ZR brake noise

[johnnieboi]

Recently, i've had 2 incidnents where i had to brake suddenly which i havent had to do since owning the ZR. The most recent one happened today, and i noticed like last time, that everytime i brake suddenly and punch on the pedal, it makes this grinding sound that doesnt sound too healthy. Has anyone experienced this also in their corolla? I wasnt skidding, so that wasnt it.

Im hoping its something normal, i might have to try doing it by myself to see what its like. Any ideas?

[the_random_hero]

Take wheels off, check front and rear pads for uneven wear. Could be a multitude of things.

EDIT: Adurr, ABS is one of them.

Edited April 7, 2009 by the_random_hero

[whitestivo]

it's called abs, and it will save your life.

do not when this happens get off the brake, push it harder.

go somewhere deserted, slam the brakes, get used to the feeling.

good work getting a zr with abs, best safety mod there is after your own brain.

whitestivo

[johnnieboi]

Haha, i was like what? abs? like a six pack? ABS! Ahhh yes yes. I just thought it was something unusual. Awesome. Thanks for the heads up whitestivo

[DJKOR]

Haha, i was like what? abs? like a six pack? ABS! Ahhh yes yes. I just thought it was something unusual. Awesome. Thanks for the heads up whitestivo

If you are braking to the extent that your ABS is activating, you are braking a little bit too much. Your ABS should only really be necessary when the road is fairly slippery or if you have to stop really quick to avoid an accident. Or you need new tires.

[Guni]

The ABS light should come on when its activate.

[SuperDave]

The ABS light should come on when its activate.

Is that a 08+ thing?

Seems odd as I have never known any ABS system to do that.

[toy_levin]

I dont think its a 08+ thing.

I have a 05 levin, and been in hard braking situations, everytime i did it, there was a weird grinding noise,

I didnt know the abs done that too. But then again i never braked so hard before as well

[dwee.]

Recently, i've had 2 incidnents where i had to brake suddenly which i havent had to do since owning the ZR. The most recent one happened today, and i noticed like last time, that everytime i brake suddenly and punch on the pedal, it makes this grinding sound that doesnt sound too healthy. Has anyone experienced this also in their corolla? I wasnt skidding, so that wasnt it.

Im hoping its something normal, i might have to try doing it by myself to see what its like. Any ideas?

yesterday i had to hit hard on the brakes as the person in front of me decided to brake hard as soon as she saw the lights turn yellow (first time broke that hard). and no, didn't hear any grinding sounds.. :o

[cc805]

You can hear the noise (its like some clicks and springs noise) just by applying the brakes like you would normally do, for example, whilst pulling up to a (slight downhill) stop at a T junction or something and only where the road surface where you are pulling up to stop has some bumps and uneven surface on it. That way the ABS will activate as it can detect that the road surface/tyre contact at that particular point is not flat and smooth.

[Ray89]

yeah pretty sure its abs

[Guni]

The ABS light should come on when its activate.

Is that a 08+ thing?

Seems odd as I have never known any ABS system to do that.

Looks like I need to visit Toyota then .....

Haven't had to use ABS that often. Maybe about once or twice that I can remember and it has always lit up.

[SmellyTofu]

The ABS light should come on when its activate.

Is that a 08+ thing?

Seems odd as I have never known any ABS system to do that.

Has anyone mentioned it's the ABS?

No, the ABS light should not light up when it's activated. The light is a warning lamp. The TRC/VSC/Slipping car icon however is an activation light when it is operating.

Yes the grinding noise (as well as brake pedal pulsation) is the ABS doing it's job so it is functioning properly.

No, ABS doesn't tell you when it's time to replace worn out tyres

No, ABS will activate on dry roads as well as wet and it is not an indicator of whether or not you're braking too fast.

[Shaunus Maximus]

As i have a dirt road as a driveway that goes down a steep hill then through a shallow creek i activate ABS quite frequently when it gets even slightly wet (or really dry and dusty for that matter) and yes i have an '07 model corolla. I activate my abs when i go for spirited drives up and down the great dividing range driving home for the weekend from work. It's perfectly normal. Much better than not activating it, and it lets you know when you're reaching the limits.

This is a reason they should make defensive driving courses mandatory - so people can test out their car and know how it will respond in an emergency.

However, on a slightly different topic, we have had a lot of rain up here near mackay recently, and while driving along in town at 50kph in heavy rain (it was a 60 zone, REALLY heavy rain with lots of traffic), the abs and parking brake light have come on simultaneously and stayed on. So i promptly pulled the car over gently and turned it off. after about a minute later i started it up again in the hope that the ECU would have reset or something. Alas, this was not the case.

So I pulled back out onto the road, drove slowly until there was no traffic behind me, then jammed on the brakes to try them out. Sure enough, all four wheels locked up and the car skidded easily on the wet road. No ABS engagement. Now i have come to my own conclusions about what may have caused this, so bear with me.

Quite a while ago i must have bottomed out directly in between the two front wheels, which isn't hard to do on north queensland roads i might add. This caused the forward edge of a plastic panel to come loose, and proceed to pull itself downwards when in the airstream, and if i went through a dip, the plastic panel would scrape. At first this was nothing major, and i kept driving normally, but everytime it scraped it pulled itself a little closer to the ground, eventually scraping quite frequently - especially on rough roads. It would also scrape on our driveway constantly and fling rocks up at the car underneath.

(There's so many plastic panels under there, and i have previously had another one hanging down under the front right fog-light, which the toyota service staff zip-tied up to fix. Great work there. It would cost $250 to replace a fricking plastic underpanel that was about the size of a dinner plate.)

Given my previous experience with the local toyota dealer, i jacked the car up myself, inspected the plastic panel to see what it was protecting, and found there only to be part of the wishbone(?) suspension - no cabling or moving parts. So i removed the panel and disposed of it, i wasn't able to zip tie it back up.

Perhaps there is some sort of centrally under-car mounted ABS line, and removing the plastic cover has allowed some ingress of water with the heavy rain we've had into the system? This is the only thing i can think of. The light isn't on at the moment, but was on and off randomly while driving. The abs system only works when the light is off. Any suggestions?

Cheers.

[SuperDave]

The abs system only works when the light is off. Any suggestions?

Also check to make sure you didn't get any water onto your battery terminals that caused them to corrode. The dodgy connection can cause the ECU to freak out if you put it under too much electrical load.

Also, it is a wise idea to keep the under plastics as it helps reduce drag and keep less water out of the engine bay. The ABS sensors are in the hubs themselves so should be OK with water. Getting water in the ABS ECU can also cause it to play up. Take the cover off of it and letting it dry out (naturally or with a hair dryer) might help, and check your fuses.

Good ol' Mackay peak 15minute traffic :P Shame I wont be going up there for work any time soon.