Both my parents have concerns about my brakes. they state that there is excessive peddle travel, and they feel spongy. I have noticed that the pedal seems a little heavy, but will stop the car and dig into the abs if need be, and the abs works fine too. The pedal is a little slow in coming back up too. Is this perfectly normal with this generation of braking system, or is this a cause for concern. I dont know which years have the same system as mine, but i do know it is differant from the 90sse we had.

I have nothing to copare to so I can't say if it is normal.

Some things to check:

Rear drums? Make sure they are properly adjusted.

When was the brake sytem last flushed and the fluid replaced? Every two years is a good rule of thumb.

Check the flex lines for signs of aging cracks, spongy, etc...

Willwren doesnt let you drive zilla?

last night a new noise developed. metal on metal on the left rear. and the left rear likes to lock up under heavy braking and ebrake engagements also. even made the abs go WTF.

Wheels will come of soon. good thing the tempo is still insured :P

i would start by changing the shoes and possibly the drums, if you hear grinding. Then try bleeding out the lines to see if you can stiffen up the pedal.

I didnt notice any wetness inside the wheels when i was looking under it. i will have to pull the wheels off tonight and see what surprise is waiting for me

check to see if the mater cylinder is leaking
at the power brake booster

no leakage has been observed there either.

sometimes if the rear seal on the mc is leaking right into the booster, you wont see any fluid, but the level will obviously go down.

same as the wheel cyl'*, you wont always see the leak with the drum on.

we should wait until you have the drums off, before we get ahead of ourselves.

My dad was kind enough to do it while I was at work <i grabbed the tempo, which was parked at his house >

a spring on the passanger side broke, and dropped the adjuster. he mentioned the grinding was the parking brake assembley up against the hub. he has said the brakes are starting to come back too now that a new adjuster is in.

So i ask again, are the abs brakes on these cars notably firmer than normal brakes?