'nother brake question from the dummy.

[Purple_Power]

Basil (The Fawlty) is the first car I've had with ABS. I drove a van ONCE with ABS and had to slam the brakes on. The pedal "pulsed". Does that sound right so far?
Today, :driving:I had to hit the brakes a little bit hard. Didn't slam them on, just had to stop a bit quicker than usual. I felt a "thumping" under the car. It was definitely stronger than in the van, and I didn't have the brake on nearly as hard. Is that normal? Usual? Something to do with needing new brake pads?

[jabba]

so long as ya stopped, the abs worked. i drive a vz, n yes it shutters hard when needed. u can feel it thru the steeering wheel. it all good (i hope):lmao::lmao:

[Squid's VY]

ABS do shudder when you jump on them hard. You will feel it through your steering wheel. It's basically the brakes deciding which wheel needs slowing down at the time of hard or sudden braking and applying the right pressure so your brakes dont all lockup at the same time. The pressure changes on each brake as the car slows down so you don't lock them all up at once. It also helps maintain steering under hard braking. Usually it's your brake rotors that need machining if it shudders under soft braking.

[Tigerv8]

I agree with Squidy.
I can only get my ABS to activate under conditions close to emergency braking or hard braking on a slippery road.
Experience has shown that th ABS may activate sooner if the tyres have low levels of adhesion for one reason or another. Even changing to a grippier tyre can make it much harder to activate the ABS as the new tyre wants to hang on and not slip.
Pulsing under ordinary braking sounds like the rotors may need attention. Get a second opinion.

[Purple_Power]

Actually I was hoping someone would take it for a drive and hit the brakes for me. :) It's insured.

This was nowhere near emergency braking, and it wasn't raining, etc.

Ummm, rotors? Please explain? (Yeah yeah, I'm a techno bimbo). Even though I've had the beast for 2 years now, I'm not really used to ABS, because I don't often have to brake suddenly. Thank goodness.

Ta for the info though!

[Tigerv8]

The rotors are the round things inside the wheel which look shiny. They are basically dics attached to the wheel and a lump of steel called a caliper sits to one side of the disc and it is this that provides the braking force by way of pistons which squish the brake pads onto the disc when you plant your dainty little ped on the brake pedal.
Funnily enough, the actual discs wear out and eventually need replacing. You may be at this stage.
I don't know when this occurs as it hasn't happened to me yet. I have done 90,000km and am only a little over half way through my original set of disc pads at the front and not quite halfway through the rears.

[Squid's VY]

That was well put tiger. I'll catch up with you on the Maitland tour chequers and help you out with a bit of simple, helpful stuff about your car. I'm no expert myself but I can show you a few things that people have shown me that will help you out with your car in the future. Oh and if no one has driven your car by then, I will volunteer.

[SILVERSV8]

Any questions about your cars can be thrown my way as i am a mechanic,so save them up for Maitland

[Purple_Power]

Thanks Tiger. Dunno about the dainty bit though. Well, dainty for an elephant maybe. :)
The disks do need replacing (see my thread about how much my dealer wants to rip me off for), but I wasn't sure if that caused it or not. It's happened before, a while ago.
Thanks too Shaun. Maybe we can hold some sort of competition, and whoever gets the booby prize gets to drive my car. Say, whoever screams first in Maitland jail. :)
Thanks to you too silversv8 !!!!!