Hello, to summarise again... the flexible hoses were replaced and shoes, pads, disks checked for thickness, system bled, new hose from manifold to servo which does not collapse or leak and the servo seems to work. There is no wear on the disks in spite of them being old which seems odd although they are clean and shiny on both sides. It all works, brakes in a straight line and passes MOT but the brake peddle is appreciably heavier than the 340 and its been like this as long as I have driven the car i.e. not suddenly got worse. Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. Just curious why its different, but then the clutch is much heavier on the 360 too (another story), so perhaps its a design feature to balance the pressure on both feet ;-)

Seems odd that 340 has heavy steering but feather light clutch and brake whereas 360 has exactly the opposite. I should get out more.

pedal shouldn't be heavier than the 340, not appreciably anyway, it will possibly have more travel but that's it and be slightly stiffer due to the extra weight you're stopping but that's it.

I would do the further checks I described earlier. Check the calipers move in and out freely, use a screwdriver carefully between the two pads and move them apart to see if the caliper pistons move in OK.

I would then take one of the caliper pins out and rotate the caliper out of the way to see if the back pads and discs are OK, because on mine certainly I've seen the back pad with half of its surface area just polishing rust. This was only detected once I got the caliper out of the way rather than just a 'look-see' inspection. The history of that problem was traced to the cheapo pads that were on the car when I got them. The OE Volvo pads I put on had a larger contact surface, covering more of the disc than the old ones.

I wouldn't just say change the pads at first though. I would carefully check the discs too cos you may need to change those too.

The clutch pedal is a great deal heavier, yes...presumably because it has to counteract a lot more clamping force. Having said that, it's feather-light compared with the diesel clutch in my housemate's 740!

cheers

James

Not so heavy as a 1.7

Bogbasic's 340 is a 1.4....pedant

cheers

James

are uprated/aftermarket pads available for the 360?

Yeah - Mintex do a fast road set

EBC do them too. Mintex M1144 are the dogs danglies for road pads though IMHO

Black Diamond and GreenStuff are available too

yup heres a site: www.needforspeed.co.uk

click on car then on model then on the thing you want. brakes.

360:http://www.needforspeed.co.uk/pages/sbv ... 1&User=NFS

340:http://www.needforspeed.co.uk/pages/sbv ... 1&User=NFS

cheers

Back to topis the problem to me would apear to be the servo. I would recomend swapping it if possible.

I thought Bogbasic said he unhooked the vac line to the servo and it was a great deal worse?

cheers

James

What about if brake line is blocked? Could be because of some dirt in master cylinder/lines or external force caused pipe to go flat?