This is just a general question out of curiosity. I've noticed that the brakes on this car feel different then every other car I've ever driven. It seems that this is the only car where the pedal requires force to push down where other cars the pedal can be mashed to the floor with ease.

Take my Bonneville and our '94 Grand Am. On the Bonneville, the pedal has resistance and stops according to how hard you press it. On the Grand Am, the pedal has no resistance, and stops according to how far down you press it, rather then how hard.

I hope I don't sound crazy, but all I know is that when I go from the Bonneville to the Grand Am, my braking is very jerky until I get used to it.

Can someone explain why this is?

88-90 SSEs came with the Teves brake system which is an electro-mechanical assist rather than a vacuum assist system. There is a pump and an accumulator found on the Teves that is not found on a conventional vacuum system. In time, the accumulator will need to be replaced. Most of the time, this is where the extra effort comes in. A failing pump will also cause the need for more pedal effort.

I replaced my accumulator and it had no change in the feel of the brakes... still shitty. I have a parts car that also has a Teves system. I'm going to try to swap the pump assemblies to see if that helps. Otherwise, I'm switching to a vacuum assisted system

i dont know if your condition is normal because on mine the pedal can be pushed to the floor with ease, more ease than the other cars ive owned/have maybe your master cylinder is headed south, old brake calipers have caused harder pedals on a few cars ive worked on including the bonne, reman ones from autozone are like $9 with a $11 core, never had a problem with them

also the fact that our systems are different than every other one on the road today because they are electronic and not vacuum boosted, which makes for a different feel probably. i personally love the teves system and the way it feels in my car. someone else should know more about it tho

My pedal, even with the non-TEVES system, quite frankly, feels like crap. My braking when switching TO the Bonneville after driving the Altima or whatever other car is herky-jerky.


The pedal is spongy/mushy at the beginning of travel, you put your foot down... nothing, no feeling (but some resistance), nothing, nothing, and then HEY! Braking.


Basically the weighting of the pedal doesn't change enough when you start to get any significant amount of braking... it only changes under somewhere heavier than a moderate stop.

I hope nothing is wrong. The braking is consistant and smooth depending on how hard you push, and I like the way it feels. If you push down hard your face will go through the windshield no problem. On top of that, when the tires are about to lock the ABS kicks in and does its job as it should.

I like it much better then the cars where the pedal just drops to the floor. I like having that pressure on the pedal to judge my stopping. If it is failing I hope the parts aren't too pricey to fix it...

I'd hope not either, but this characteristic has been around for as long as we've had the car. Braking power isn't an issue, my brother was driving the car today and had to do a 110km/h panic stop. It just feels really crappy doing it.

you'll find that brake pads, adjusters, rotors, and the bleeding of the system all contribute to brake feel.
When I bought the 90 SSE the brakes felt hard and seemed to glide when stopped.
Installed the first set of carbon metallics and bled it and it was better but then ate the pads.
Found that the caliper slides were jammed and the front rotors were worn thin and flexing under braking.
Installed new Auto Zone rotors ($10), got free replacement pads, and fixxed the caliper slides and she stops like a dream now with excellent brake feel.
Pads are showing hardly no wear in 4 yrs now.