how do ya know if your ABS is playing up? if you really jump on the brakes in my fabia vrs i get like a grinding sensation? its like, pedal pressed,.....brake brake brake....grind.. then stop. thats the best i can explain it. dosent happen all the time though. any ideas?

p.s no ABS light though on dash?

no one got any ideas? pads are fine

If the ABS is working, then when it's activated you'll feel the pedal 'throb' under your foot as the system disengages and re-engages the brakes. On standard brakes, you probably won't be able to lock the wheels above about 40mph even under the hardest braking, if that makes things any clearer? The self-diagnosis is supposedly pretty good, so if you have a problem, the light should come on. I don't think it comes on if the ABS is activated due to harsh braking though, unlike the traction control light...

Same for me dude, it's just the pedal vibrating - I had to brake hard for a corner the other night on a country road doing about 80 and it shuddered like crazy but fortunately I was able to turn into the corner no problem. Without ABS I would have locked up for definite and probably would have wrapped the car round a tree, haha!

cant really call it a throbbing though? more like metal grinding? like i said before pads are fine and brakes are good its just under really heavy breaking.

They're not grooved discs or anything are they?

Kev

cant really call it a throbbing though? more like metal grinding? like i said before pads are fine and brakes are good its just under really heavy breaking.

It is a lumpy grinding feeling you get when ABS kicks in and I know what you mean about the metallic grinding, totally normal IMHO.

If you are unsure go to a quiet industrial estate and try some emergency stops, in the wet is even better from 30 - 0, its better that you know how it feels when you dont need it than it surprising you when you do.

It is a lumpy grinding feeling you get when ABS kicks in and I know what you mean about the metallic grinding, totally normal IMHO.

If you are unsure go to a quiet industrial estate and try some emergency stops, in the wet is even better from 30 - 0, its better that you know how it feels when you dont need it than it surprising you when you do.

yeah thats the kinda feel. no there not grooved. anyone else feel this too?

Yeah man, same for me. It's weird but I wouldn't worry. My ABS only kicks in once in a blue moon anyway. If there was a problem your dash would be lit up like a christmas tree.

I can kick my brakes had enough to fire the anti-lock on a wet road, and you just feel the pedal moving under your foot; it doesn't sound any different.

Fabia ABS has a weird feel in my opinion - like you describe a harsh grinding, thought I'd broken my brakes when I first felt it. Sounds normal to me mate...

Fabia ABS has a weird feel in my opinion - like you describe a harsh grinding, thought I'd broken my brakes when I first felt it. Sounds normal to me mate...

yeah i thought id done some damage to! phew, sounds like its just the ABS then.

Does it sound like its coming from the rear? If so I got the same problem with this on my furb Vrs, especially when it hasn't been driven in a while. I was stressing out totally about it until my mechanic friend said that its a trait seen on some VW's that have come through his garage too:

Basically, its residue of brake dust compacted onto the rear disc. Putting the handbrake on when parking squishes a pad shaped amount of residue onto the disc - can be clearly seen on my rear discs.

Couple of solutions: drive for a while using handbrake to slow down when safe to do so - this 'wipes' the surface of the disc clean. Then when parked, don;t put the handbrake on so hard, or leave it in gear. Changing pads to something half decent (I rate EBC) may well help - I'll let you know when I have done mine (about a year I reckon)

Why should a Furbie have this odd pad dust problem, when Octys and Golfs (and AFAIK Audi A3/A4) don't?

Why should a Furbie have this odd pad dust problem, when Octys and Golfs (and AFAIK Audi A3/A4) don't?

Mine and SWMBO's rear brakes appear the same yet hers suffers really badly from them seizing and having stuck bits of brakes dust on the discs where as mine doesn't, it was also the same when I had 288mm brakes on the front of my octi, Her Fabia was/still is terrible compared to mine.

At the last service we were told the front and rear disc's were badly glazed and only operating at about 75% effient

Cheers Matt; that suggests it's an issue with gently driven and relatively light (so comparitively under-worked brake systems) cars then?

Cheers Matt; that suggests it's an issue with gently driven and relatively light (so comparitively under-worked brake systems) cars then?

Yes, I would say so. SWMBO only does about 7k per year and is very mixed driving, 1/3 of her journey to work is rush hour motorway then a mixture of A & B roads heading into the Peak District but she rarely brakes and if she does she tends to use the gears to slow down for bends. Where-as my car does approx 25k per year and again is a similar mixture of roads as SWMBO does but as my car is heavier the brakes will work a little harder.

Edited 22 June, 200917 yr by matt@theforce