L4rry_B1rd

man, I've had the same problem as you. Ive almost rearended tow people because the ABS initiates as Im coming to a stop at a redlight. I bought some Falken 512's in 225/45/17 and that only helped a little. Im putting the TRD springs on Wed and will eventually upgrade to some better pads before summer is over. Hopefully, all together it will help against the ABS initiating when its not "supposed" to or doesnt "have" to.

racecaryaya

Have you guys tried looking further down the road and applying the brakes gradually instead of slamming the brakes on at the last second? I'm only half joking.

In eight autox events (lots of serious threshold braking) and an open track day (with Hawk HP+s up front) at Watkins Glen I've never had the ABS come on...as a matter of fact I can't think of a single time in 16K miles of driving this car that I've had them kick in.

Nick06tC

Wow, this is PERSONAL opion here. but I really think the brakes have nothing to do with it. Unless (like someone else said) you slam the brakes on and the car WILL NOT go to lock up or ABS, then the brakes are fine. If the ABS is kicking in, then the pads, rotors are stopping to their full power. It then becomes a matter of contact to the ground. TIRES. And of course the suspension. All that weight shifting forward means less rear braking power.

Unless you are on a track, you dont need a BBK. It will not help unless the stop lights are 100 feet apart and you floor it for 80 feet and slam the breaks on and hit 30 redlights in a row. yeah then maybe its the brakes fading. But for daily driving, if you slam the brakes on, the stock pads will go 100% on those rotors.

examine driving habits, then spend money

L4rry_B1rd

I wish the ABS only initiated when I slammed on the brakes. Thats what ABS are for, when you panic stop, the ABS doesnt let the car lock up. The times its happened to me is when Im already coming to a stop as Im approaching a light/ stop sign and the ABS makes my stopping distance much longer than it should be. Its happened to my Dad in his Camry and we've both commented on how the ABS sometimes kicks in when we dont want it too. If anyone wants to say, "blah blah pay attention when driving blah blah dont slam on the brakes blah blah" thats fine. I was only commenting to the OP that I have had similar experiences and that i would also like to strengthen my brakes a bit to try to avoid this issue. If nothing can be done then fine. I have already adjusted my driving habits so that I slow down much farther(?) than before.

paultg

[/quote]

The best thing you can do is get tires, like the person I quoted has said. I have autox'd my tc 3 times, and the only time ABS came on is when I made a mistake, and my car is 100% stock, even stock tires.

The only upgrade that will change brake distance is your tires. Well, the only thing that will make a significant change to distance.

Rotors won't really do anything, unless they are larger, and you have a larger pad to go with it. With a friction surface area between the pad/rotor it will help,, but in reality it will help dissapate heat better, reducing fade issues, which is the real reason to put on larger brakes.

Paul G.

racecaryaya

OK then, what were the road surface conditions? Grooved concrete? Freshly rained on new pavement? Had there recently been an accident they deposited oil? How many miles on the tires and what kind of shape were they in?

I'm not trying to argue or call you a liar, I'm simply trying to look at what happened in a logical way. I've driven enough cars (including my or my wifes Camry, MR2 and Paseo) to know when the ABS should and does work and I've never had them engage if the brakes weren't actually locking up first. If the road was dry and clean and the tires had plenty of grip then you should have the brakes looked at by a Scion tech and make sure everything is functioning correctly.

kungpaosamuraiii

The thread starter was cut off. That's why he had to slam the brakes.

There are some differing opinions here and I don't mean to say that mine is 100% right, just that I'm going to add another vote that says better tires first, pads second. Rotors and calipers won't decrease brake distance. They only help by dissipating heat better.

If you use the same type of pad on a 1 piston and a 4 piston caliper, brake distance will stay close to the same because the friction coefficient will be the same. The longer pads on the 4 piston calipers will convert kinetic energy to heat energy a little better than the 1 piston caliper pads but the difference won't make that large of a difference.

At least as far as I know.

retrodrive

ABS on tc is amazingly ____ty setup. Try doing a hard turn on a bumpy road while applying breaks. On my car ABS would engage, I almost completely loose all my braking power and my pedal feels like it is locked up. I have it disconnected because I feel very unsafe driving my car with ABS even daily (maybe it’s how I drive). Tires, lines and breakpads will do most difference in your breaking distance.

krolla

Thanks for all the replies, and opinions..

I think most of you confirmed what I was thinking.. That Tires are the place to start.. This really kida hurts since I just spend $400 on new tires 2 weeks ago, but after this accident I wouldn't mind spending that again on better ones.

I am happy with the ABS and EBD "performance,".. Not to say they offer a better high performance, but they do their job for street driving.

I think that wider, stickier tires would aid these devices in giving me shorter times.. I try to think of it like this..

ABS kicks in when it determines that the tire is spinning a certain percentage slower than the car is traveling (about to skid) and releases the brake pressure until the wheel is back "up to speed", then braking is re-applied (this happens many times per second, or so).. Now.. the more sticky the tire is, the less prone to skid, thus more brake, less ABS.. The opposite for tires with less grip, more ABS less braking grip.

Another thought... hard braking in the M3 offeres little ABS intervention.. Yes this car has tires twice the tire width, etc, and I know that helps. But I'm also wondering how differently their ABS is calibrated?.. Maybe ours is designed to kick at 10% slip, and thiers at 40%?

That was just an example.. anyone have real data?

JDMbB

where do you buy your tires? since you live in hialeah, i would reccomend u go to SDA tires on nw 25st on the perimeter road next to the palmetto. you can get amazing tires at whole sale prices. thats where i got mines.

krolla

I got a set of Hankook Ventus from AutoGlitz up in Miramar for $81 per tire.. I could've gotten a sticker one for $8 more, but devided not too since the treadlife was considerable less.. but now I think I shuddave gone with the better ones..