Soft Brakes & Poor Stopping Power

[campbmic]

Hey guys! I bought a used 03 Yukon STL with 125k on it. I love the truck so far but ever since I bought it, it has had a "Service brakes" message on the dashboard. It has no squeaking or wheel shaking

It has aftermarket 22" rims but I doubt that it causing it. What would you guys recommend for me to start with? Brake pads? Master cylinder? I don't really see any leaking from it!

Should I just order them and install them and see if it solves the problem? Or is there a way to tell if they're bad? Could I get away with just doing the front two or should I do all four?

 

[SLCHOE]

Hey guys! I bought a used 03 Yukon STL with 125k on it. I love the truck so far but ever since I bought it, it has had a "Service brakes" message on the dashboard. It has no squeaking or wheel shaking

It has aftermarket 22" rims but I doubt that it causing it. What would you guys recommend for me to start with? Brake pads? Master cylinder? I don't really see any leaking from it!

Should I just order them and install them and see if it solves the problem? Or is there a way to tell if they're bad? Could I get away with just doing the front two or should I do all four?

There is an open recall for those trucks. Contct your nearest dealership and ask them about it. NHTSA Recall# 04V045000

 

[Jeff d]

Soft Brakes & Poor Stopping Power

If you don't have hydro boost then that recall doesn't apply. I don't have hydro boost and my brakes suck on my '03. Everything is in proper condition and I've bled and re-bled the brakes with a vacuum bleeder. The brakes on that generation just have a poor reputation. Eventually I plan to swap in the larger diameter rotors from the newer generation and police pursuit vehicle calipers from the newer generation. Both are bolt on parts if you have 17" or larger wheels

You should address whatever issue is triggering the warning light but don't expect good performance even when they're in proper working order.

 

[campbmic]

Ya this is definitely a "theres a problem with the brakes" kind of squishyness. The brake pedal seems to depress wayyyyy to far and have wayyyyy to little brakeing.

How can I tell if my truck has the hydroboost? Its an 03 SLT XL

 

[ezdaar]

Look between master cylinder and firewall. If you have a 2' round black doughnut, you have standard vacuum assist brakes.

If you have some thick ass hydraulic lines running from power steering to master cylinder and NO big ass black doughnut, you have hydroboost.

There is a thing called Google. That will show you these awesome things called pictures of hydroboost setups.
You should check it out. I heard it was really cool.

 

[08grey]

Please make sure you don't have a leaky brake line before you drive it again.

 

[campbmic]

ezdaar, why would I take a few minutes out of my life when I can have you do that?