sound completely normal to me.. My brakes always feel pretty weak, But in emergency stopping situations they arent the worst. they have nowhere near the braking power of some more modern cars, at least the 300mm's dont. the pedal feel is terrible as well, but thats been a volvo thing as long as i can remember. maybe the newer ones are better.

 

I agree, the pedal feel isn't good. I did new rotors/pads/fluid and it didn't help. I have 320mm slotted DBA T2 and Project Mu pads. It stops very well but I wish the pedal was firm

 

I'm on stock T5 brakes and I agree, way too much pedal travel. Even after installing new centrics and akebono's all around over a year ago it didn't change. A few months ago I did a full Pentosin bleed and it helped a little bit, but really it was only marginal, nothing to get excited about. Glad you posted this to see what other people say. I rarely drive the car but I did today, and I remembered how bad the pedal feels. I guess you'd get used to it if it's your daily and had nothing to compare it to, but I do, and if you barely put your pinky toe on my S80's pedal you better be ready to stop .. that's the way it should be.

 

Air in the lines will affect pedal feel and they will tend to feel vague with more travel.

I have also found that the pad choice can also affect brake feel. The Hawk HPS pads can feel vague until they heat up. Because of this, they tend to have less initial bite. After a couple good stops, they have much better bite. They also have little fade. I found they work well with slotted rotors because the slotted rotors heat up faster.

Conversely, the Stoptech Street Performance pads have very good initial bite and very good performance but they dust like mad.

I haven't tried ceramic pads so I can't speak for them.

 

Our brake pedals are pretty soft, certainly not a 'firm bite' compared to my Audi.

 

Brake feel increases linearly with pedal depression. This might feel worse than modern cars, but that's because modern cars put all the bite up top but no improvement as you press harder. They do this to make the brakes appear to be better than they are.

I like our brakes... Great for making smooth stops and left foot braking. Never felt like my brakes weren't going to stop me. They'll throw you through the windshield if you slam on it.

 

Brake feel increases linearly with pedal depression. This might feel worse than modern cars, but that's because modern cars put all the bite up top but no improvement as you press harder. They do this to make the brakes appear to be better than they are.

I like our brakes... Great for making smooth stops and left foot braking. Never felt like my brakes weren't going to stop me. They'll throw you through the windshield if you slam on it.

This. And they're especially good with stainless steel lines.

 

That's a little disappointing to hear but I agree these brakes do allow for smooth stops.


On a similar topic, has anyone noticed the brakes 'prime' when going over bumpy roads at high speeds? Or just at higher speeds in general. Pedal seems firmer at 120 than it does at 60. There's a nicely curved offramp (I25S to I70W if you're in the Denver area) that I tend to take at double the recommended speed. But if I need to slow down to merge the brake pedal is usually immediately firm. I did a bit reading on it and I think that's due to either the electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD) or some part of the DSTC. Usually DSTC is on unless I'm in snowy parking lot but I'm curious if turning it off would affect the pedal feel at higher speeds.

 

That's a little disappointing to hear but I agree these brakes do allow for smooth stops.

On a similar topic, has anyone noticed the brakes 'prime' when going over bumpy roads at high speeds? Or just at higher speeds in general. Pedal seems firmer at 120 than it does at 60. There's a nicely curved offramp (I25S to I70W if you're in the Denver area) that I tend to take at double the recommended speed. But if I need to slow down to merge the brake pedal is usually immediately firm. I did a bit reading on it and I think that's due to either the electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD) or some part of the DSTC. Usually DSTC is on unless I'm in snowy parking lot but I'm curious if turning it off would affect the pedal feel at higher speeds.

HAhA , we are so spoiled here with some of the great roads we have...im talking about the back roads, not the downtown and highways-- they suck as much as anywhere.
I dont remember noticing a difference at speed.

 

Yeah the mountain roads are amazing! And so close. My favorite curvy drive is to take 6th west just past the light for 119 and turn onto Douglas Mt Rd. The first part is half dirt/bumpy pavement but smooths out after a couple miles. Most of the turns you can see pretty far ahead so you can take a nice line. Douglas Mt connects to Golden Gate canyon rd which is downhill for most of the way and has curves perfectly suited for the S40.

Last time I drove that route I ran into a B5 S4 that was out for a cruise too. He was barely faster on the straights but definitely couldn't out-corner me on the tighter parts.

 

My V50 has the best brake feel of any Volvo I've owned, but I imagine that's to be expected with the 320s. The pedal is always firm and it's easy to modulate the braking force.