How to fix brake pedal side to side play.

[J.Belknap]

With all the slop in the assembly, brake feel has never felt "right" until now. Anyhow, on to the how to.

Remove the foot control trim panel
Remove the lower left dashboard panel
Remove the retaining clip from the brake pedal pivot shaft
Remove the brake pedal and with its inner and outer bushings
Install 9/16" inner diameter shim washers. (I used one 2mm thick washer thinned a touch with a little dremel action ).
Make it tight enough so that it's difficult (but not impossible) to reinstall the retaining clip.
Reassemble the rest.

This fixes about 75% of the brake pedal assembly wiggle. The 25% remaining is flex in the bushings themselves. I ordered a set of these UUC Clutch Arm Bushings to fix the remainder of the loose feel, but there is a marked improvement already with shimming. I'll report back when the new bushings are installed.

[J.Belknap]

Ok, so the UUC bushings ROCK. If you want a freebie, do what I said in the first post... but I would skip all that and pay the money for these bushings.

I removed my old bushings and the washer I made
Slid both of the UUC spacer washers onto the brake pedal shaft
Pressed (lightly hammered) the UUC bushings in the pedal
Took a Q-tip and applied motor oil to lube the inside of the bushings
Slid the pedal back on the shaft
Reassembled.

I was wrong about most of the play coming from needing a washer spacer. Although it is needed for the side to side action, most of the slop came from the old bushings. The brake pedal assembly feels 100% tight now. The UUC bushing solution is much much much better than using just a washer.

You can see the old stuff on the right.



New stuff installed. Both new spacer washers went on the shaft first.





Remember if you accidentally pressed your brake pedal position sensor in while doing this, to press it from the back, back out until it hits the bar on the brake pedal assembly. Otherwise, the sensor won't be near the metal, and it will think you're braking when you're not, and your brake lights will stay lit.

[Bimmer Ese]

Hmm...that's a great idea! I wonder if the clutch pedal uses the same bushings?

Daniel

[J.Belknap]

I'd bet on it.

Update: the fit is just a *little* too tight, and not allowing the pedal to come back up as fast as I'd like. I'm going to ever so slightly dremel off a millimeter of material from the inside of the UUC bushings.

Edit: dremeling just a little bit of material from the inner diameter of the UUC bushings worked like a champ. The spring overcomes the resistance to the pedal and brings it all the way back to the ready position after braking. Side to side play still feels totally non-existent.