I got to test my brakes the other day. I was doing 40 in a 40mph zone comming to an intersection when a truck pulled out from a gas station and stopped before the white line. I pressed the brake and clutch to the floor and to my surprise it sounded like I was dragging a coardboard box beside me. I rebraked and that noise went away, then came back as I bottomed out the brake petal. Funny thing was no squealing noises and I was able to steer off into the other lane stopping right before the white line.

Does that sound normal? What about stopping from 40-0 mph in the length of a gas station parking lot? What about upgrading the front brakes for more power?

I have to say I think the car could of brake harder as nothing flew off the seats into the floor like with the van I use to own. THanks

 

i think you just discovered how abs works. the whole point is that it doesn't lock up the wheels so you can continue to manuever the car to avoid a collision exactely like what you describbed.

anywa, doing a panic stop from 40 to 0 does stress the brakes just a bit and really heats things up a bit. maybe the dragging noise from the back was your drum brakes.

anyway, to effectively reduce your stopping distances, the first place to start is actually your tires. their traction plays a much bigger role in stopping then people seem to be aware of. so wider stickier tires will help your car stop better.

after that, it is really a matter of upgrading to more agressive pads, but that won't dramatically reduce stopping distance, just have more initial bite.

nextly, some suspension work helps because stiffer shocks and struts help resist what is known as nose plowing (when the front end goes really down during a panic stop). stiffer struts front and rear will help resist this and help keep the weight of the car distributed over all four tires intead of just going completely over the front tires.

lastly, put on some lightweight wheels to help reduce rotation mass, less mass means easier to stop.

now, when panic stopping, don't forget that you can engine brake too. i have actually practiced and have avoided several close calls because i have learned to react to panic stops with braking, and downshifting.

and as for your xa taking so long to stop, i'm alittle puzzled, my gf's xa stops very quickly. make sure your up to date on your service, maybe you need your system flushed.

 

Its new, bought in March, little over 7 k miles. Stock everything except for sway in rear and strut brace. I do notmall engine brake like when the light turns red and you are a semi truck length from the light, but this just caught me off guard and seemed to take longer to stop.

I wonder if a code reader will show anything? Short of upgradding the brakes, thinking of testing the brakes next time it rains on a deserted road and see if I can repeat that noise, then take it to the dealer to show them.

Any word on brake upgrades? Big brakes? Do those require larger wheels?

 

I have been going down hill on the freeway in Dallas, with it raining, and the brakes just make kind of the same noise. It didn't feel like I was slowing down at all. It actually felt like the brakes were failing. I let off, tried again, had the same thing. After about 3 tries I guess they finally took hold and started slowing down. Weird. Since the accident, it hasn't happened again. Good thing. Good luck on figuring it out. Good you made it ok.

 

you are aware of the fact that brakes do get wet right?

your brakes get wet when driving in the rain, and the water keeps the brake pad from fully embracing the brake rotor thus you aren't really brakeing.

to dry off your brakes, you need to repeatibly pump the brake pedal to shed the water off.

happens in my tc on the long drive to frostburg in the morning, hitting the brakes will do nothing, but i'll pump it a few times and the brakes will dry, and i'll get some bite finially.

and cobb, i laid out a very good list of parts and procedures for decreasing the stopping distance of your xa.

tires, better traction means better stopping,

more aggressive brake pads mean more initial bite.

bigger brake rotors will actually hurt your braking performance because you will be increasing rotational mass, which means it will be harder for your car to stop you.

big brake kits are more for when your doing alot of hot laps, big brake kits reduce heat fade.

 

xa, I did feel some braking power, but like 75%. I know before abs the best way was to pump the brakes. That day it was not raining, no rain the past week.

dra, I am not trying to blow you off, I know you said better tires or pads, however can you give a name, brand or part number for pads? I know you can buy them in several flavors. Plus that would be the easiest and cheapest upgrade with only 7 thousand miles on my stock tires.

If these tires would be better from the echo I have access to them. They are trd mag spoke wheels, silver with 5 to 7 spokes, I believe the tire measurements are 185/55r16 + m/s They are 4 stud and appear half an inch shorter than my stock wheels in a side by side comparison. They are free for me to take and am tempted for the wheels alone, not to mention to wear during the winter. They are like new with no visible tread wear.

 

dezod x-rated pads:
http://www.dezod.com/pd_dezod_motors...ront_brake.cfm

as for tires, find out what type they are, and how they compare to the stock ones you have.

go to tirerack.com to find reviews and such for tires you can buy.

 

We had some rain a few days ago and tested my brakes on an empty road. It performed much like the tundra I test drove at the state fair where they require you to floor it to 40 and brake it.

It seemed to grip well at first, then it started to slide. I can hear and feel it remodulating the brakes, but it just didnt seem as sticky as before it kicks in. I just assumed the abs was more agressive. I could not repeat the cardboard box dragging sound, but it seemed to be from the rear. Think next panic stop I will rethinking flooring it as it just lengthen my stopping distance vs hard braking with up shifting.