Abs/brake Problem?

[IINexusII]

Hi guys,

Driving down the snowy A40 today back to london, and came across some instances where i had to brake in the snowy road. when i press the brake the pedal only went down a small amount and heard a very loud banging nose, its abit like a rock was stuck between the pads and the disk or something and i could feel it through the pedal. very strange and hard to explain. but on a dry or wet road it dosent produce the issue. seems to only be when the tyres are locking. is that an ABS issue? i pretty much had 0-5% brake force and nearly hit the car in front :S luckily managed to swerve onto another lane and survived today.

Also is the ABS light supposed to flash intermittently when its working the brakes? i didnt get no ABS light come up when applying the brakes hard. i also noticed some rust around the edges of the brakes when i went in to replace my front worn tyres for used winters.

[stef123]

what your experiencing is the ABS kicking in, all normal.

no the ABS light will not flash or illuminate unless there is a fault

[IINexusII]

Oh ok... thanks. the abs system pretty much sucks then on the focus lol.. ill be more careful next time and use the brakes like abs dosent exist.

Thanks for the help :)

[stef123]

Oh ok... thanks. the abs system pretty much sucks then on the focus lol.. ill be more careful next time and use the brakes like abs dosent exist.

Thanks for the help :)

remember with abs you need to apply constant pressure to allow it to do its job.. it does feel quite alarming under your foot though.

[IINexusII]

remember with abs you need to apply constant pressure to allow it to do its job.. it does feel quite alarming under your foot though.

I see. i think ill test out the ABS tomorrow morning at an empty car park and try to understand how this thing works

[stef123]

I see. i think ill test out the ABS tomorrow morning at an empty car park and try to understand how this thing works

sounds like a good idea

[NorthSussex]

It's the same on all cars with ABS, it's doing what it's supposed to do, pumping the brakes off and on rapidly to give you a shorter braking distance without the wheels locking up and allowing you still steer the car under control.

[martyntdci]

as soon as your brakes lock (pedal goes hard), you just go into skid mode, i always thought that in snow you pump ur brakes gently and avoid at all cost locking up, use the gears and engine braking as much as possible......

I see. i think ill test out the ABS tomorrow morning at an empty car park and try to understand how this thing works

you will just skid n slide on snow.......

[IINexusII]

yeah i know that i should be slowly pumping the brakes but just didn't understand why the brakes were making such a havoc noise even at slow speeds. i thought either something was broken or snow/ice was somehow jammed inside the braking system :P

Thanks for the reply guys

[artscot79]

Having had a vw passat in the past the abs is the same on that noisy just the way it is light will only flash if theres a problem with the abs in ice and snow it doesnt really help other than to keep you straight it still skids