jason2713

Hi All -

I am having issues with my antilock braking system, it seems to engage entirely too often. Today, I'm going through the snow, it engages like every friggin time I brake, even when going slow. It engages when I hit a pot hole, in the rain, etc! It's so annoying! And honestly, I don't see how it helps because its taking longer for the car to stop vs regular brakes.

I get the point of anti lock brakes...but this is going on way to often and I know that's not what it's intended to do. Anyone else having this issue? I'm gonna go to the dealership, they're gonna tell me, "we can't recreate the problem" and that's that. Help.

LukeaTron

Let me guess, you're still on the original OEM tires? If the ABS is engaging all the time your tires are slipping or there's a problem with the sensors. If you don't have the ABS symbol lit up on your dash, the sensors are probably fine. The stock tires the car comes with are ass, especially in snow.

jason2713

Yep, car is bone stock from stealership.

I'm not trying to buy $200 tires, but this is ridiculous. I'm tired of braking, the the ABS just going crazy. Any suggestions on tires that will not have this happen without going crazy on price? I need all season tires obviously.

I am going to drop the car off at the dealership and have them check everything out. The rotors/pads may need to be replaced, we'll see.

LukeaTron

I don't know where you're at at but if driving in snow is a regular occurrence I'd highly recommend some dedicated snow tires. My car with Blizzaks goes better through the snow than a number of my coworkers SUVs. As for all seasons, I'm looking to replace my "summer" tires with Yokohoma AVID H4s. They run about $125 a piece and are pretty well regarded as all around all season tires.

For regular snow driving though, dedicated winter tires make a huge difference. Huge.

thisaznboi88

iTrader: (7)

you might want to take it to the stealership if you have warranty or something. Doesn't wana crash and die now if it engage at the wrong time.

jason2713

Na, you're gonna get more snow than I will, I live in Baltimore MD (DAMN STEELERS!!! you EEEEEKED that one out! haha)

All season tires will be just fine. We get maybe 2-3 inches at most, and its not often that happens.

LukeaTron

Hahaha, your tears sustain me. :P That was one of the best games of the season though. If you want to blame some one, blame that marble mouthed Shannon Sharpe who claimed in the pregame that Troy Polamalu is an incomplete safety because he doesn't regularly run back interceptions. Hahaha, what a dumb ass.

Anyway, yeah there are a number of choices for all season tires that are leagues better than those retardedly expensive OEM POSes. The H4s seem to be right in the sweet spot of performance vs price. There are plenty of options though.

jason2713

You know, it's funny because they were all over Polamalu's nuts in my pregame channel, and sure as hell, he won the friggin game when it was on the line. I mean, Baltimore could not have asked for a better situation:
Down by 2, ball in our hands, 4 minutes left, all we needed was to be within 50ish yards to put up a game winning field goal.

What does Flacco do!? Forces a throw, and its funny cuz they've run that play a million times in the season, and the second it started to unfold, i knew exactly where the ball was going. And if ***I*** knew where it was going, sure as hell that awesome D knew!

Even IF we went 3 and out, you guys would have had a long field against arguably a defense on par with your own, and I liked my chances over all. But no, the absolute worse thing that could have happen, did happen. Ah well, next year! Of course we have a lot of free agents to sign, oh god I'm nervous!

Anyways, yeah I'll take your advice and get some all seasons, get the brakes looked at by the stealership. Thanks all for the advice. now on to get some rims for this bad boy!

LukeaTron

I was cheering for Tennessee to win the previous game because I thought we would have had a much easier time with them than with the Ravens. I do think the Steelers soundly beat the Ravens that game and the only reason it was so close was because the refs were trying to pry the game from their hands (missed flagrant late hit on Roethlisburger right infront of the ref, BS interference call that gave Baltimore their first TD to name just two examples). Still, it made for a great game to watch. Lots of big hits as one would expect from two greatest defensive powerhouses in the league.

I'm giddy with anticipation about Sunday.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

Please stay on topic or take it to PM. Thanks.

5o9

I have the same symptoms as you, inc. potholes and rain

Once, in the rain, the antilock went on for about 50 yards, at 40 mph

Dealership said nothing wrong. I'm running on stocks and snowtires, and the strange problems continue with the snows. Have a 6mt, and the general solution is not to use the brakes.

Judging by the number of brake mods discussed here, think the problem is more than just the world's worst tires for this car...

LukeaTron

If you are getting excessive brake shudder it could trigger the ABS. Do you have any vibration while braking, either in the wheel or the pedal?

Almost all of the traction problems that turn up around here go back to the crappy tires the care comes with.

5o9

I guess it is a traction problem, but the AL sensors seem way to sensitive compared with other cars...

valeratj

I also get traction control/ABS lights when driving during rain on my stockies

miked8887

The purpose of ABS is not to help you stop faster. They help you regain traction if you loose control of your steering due to the loss of traction... like if you're drifting toward the curb in snow and turning the wheel doesn't help straighten you out. If I recall correctly, I think I remember the owner's manual warning that the ABS will actually increase your required stopping distance.

It might be the case that they actually ARE working properly. You said they engage when its raining/bumps and snowing. This is normal. Our brakes are sensitive, and just a little tap could be enough to cause you to loose traction in snow. On bumps, my ABS kick on sometimes even if I just lightly tap the brakes, and it takes me noticeably longer to stop.

I'm not trying to make you sound stupid, but are you sure its not your VSA system? Does a little exclamation mark flash on your speedometer when its engaging? If so, that's your VSA.

If they still seem too frequently in use, take it to the dealership.


BTW, here's another quote from you: "I'm not trying to buy $200 tires"

Getting better tires than OEM will cost over $200 apiece. My OEMs at the dealer are around $220 each... unless you find a shop with better prices.

jason2713

Like I said, I understand the purpose, but this is entirely too often. If it's the car, I would never recommend purchasing another Acura and I'll never buy another. I owned an Audi before this car, and yes, its AWD, so the ABS didn't kick in as much, but this is way too much. It's making it unsafe to drive the vehicle...I'm sliding 20 yds when braking, its BS. My brother's Acura TL did the same thing until he put on his aftermarket rims/tires. Says somethign about the OEM setup. For a more luxurious car, its pretty crappy in my book. I'll try to fight the urge to trade it in.

If this is normal, I'm taking the car back. I've owned a lexus, audi, and now this acura...only the acura acts like this. Not impressed, nor do I feel safe.

Then the car isn't quality in my book. Braking is pretty important in my book, and if I h ave to wonder whether I need to add another 20yds to my braking distance every time I brake, that's ridiculous.

didn't see the exclamation point, but wasn't looking for it either. I was terrified I wsa going to T-Bone another vehicle because my vehicle was sliding into the intersection.

Don't agree what so ever. I had 20" rims with performance rated tires I purchased (Nitto55) that were $200 a tire. No way all seasons are going to be above that, since they mass produce them, and I can show ya some links to some nice ones if you can't find em

miked8887

^^I know there are cheaper tires out there. My dealer charges me over $200, but thats the 'stealership.' I definitely need to find where you get your tires.

Yes, send me the links for the tires

and good luck w/ your car

nj2pa2nc

still have the the OEM tires on my tsx with no complaints after 69,000+ miles. I do alot of driving on all types of roads in all kinds of weather. My abs seldom, in fact rarely, are engaged.

5o9

Jason2713, maybe we have a problem. I brought mine to the dealership and they said no problem. Bring yours in and update us with the results :wish

carmagnut

i'm surprised it is so frequent that it is warranting this much attention. It happens to me occasionally in the snow and in the rain when I am braking AND the car hits a bump at the same time. Other than that I have not experianced it. When it does happen it must happen so fast that I have no idea what the light even looks like.

visuelz

Jason,
Maybe you shouldn't jam on the brakes so hard or maybe you should drive slower in the snow. I can always predict where my car will stop even if I jam on my brakes in snow.

You also say you need to get all-season tires. Our car comes stock with all-seasons. So what you probably need are better all-season tires.

billabong05

I have noticed the same issue in my '07. It comes on constantly. We just had a lot of snow here the past few days and the anti-lock brakes are coming on all the time. I also noticed it trying to stop when hitting a bump. There probably isn't anything wrong with the car.

jdepasqu2

I have run these on my 05' tsx and 07'.... not bad for the price but they arent as rigid or quiet as you would like them to be... they are actually pretty darn loud. i dont believe they are the correct rating as far a weight handeling which adds to the instability that I beleive takes away form the cars rather sturdy peformance... just my 2cents...

LukeaTron

As far as noise, have you looked at the tread on those things? Yes they're going to make a bit more noise, that's the price you pay for for actually having traction in the snow. It's a trade off I will happily make.

Now as far as stability goes, there a couple factors at play here. I don't know what setup you've gone with but I've got my winter tires on 16 inch steelies. The size is 205/60-16. There's a ton more sidewall and a substantially narrower contact patch. This is done on purpose so that the tread section of tire cuts down through snow instead of packing it down and climbing up on top of it. The thicker sidewall helps a lot with the bumps and potholes. When you add in the softer compound, all of this together means that you're going to get less dry traction than you would from a summer or all season tire. The steering feedback is also greatly reduced (feels a lot like a Lexus actually).

This is the expected behavior of snow tires. You give up some dry traction and responsiveness for snow traction and improved resistance to impact related blow outs. You're driving on snow after all, to expect the tires to make it feel like dry warm pavement is unrealistic.

jdepasqu2

I was just commenting on the yokohamas... i didn trealize you had commented on the blizazaks too... yah-with snow tires you do lose what you mentioned.... I used to actually run the yoko's all year long... like I said not bad for the price and the all around/all year performance... my bro has them on his 05tsx now and everytime I drive it I notice that they are a $125 dollar tire tho.. not knocking them-like i said i use them... its just noticable... I think the biggest problem is that they arent the correct load rating... compared to stock... big difference in feel...

LukeaTron

It's probably more the touring intent of the tires that you're picking up on. They aren't dedicated performance tires. They make the sidewalls a bit softer to cushion the ride for the touring type tires compared to the much stiffer performance tire sidewalls. I assume you're comparing this to some kind of dedicated summer tire?

I've heard the OEM Michelins have pretty stiff sidewalls but I've never run them (my CPO car came with Falkens). The sidewalls play a huge roll in how much road feel you get at the wheel and a less significant role in the turn in response. Outside of a track environment, it doesn't matter much beyond personal preference.

crazie

tssss glad im not the only one experiencing this i always thought sutn was wrong with the car until my cuzin told me bout the ABS loll hate that #T$#@# for me it happened mostly wit lil potholes and lil bit snow..stockies POSs

LukeaTron

Christ, learn some damn English.

crazie

lol chupa mis huevos

visuelz

I think the OP returned the car.

o_nate

I have had this problem a couple of times on snowy roads. I push down the brake pedal and it's like nothing happens. I'm not sure if it's a traction problem, an ABS problem, or both. I wasn't going that fast - but it's like pushing the brake pedal has no effect - I just keep on rolling at the same slow speed. Luckily it hasn't caused an accident yet, but it makes me extremely wary of driving on any snow at all. Once I had to maneuver over to the side of the road so that the tire would rub against the curb to stop so that I wouldn't rear-end the car stopped in front of me.

Itchytoe

Holy thread revival Batman! Over a year? wow

You need new tires o_nate. That's the issue. Stockies are terrible, especially on snow. If by nothing happens, you mean the ABS doesn't kick in, then take it to your dealer because that's a major safety problem.

Jottle

I know others have chimed in here already, but I just wanted to say that the abs engaging on stock tires when braking over potholes is EXTREMELY common on our cars. I have it as well. And I know of two other TSX owners that report the same thing.