brake not working well. Glazed rotor?

[tmc3p]

My 98 camry has some brake issue. Here are my problems.

1. brake is not spongy. but just doesn't work well.
2. Every morning before I start the engine, I noticed brake pedal is really hard. After running engine, brake pedal comes down.

I took my car to a mechanic and had him look at it. He said the rotors are glazed and there's no room for resurfacing, so basically they need to be replaced. Do you think the rotors are glazed? I don't know.. but they look just fine to me. I wouldn't mind replacing them if it fixes my problem. But I'm just worried it might have some kind of vacuum issue or so since brake pedal gets really hard without engine running every morning. He said hard brake pedal has nothing to do with weak brake. What do you think??

[gorak]

Without the engine running, it is normal for the brake pedal to be hard. Pressure is built up without the assistance of the vacuum. Once the engine starts on it is normal for it to go away. As for your pads and rotors it is difficult to tell but yes they do look glazed.

[71Corolla]

Both your rotors and pads are glazed, it will take more pedal pressure to get the required friction. Time for some new parts.

[sarsman45]

Show us the profile view of your rotors so we can see if it can be saved.

[JohnGD]

The pictures aren't too telling, but OP may be able resurface them once. The rotor does not appear to have much of a lip. Looks like about 0.5mm on the surface?

Can OP take a picture of the back of the pad and see if there is an edge code? Maybe this is "NBK xxx-xxx FF" pad?

Since resurfacing is about 1/2 the cost of a new rotor. Maybe OP wants to get Akebono ProAct ceramic pads and Centric C-tek rotors.

There are other reasons for weak brakes and glazed rotors/pads. For example, sticking anchor pins or caliper pistons. So those need to be inspected too. It would be best to check the piston movement and maybe even rebuild them.