I remember a friend overhauled his 3rd gen brake system and they felt sensitive and stiff to press.

What does it take to get brakes feeling like that?
Or is it just not possible with old cars?

I remember a friend overhauled his 3rd gen brake system and they felt sensitive and stiff to press.

What does it take to get brakes feeling like that?
Or is it just not possible with old cars?


Well you are saying he did it to a Gen 3 so doesn't that answer your question?

Main things in my experience are... 1. Bleed the brakes. 2. New brake master cylinder kit .

they felt sensitive and stiff to press.

You mean they had good initial bite, and the pedal didn't move down much as you pushed on it harder?

Variables:
Pads: soft pads will give much better initial bite, but fade when hot. Hard pads do the opposite.
Pad material: some current organic pads have poor bite when new and need a lot of bedding in. (Need to do one end at a time and give them time to bed in before doing the other end, if you do both ends at once, the brakes can give you a real fright. Not much happens when you push the pedal. Once bedded in though, they have good cold bite. )
Air in the system: Will make the pedal soft and it may even hit the floor in an emergency brake situation.
Internal master cylinder leaks. The pedal will be soft and you may even notice the pedal going down by itself if you have your foot on the brake for any length of time.
Booster: some just give you a soft pedal for some reason.
Guide pins lacking lubrication, clogged up master cylinder and/or calliper pistons: all affect the performance of the brakes.

Nothing to do with age, more the condition of the brake system. I've added brake work to the 200,000 km service: Dismantle all cylinders out of the callipers and remove rubber buildup, check rubber components, check pistons and bore for scoring, check discs and pads for wear and glazing, lube guide pins. Wash out the master cylinder reservoir with fresh fluid, suck up all the grot first. Fresh fluid and a good bleed.
Makes them as good as new.
Haven't had to dismantle a master cylinder yet though.

I noticed when I sold my 2002 magna & bought an AWD magna with the bigger ralliart discs & calipers, they were firmer in feel & required less pedal pressure to stop.
AWD or 380 discs & calipers are a great brake upgrade for any standard 3rd gen magna.