Hi, my 2009 4/4 sport seems to have a very long pedal movement before it firms up and brakes come on?
Its been like this a while now, but each time I get in after driving our daily driver for a week or so it draws my attention.
Once driven for a few miles I get used to it again and forget about it. The brakes come on good and solid but the pedal travel seems long,

But today I was playing about trying to figure out if I have a problem with it or not and I noticed that if I pull the hand brake on and then press the brake pedal it goes solid almost immediately! With the hand brake off its back to long travel again.

This would indicate that my rear brakes could be the problem area (if there is one)?
There is no air in the system as they've been bleed recently which didn't make any difference.

Does anyone have any ideas?
Could it be the brake adjusters? Or are they all like this?

Any ideas welcomed.

Cheers

If you are absolutely sure that they have been bled completely, and assuming the wheel cylinders are not leaking, then I would suspect the automatic handbrake adjusters not working properly.
Remove the tool tray behind the seats to expose the handbrake cable adjuster. With wheels chocked, release handbrake.
Slacken off the handbrake adjuster until there is plenty of slack on the cable.
Get in the car and operate the foot brake pedal several times by really stamping on it. That should get the auto adjusters operating (you may hear some clicks as they take up.)
Re adjust handbrake cable so that there is no rubbing with handbrake in off position and so that when handbrake is applied, you can still get a finger in the slot, (thats allowing for stretch of the cable)
Obviously to test for rubbing you will need to jack up the rear to rotate wheels by hand.
If that doesn’t work then you will need to remove brake drums for closer inspection.

Thank you, that's certainly worth a try

Doug's sequence above is good, if the adjusters are stuck fully backed off then it would be worthwhile taking the rear drums off to give everything a good clean out & lube (when the adjusters stick on, the drum can be a pain to get off) hence do it now

Wow, that worked so well thank you for the advice Doug

I thought the handbrake was pretty slack as it was, but loosening it right off and pressing the brake pedal I could hear about 3 clicks up on the adjusters straight away.
I did the handbrake from from underneath the car, i just thought that was easier.

Now my pedal is better than its ever been

MOT day tomorrow so just in time

Thanks again.

Brilliant news, Paul and gratifying to get your feedback. Good luck with the MOT. 🤞