few times with little wheel skiding, mine seems to put different pressure to the brakes depending on what section of the car starts to skid, I have not yet hit the skids on the dirt to see how she brakes. only thing with my brakes I dont like is the brake dust.
I also thought with the rear drums this would be why it felt softer than other rigs and cars I have driven with 4 wheel disc brakes.

I replaced pads & rotors at 50000k with DBA slotteds & Bendix pads & am still amazed at how good the pedal feels. Big difference & gives a lot more confidence & I actually thought my brakes were pretty good before.

Spongey brakes

Had the same problem with my d40, replaced rotors and pads at 50000 ks
Slotted DBA rotors and ECB green pads (Kevlar impregnated) fantastic improvement feels like it's pulling up now, which is great as it will 2500 Kg van behind it shortly, the work was done by AMMS Sandgate Qld, They do some of the buildups for 4WD Action mag

JJMOS
2007 2.5 D40

hi my d40 dual cab with 19000kms only just started to feel spongy & fade away while at lights this week no fluid loss

I fitted DBA Drilled and Slotted rotors with Ceramic Pads from Hawke Racing in the US. Truck stops hard and can set off the ABS on drive roads.My pedal does go soft at the lights and you will find that easing on the pedal it feels very soft.Jump on them hard and they pull you up hard.Some other guys have fitted different brake lines as well and that makes the pedal firmer as well

In my 2007 model, i have the soft pedal feel since new. At 20,000km I fitted DBA slotted and Bendix Heavy Duties. They were a significant improvement over the std brakes, but hardly what you would call impressive. Adequate, nothing else, with some increased resistance to fade, and lower pedal input force required.

In recent weeks there has been a materially drop off in performance. Truck now has 80,000km on it. Struggled to get the ABS to come on a dry road with 100% brake. Pedal basically on the floor and poor resistance to fade. Fresh hydraulic fluid (replaced twice) made little difference.

Solution. Move brake pedal closer to drivers seat. The brake pedals resting position should be 5mm below/behind the clutch pedal. Mine was 15mm. Adjust this up and it makes a reasonably difference to the brake pedal feel. Whilst in it own it does not increase the power of the brakes, the feel is much improved. The pedal firms up nicely. No more pedal to floor feeling. If you need instructions, PM me.

The second thing i did was replace the brake pads (50-60% worn) with ceramic pads from the US via ebay. This has made a noticeable difference to the braking performance. Much stiffer pedal, perception of greater retardation. No increase in braking noise. ABS easily comes on. Whilst i don't have prior data, the truck pulled 1G underbrakes on dry/damp road with cold A/T tyres. So its much better drive now, you actaully have confidence in the brakes the pedal input is much reduced. Its no sports car, but at least you feel you are going to stop at the lights!

Bottom line, adjust your pedal height and use fresh pads. Not sure why the pads had "gone off" so to speak. They have been used heavy (I'm a heavy driver, but don't take the brakes to fade point), and you could see the pad material coming away from the back plate on the extreme edges of the pads (indicative of many high temperature cycles). I can only think the volatile nature of the bonding agents at some point give up and the friction co-efficient decreases despite there being adequate meat on the pads.

I have a 2005 R51 Pathfinder and about the only thing I really dislike about the car is the brake feel. To me they feel like a failed master cylinder (Which I was actually close to, I replaced mine at 150,000km. DONT ask the price)

To get the Pathie to feel like it stops I have ended up with Bendix ultimate pads on it. They are vastly better than the stock ones and now it feels marginally OK to me. I have been looking into a master cylinder from a US model, looks like the V8 version has a larger bore master cylinder which would firm the pedal up somewhat. It should fit up fine as long it has the right number of ports as the bias is not done in the master cylinder (I destroyed the old one to get it to bits and there is no bias valve in there)

OKay, share the damage on master cylinder.

Are there any different calipers you can put on the Pathfinder?

Some of the guys in the US have tried the master cylinder swaps and returned back to the stocker again . The Titan master cylinder bolts right in from memory but there is soemthign wrong valving wise and it will lock the brakes on solid.
In theory the pathy may have a better cylinder than the D40 as the pathy has 4 wheel disk
Stuff Knows
i run the different rotors and pads and its doing ok .

ive just bought a 07 d40 and had a trailer on it goin down a windy mountain on and off the brakes but not riding them and thought that they didnt feel to good.. so i waited for a straight piece of road with nothing behind me and hit em real hard trying to lock the wheels up..no go tried it again and couldnt even get the abs to work at all... felt like the pedel wash hard into the carpet and that was it...smelt burning brakes on the second go... they feel like rubbish and i got to sort it out...i want to atleast be able to make the abs kick in... are the rear drums self adjusting??

something that i will be doing soon to mine will be to fit extended braided lines, rbf600 brake fluid and adjusting the the brake proportioning valve because i know its a major problem on the new hiluxs that the rear brakes dont work anywhere near as well as they should and people are saying the difference is amazing after they adjusted the rears. not sure on the d40s but you should be able to adjust the rear drums. someone else may be able to confirm

I have driven a couple older D40s and the pedal felt like I was Fred Flintstone trying to pull it up.
I have a 09 King cab dont have any issues on my brakes.
locking up using ABS on any dry road. Pulls up really well glad to actually have ABS.
Although if i pump the pedal twice the pedal feels as tho its up 20mm or so but that is about it the braking stays suficient enough.
I dunno if I have a different brake setup I have lifted it 2 inches I havnt adjusted my brake proportion valve either. But as ONLOCK mentioned thats a great start I remember driving around in my HOON driver days with the rear brakes locked off.
Rear brakes only do about 30% of braking but without them it doubles your braking effort, good place to start.