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Nathan Knutson
Nathan Knutson
  • 88.2k
  • 4
  • 99
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Rear hydraulic brakes are always a little bit softer feeling than fronts. My understanding of the reason is that the hose isn't 100% unable to bulge, the system is never 100% free of air, and or/or the fluid isn't 100% unable to compress, despite all those numbers being close too 100, so the more hose and more fluid you have, the more softness creeps into the brake feel.

There's a mechanical skill/judgment call involved sometimes in being able to differentiate between normal rear brake feel and slight air contamination, and sometimes brakes wind up being bled because someone decided to be on the safe side. How I would approach it is ask if you were judging the rear brake feel independently of the front, when squeezing hard and fairly fast, does it give you that moment of firmness, where the free movement of fluid in the system has clearly been taken up and now you're squeezing against the flex/compression-resistant aspect of the system? Or does it transition straight to mush without a good moment of firmness? That's the symptom of a brake you should at least try bleeding.

Rear hydraulic brakes are always a little bit softer feeling than fronts. My understanding of the reason is that the hose isn't 100% unable to bulge, the system is never 100% free of air, and or the fluid isn't 100% unable to compress, despite all those numbers being close too 100, so the more hose and more fluid you have, the more softness creeps into the brake feel.

There's a mechanical skill/judgment call involved sometimes in being able to differentiate between normal rear brake feel and slight air contamination, and sometimes brakes wind up being bled because someone decided to be on the safe side. How I would approach it is ask if you were judging the rear brake feel independently of the front, when squeezing hard and fairly fast, does it give you that moment of firmness, where the free movement of fluid in the system has clearly been taken up and now you're squeezing against the flex/compression-resistant aspect of the system? Or does it transition straight to mush without a good moment of firmness? That's the symptom of a brake you should at least try bleeding.

Rear hydraulic brakes are always a little bit softer feeling than fronts. My understanding of the reason is that the hose isn't 100% unable to bulge, the system is never 100% free of air, and/or the fluid isn't 100% unable to compress, despite all those numbers being close too 100, so the more hose and more fluid you have, the more softness creeps into the brake feel.

There's a mechanical skill/judgment call involved sometimes in being able to differentiate between normal rear brake feel and slight air contamination, and sometimes brakes wind up being bled because someone decided to be on the safe side. How I would approach it is ask if you were judging the rear brake feel independently of the front, when squeezing hard and fairly fast, does it give you that moment of firmness, where the free movement of fluid in the system has clearly been taken up and now you're squeezing against the flex/compression-resistant aspect of the system? Or does it transition straight to mush without a good moment of firmness? That's the symptom of a brake you should at least try bleeding.

Source Link
Nathan Knutson
Nathan Knutson
  • 88.2k
  • 4
  • 99
  • 230

Rear hydraulic brakes are always a little bit softer feeling than fronts. My understanding of the reason is that the hose isn't 100% unable to bulge, the system is never 100% free of air, and or the fluid isn't 100% unable to compress, despite all those numbers being close too 100, so the more hose and more fluid you have, the more softness creeps into the brake feel.

There's a mechanical skill/judgment call involved sometimes in being able to differentiate between normal rear brake feel and slight air contamination, and sometimes brakes wind up being bled because someone decided to be on the safe side. How I would approach it is ask if you were judging the rear brake feel independently of the front, when squeezing hard and fairly fast, does it give you that moment of firmness, where the free movement of fluid in the system has clearly been taken up and now you're squeezing against the flex/compression-resistant aspect of the system? Or does it transition straight to mush without a good moment of firmness? That's the symptom of a brake you should at least try bleeding.