Hi All-

I'm driving an 06 TSX with AVID V4S tires and recently noticed a problem which caused me to call the dealership immediately and bring the car in for service;

I live in snowy New England and have driven the car in the snow in the past, but this winter when the ABS kicks in it makes a horrible grinding sound, I get a forcible, shuddery feedback through the wheel, and have a tough time stopping. I get the same shuddering effect when breaking at high speeds on the highway.

I brought the car in thinking that my front pads and/or rotors needed to be replaced and got a call saying that everything checked out ok, they had taken for multiple rides and determined there were no problems.

Frankly, I'm surprised, I thought for sure something was wrong, the car just does not feel the same this winter as it did last winter with the same tires on it. Not sure where to go from here, but driving in the snow and ice is becoming a scary proposition.

 

The sensation you're describing sounds like normal ABS activation. However it sounds like it might be engaging more often than one would expect it to. It shouldn't be engaging on the highway unless you're standing on the pedal. So the question is, are your tires actually slipping under braking or does the ABS falsely believe that they are?

 

sounds normal to me too.
sounds to me though like it's your driving that is dangerous, not the ABS.
there should be no heavy braking at high speeds on the interstate,
and if you have to stand on your brakes in the winter weather, then
your driving is not proper. in winter conditions, you need to slow down far
before you normally would, with mild pressure on the brakes. jamming on
the brakes is a big no no in the winter weather, no matter where you are.

 

As mentioned the car feels different than it did last winter in the same conditions. My driving, which hasn't changed, aside, there has to be some other factor contributing to the behavior I'm experiencing.

Looking for some constructive feedback based on other people's experience with the car as to why this might be the case. I trust my dealership and have had good experiences with them in the past. Just not sure if they have the time or the patience to track this down.

 

@Luke

Good question, unsure of the tires are slipping (I don't think so, they have plenty of tread left on them) or the ABS thinks they are.

It's the ABS that is acting freaky, the noise/sensation coming out of there feels like straight metal on metal, and does little to slow me down when engaged.

 

One thing that could help is to lube up the slider pins on the caliper. Sounds like they might have dried up or be a little corroded. Some steel wool and caliper grease should fix it easily enough if that's the case.

Also, with another year's worth of wear on the tires, despite the fact they look good to the eye, they are probably not gripping quite as well. In my experience, any tire that's not a dedicated winter tire will slip around quite a bit in the snow. Some all season's are better than others (from what I've read V4S is on the better end) but they're still no winter tire.

 

My old 92 Accord that was my "beater" car I had in high school and first 3 years of college. I think I replaced all 4 freakin ABS sensors on every wheel for that thing. It's last few months, the ABS always engaged whenever I braked above 40mph. If I just touched the brake enough to get the brake lights to come on, which is a TINY amount of pressure, the ABS started grinding. It didn't affect my braking ability at all, but was so damn annoying(no ABS light). My mech(who was a Honda tech and knew a lot about Hondas) figured it was the control unit, but it was a couple hundred at least for the part, so I never bothered replacing it. Good thing the person I sold the car to didn't test drive it on the highway and find out, lol. However I think I sold it for $1200 as is and it had 150k miles so it was far from a mint used car.

1992 was the first year they offered ABS on the Accord EX only, it was a revelation! And it had the optional security system, with a remote that didn't work below 40 degrees or more than about 10 feet from the car. First year for a driver's airbag as well. The technical specs and convienience features between it and the 98 EX-V6 that replaced it were big, between it and my 08 TSX: Astounding.