Brakes

harry90 · Post by **harry90** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:07 pm

I dont know if this has happened to anyone, but today when i was driving, i went over a small pothole on the road, and at the same time had to brake because there was a traffic light in front. When i braked the pedal pushed back towards me, and kinda restrained my braking. It wasnt a hard push of the brakes, just normally slowed down gradually, but the pedal definetely pushed back. The last time this has happened before today was a few months ago. Does anyone know what this could be ? Or did the brakes simply just lock up ?

Post by **Bennoz** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:34 pm

Do you have ABS?

harry90 · Post by **harry90** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 3:48 pm

yep...im pretty sure..

Post by **Bennoz** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 3:57 pm

Thats what it'll be then. When you went over the pot hole with your brake on, for an instant the ABS system (more specifically the ABS sensor on that wheel) sensed the wheel was locked up as it was not on the road for that brief instant. It then would have released the caliper thinking you had locked up - hence the feeling in the pedal.

You wanna feel it properly? Go down the road & hit the brakes as hard as you can - try to lock up & feel what the ABS does to your pedal then!

harry90 · Post by **harry90** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:29 pm

lol...maybe if i have time

nicholas · Post by **nicholas** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:13 pm

Bennoz wrote:You wanna feel it properly? Go down the road & hit the brakes as hard as you can - try to lock up & feel what the ABS does to your pedal then!

Definitely recommended. I played around with it a bit on the long road from Golbourn to Wakefield when we went down there the other day.

FTO ABS is renowned to be a bit dodgy so I wanted to try it out for myself... better to get the hang of it on your own terms than when your safety is at stake. For all that, I thought it worked v. nicely, but will have to try it on wet roads to be sure.

Post by **Bennoz** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:17 pm

Its not the hydraulics that are dodgy (which are the important bits) its the wheel sensors that pack up 9 out of 10 times.

I think its important for anyone who has ABS to know how & when it operates. For that matter, I think its important for everyone to know the limits of their car full stop.

nicholas · Post by **nicholas** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:27 pm

So true!

Ah, the days of hanging out the rear of the station wagon in the name of research