Brake pedal seems hard when I apply the brakes

Tiny
THANVAS
  • MEMBER
  • 2007 TOYOTA RAV4
  • 3.5L
  • 6 CYL
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 118,000 MILES
I purchased the vehicle listed above used and the brakes seem hard when I apply the brakes, so I replaced all brake calipers, all rotors, all brake pads, and replaced the brake booster and check valve. After changing everything the brakes feels the same, it seems to me like the brake booster wasn't assisting, but I'm confident that the brake booster is good. I did a smoke test to the old brake booster and saw smoke coming out of the bolt that the master cylinder mounts to, as I went to test the new booster that was on the car. I pulled off the check valve to test and heard a vacuum hissing sound, which tells me that the booster holds a vacuum. I can't think of anything else, except for the ABS module, but I've tested that also with a tool that I hooked up to the car and manually activated the pump and all of the solenoids. I don't have any ABS lights on. I've also disconnected the hose going to the brake booster check valve and connected a vacuum gauge to the hose and turned the car on; I'm getting 20 kPa, so the vacuum is good. I'm not sure what else it could be, unless the car is normally like this, and I'm just used to the car brakes, being more sensitive with the newer cars. The car brakes seem to work fine, but just not as responsive. Today I took the car out and drove it and slammed on the brakes really hard to see how the brakes perform. Twice the car was skidding, and it didn't activate the ABS system. Any help with this issue would be appreciated. Thanks.

Sorry I would like to add that I've also changed the master cylinder. The parts I replaced are all new parts.
Tuesday, December 26th, 2023 AT 2:57 PM

14 Replies

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
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Can I ask what type/manufacturer of brake pads you are using, the reason I ask is inexpensive lifetime brake pads sometime can be super hard and not stop the car well. If this is the case, I would swap out the pads for OEM units. Here is the correct way to install the pads.

Also, I have seen seized brake caliper slides cause this issue as well. Let remove the brake calipers to check them. Can you please shoot a quick video with your phone, that way I can tell for sure what's going on. You can upload it here with your response. Check out the images (below). Let us know how it goes.
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Wednesday, December 27th, 2023 AT 12:56 PM
Tiny
THANVAS
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Thanks for the quick response. The brake pad and rotor were from Carparts. Com and the brand is Powerstop.
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Wednesday, December 27th, 2023 AT 4:53 PM
Tiny
KEN L
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Yep, ceramic brakes are known to be hard and not stop as well. I would get semi metallic, also, I would get a name brand set. OEM would be best. Be sure to check the caliper slides.
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Thursday, December 28th, 2023 AT 9:38 AM
Tiny
THANVAS
  • MEMBER
  • 46 POSTS
Thank you very much. I never thought that the brake pads could potentially be an issue. I'll replace the brake pads with an OEM and check the slides. Do you think the rotors are okay? I replaced those with new ones also. Thanks again.
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Thursday, December 28th, 2023 AT 10:34 AM
Tiny
KEN L
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I think the rotors should be okay. Let me know if the pads help it.
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Friday, December 29th, 2023 AT 10:17 AM
Tiny
THANVAS
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Since I currently have ceramic brake pads, do I need to do anything to the rotors before putting on the semi-metallic brake pads?
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Friday, December 29th, 2023 AT 1:21 PM
Tiny
THANVAS
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I noticed that my front brakes are wearing much faster than my rear brakes. These rotors are new, less than a week. I attached the front and rear pictures for comparison.
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Saturday, December 30th, 2023 AT 9:10 AM
Tiny
THANVAS
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Sorry the images from the previous post are both the front brakes. These are the rear. There's also a lot of rust already on one of the calipers.
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Saturday, December 30th, 2023 AT 9:31 AM
Tiny
KEN L
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Thanks for the images, those rotors don't look good at all. I would get all new rotors and pads from Rockauto. Com
They have name brand parts. This should fix the problem.
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Saturday, December 30th, 2023 AT 12:10 PM
Tiny
THANVAS
  • MEMBER
  • 46 POSTS
I replaced the brake pad with semi-metallic brake pads and the brakes are braking better, but I'm now running into another issue. Sometimes when I apply the brakes semi-hard, the brake pulse, just once and the parking brake light comes on, then if I apply the brakes again semi-hard the parking brake light turns off. I read online that it could be the ABS module, so I removed the fuse for the ABS module and the problem goes away. Any idea what may be causing this. I'm assuming it's something I did because I didn't have this problem before changing all of these parts. M
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Friday, January 19th, 2024 AT 2:40 AM
Tiny
THANVAS
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I've also scanned the car and I'm not getting any fault codes.
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Friday, January 19th, 2024 AT 3:00 AM
Tiny
THANVAS
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  • 46 POSTS
In park I press and depress on the brakes and occasionally this brake warning light switch to on and the park brake light turns on on the dash. This seems to be different from the parking brake light. I can't turn it on by lifting the parking brakes.
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Friday, January 19th, 2024 AT 8:54 AM
Tiny
THANVAS
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When I turn on the ABS Solenoid relay with the scanner and when the warning light is on, the ABS light on the dash turns on.
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Friday, January 19th, 2024 AT 9:08 AM
Tiny
KEN L
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That is normal for the ABS light to come on with a scanner command. Also, I would check the brake fluid level which can make the brake warning light come on. Please let me know, also if you have a different problem please start a new thread.
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Friday, January 19th, 2024 AT 10:21 AM

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