Ive been told from people who drive my car that the brakes feel like you have to brake hard with your foot to get it to stop, that its not as smooth.

The front brakes are not worn I replaced pads and rotors 2 years ago, and recently I replace drums shoes and hardware.

Why does my car feel like this? maybe the fluid is old and needs change and would that be the cause of it?

Also I get the same for the power steering, when making hard turns that the wheel feels hard. When the car is cold the wheel turns smooth. And im not sayigs its hard hard as if one didn’t have power steering just a bit rough.

So I was thinking maybe change the fluid on the power steering also and wondering if it would cure it also?

And if you ask why I didn’t change the brake fluid on the car when the brakes where done, I did tell the mechanic to change it but I feel as though maybe he skipped that step. And im wondering to change out the fluids my self.



~1996 Cavalier LS 2.4L (auto)

check the vacuum line at the brake booster. see if it is cracked, broken, or disconnected. if not, you may need a new booster

What the above said....bad fluid would cause a mushier brake. A bad booster would cause an inconsistant hard pedal. As for the powersteering it could be the pump going bad. Changing the fluid might bandaide the problem but it might not.

my power steering pump is pretty noisy, is that normal. makes like a loud hissing or sucking noise.


~1996 Cavalier LS 2.4L (auto)

That probably means its burnt up.