808havok_tsx

who said our tsx has weak brakes?

on my way to work this morning, i got to test the ABS/brakes to the fullest. i changed lanes from left lane to middle lane. as i finish changing lanes, a lady in a mini-van decides to merge from the right lane into the middle lane - right where i am! swerving was not an option according to my split-second decision, so i stomped on the brakes as hard as i could. tires screeched a bit and lemme tell you, i *just* missed her rear bumper as she finished her merge. i let her know my displeasure with a loooong toot of the car horn. good thing the car behind me was far away cuz my car stopped pretty darn quickly!

btw, this is with oem tires. i imagine if i had better tires, it would've stopped even more quickly.

godfather2

it's the quick decision that saved u. glad everyone was unharmed

Chadwick

It's unfortunate you had to test the abilities of you and your car in such a fashion, but it is nice to know that the both of you are up to the task should you ever need a little defensive driving.

Good job on keeping your head and car intact!

LukeaTron

I had to do a panic stop a bit ago when a cop who had been sitting at an intersection for 30 seconds decided the right time to turn left was just as I entered the intersection. I don't think the brakes are that great on the TSX but not because they don't work well in those type of situations. They will definitely grab a hold of those rotors harder than the tires will to the pavement if you tell them to.

My dislike is from the non-linear feel of the brakes. The first 75% of maximum pedal pressure peaks out at max of maybe 50% braking force. The other 50% is crammed into the last of 25% of pedal pressure. This makes modulating braking force beyond 50% a touchy affair. Better pads should be able to fix the problem almost completely.

xenonhid

LOL my friend warned me about drivers in Hawaii = they suck, especially females.

losothefatso

I hate when ABS kicks it when I brake. Like it feels like the bottom of something is being scratched so bad because you're driving on bad roads and than you have to brake for a red light or something.

TS_eXpeed

Glad to hear everything turned out ok! It's always a sad thing to see our poor TSX's banged up!


Btw....TSX horns don't toot, THEY YELL! ....or yell.......or scream
Something other than toot. ha. Toot just sounds puny.
That's what girls do instead of fart (even though I beg to differ)

808havok_tsx

i'm pretty happy with the brakes. it is a bit grabby and it took me a while to know the characteristics of the brakes so i could brake smoothly. once i get new pads and better tires, i think it'll be perfect IMHO.

godfather2: yeah, my driving reflexes are pretty good. i'm no f1 driver, but, i think being somewhat athletic, looking ahead about 4 seconds and scanning ahead 12 seconds (habit from riding motorcycles), and instincts saved my bacon.

xenonhid: this is actually the second time i had to panic brake ever... in my previous suv, some lady spun out a corvette on the freeway all the way from the left lane to the right lane (4 lanes). i had just merged onto the freeway and was in the right lane and i caught her spinning out in my peripherial vision. i slammed on the brakes but the suv brakes and weight didn't stop me in time - she clipped and shattered the front bumper and grille as she spun passed me coming to a stop on the right shoulder lane. i think she was chronic but the police just filed a "minor" vehicle accident report cuz no one got hurt.

TS_eXpeed: ok, so toot wasn't the most appropriate word to describe our horn but that was all i could think of at the time of post. btw, girls fart?!?!?!?!?

intensity2x

If I remember right, if the car senses a "panic stop" it immediately applys full braking force. Might be what you're talking about.

kaliraver69

Good to hear that your good driving skills and car saved both of you. Something similar happened to me on Saturday night when I was driving on a parkway that is 50 MPH. I was on the right lane out of a 3 lane parkway and some crazy young girl coming from the street to turn on the parkway got in while I was coming and I changed lanes to the center lane but her "smart ass" wanted to avoid my car also got into the middle lane from the other street! I quickly braked & went back to the right lane very quick and avoided her by maybe 3-4 ft! I let her know real quick how I felt and I honked and high beamed her. Stupid people like that need to get their license suspended. Sorry for the thread hijack but just wanted to let people know that this car is super safe (BTW I have Yokohama tires and rotora brakes).

LukeaTron

The only cars I'm aware of that do this are the top of the line Mercedes. If any Acura is going to have that feature, it'd be the RL. I can assure you, the TSX does not.

TS_eXpeed

Why couldn't the TSX have it. Just because top of the line Mercedes have this doesn't mean the TSX can't. I'm no auto mechanic but something like a computer recognizing that your making a panic stop shouldn't take more than just a little chip in the system and that's it. Is it really that difficult or that earth shattering to have a chip like that in an Acura. Just saying....

TS_eXpeed

They get mad if you say that (fart), but

LukeaTron

I didn't say couldn't. I said doesn't.

The MB system is actually pretty complicated and very, very cool. It detects how quickly you pull you're foot off the accelerator and loads the brake boost up if it thinks you're about to mash on the brakes. They looked at a bunch of accident data and figured out that a lot of the time the driver doesn't brake hard enough, fast enough. Basically it's well within the capacity of the car to stop in time but the driver just didn't respond correctly. The system hammers on the brakes as soon as you jump from the gas to the brake. It's vastly more complicated than the simple description though. It's an easy idea to implement but difficult to do well. The consequences for mistakenly slamming on the brakes could be quite severe so you best be sure you're doing it only when you need to.

Another thing that I think is pretty cool they do with their brake systems: If the car sense the rotors are getting wet it will drag the brakes ever so slightly so they stay warm, dry and ready for action. There's a reason those cars are so damn expensive.

LukeaTron

Nothing like being a soft bag full of squishy stuff in a world of pointy metal things to hone the senses. Every time I go from riding to driving I feel like I've got superman senses or something. It definitely makes you a better driver.

Or a dead biker.

MissTsxLover

I love my brakes =] they make my mom's 02 camry's brakes look like crap.

they are officially the best thing since white bread. the end. although they do take a while to get used to..

intensity2x

From Acura.com:

This is describing the 2009's but I am almost positive the older TSX's have this as well. Basically if you stomp on the brake on it applys maximum pressure to the braking sytem (More force than you can apply to the pedal itself). I'm sure it is not as sophisticated as Mercedes, but the idea is the same.

I'll check the manual later to see if I can find anything about it.

LukeaTron

You are inferring more than that passage is actually saying. Now I can't be sure but I what I suspect this is doing is increasing the sensitivity of the ABS to wheel lockup under hard braking conditions. Note that this can be fully accomplished in software whereas to increase the braking pressure they would need to include extra hardware. Also note that the downside to increased ABS sensitivity is only a small increase in stopping distance with the advantage of increased maneuverability while braking. This is much safer to implement than the assisted braking scheme used by MB.

The RL has the Collision Mitigation Braking System option (but only with the stupid PAX tire option) that uses radar to detect metal objects rapidly approaching the front of the car. It has a three tiered response, starting with taking the slack out of the seat belts and beeping to get the drivers attention. After that it will lightly apply the brakes. Finally, if it decides you are about to be an accident it automatically slams on the brakes and fully tightens the seat belts. This is also a pretty cool system though it has some drawbacks, namely false alarms caused by railroad tracks or those metal plates they put on the ground when they dig up the pavement. As you can imagine, it's a very expensive system to implement and as such is only available on the most fully loaded RL you can get.

808havok_tsx

i haven't gotten on a motorcycle for a looong time but the habits i picked up riding definitely helps. looking ahead, looking through a corner, anticipating people's moves, looking at the tires and not the eyes of drivers at intersections are just some of the habits that help. i definitely feel like i got superman senses behind the wheel.