147 GTA brake failure - not too confidence inspiring!

Back in August, my brakes (330) failed in central London: the pedal went rock hard and the car would only just stop from walking speed. Luckily, it happened at the entrance to a car park, not in the middle of the morning rush hour I'd just come out of! The dealers said it was a broken 'vacuum canister' and replaced it. They didn't bleed the brakes properly so it had to go back again.

Now I've had the car a while since the problems been sorted out, I've been trying to work out if the brakes are up to the same performance they were before the failure. I'm not convinced they are, having done some emergency braking tests - but then it could just be a psychological thing, a case of confidence lost in the braking. I think I might take the car to an independant specialist and get them to check the system over anyway.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? Think it's worth getting them checked out? You can't be too careful with this kind of thing I suppose.

2 things I'm worried about - are the brakes as good now as they should be and why on earth did the vacuum canister "perish and become holed" (dealers words!) in the first place!?

Might of been a perforated servo diaphragm at manufacture? Pin hole, that then split? Quite an unusual happening, so don't be overly concerned.:

it may be worth a rebleed and flush, then refill with high quality brake fluid. and yes, a brake specialist may be a better choice for this.

if the pedal feels spongy or inconsistent, then a small amount of air or water in the brake fluid could account for it.

i can't comment on the cause for your initial failure; i've no experience with that.

I also think it is most likely the fuild hasn't been flush properly.

Hmmm. Will get it checked out and report back, I thought it might have been the brake fluid too.

Hi,
I am brand new to the forum but I was surprised to see your post. I had owned my 147 GTA for an hour when exactly the same thing happened to me. I bought my car with 36,000 klm on the clock. The dealer also told me it was a vacum problem. I must say it scared the hell out of me. Luckily I was also travelling very slowly so I could pull the car up but only just. The dealer didn't seem real concerned like he had seen this before. Interestingly no warning lights came on to say I had a brake problem?
Ian

That is worrying if it's happened to two of us... I was on full steering lock when mine went, were you? Had no warning lights either, just a rock hard pedal doing naff all!

Hi,
Sorry it toke me a couple of days to reply, in answer to your question no I wasn't turning, luckily I was driving slowly towards the exit out of the dealers car park. Dealer didn't seem worried but I must say it scared the hell out of me.

In 2.5 years / 60,000 klms of very fast road use I've not experienced this problem, and I rely constantly on consistent Brembo braking performance. Thanks for the warning Jack.

AM