In these slippy winter months, I'm noticing the ABS coming on fairly regularly.

I thought it was mainly due to my Classic's original worn 165/70R14 tyres skidding, but having bought bigger rims and fitted brand new 185/60R14s the ABS is still chattering away.

My gut feeling is that the ABS is coming on a bit prematurely, though I admit that as it seems worse now in the winter than it was in the summer... so perhaps they are locking up.

Is it that the Fabia's got great brakes but little weight so it will skid easily, or is my (or all) Fabias that are a bit quick to let off the brakes?

Easy that one.....................Slow down.

Then you wont have to break as much.

To be honest it's a lot more noticeable when slow rather than pressing on

In my vRS with Toyo T1-R's on I hardly ever feel the ABS. And since fitting FSD's it's improved further.

Tyres and/or shocks then is my suggestion.

I used to think the Fabias ABS cut in too aggressivly too soon, but thinking about it, just slowing down a tad makes all the difference

The Fabia's only done 14k miles and handles fine. The new tyres are are only Federals, but they are only 10 miles old.

Methinks that the brakes are grabbing before the tyres are loading up at low speed.

i can count on the fingers of one hand how many times the ABS was used last year , didn't even get it working on any of the tracks i visited last year

If the ABS is kicking in it either means the wheel is slipping because there's no traction or the brakes have locked the wheel. I used to find it kicked in a lot in my Fabia, especially in the wet, and even at low speeds where it would unexpectedly kick in just slowing down from 30mph for a roundabout. I ran Eibach suspension and Dunlop sporty tyres and neither solved it, but looking back, I think the key would be to try and be a bit more progressive on the brakes as the pedal is very sensitive anyway.

Other thing to bear in mind is that with only 10 miles on them, your tyres will still need scrubbing in which will take around 500 miles so things may improve for you then.

Chris

When I drove a vRS I found it cut it quite soon and the brakes did seem to fade a little if you gave them a lot of punishment. Traction control seemed to cut in a little too early for my liking aswell.

The only time i managed to engage the ABS is when in the snow or braking on an uneven surface eg slight dip in road

think i must try harder

Matt

Location: Milton Keynes

With the amount of roundabouts with national speed limits in MK I'd have thought you'd experienced the ABS

I used to think the Fabias ABS cut in too aggressivly too soon, but thinking about it, just slowing down a tad makes all the difference

The ABS on the Octy comes on once in a blue moon (and I drive that like a ****), and the same can be said for my old Citroen GTi, which incidentally came with 185 tyres too.

The Fabia gets used more gently which is why the ABS is more of a surprise

With the amount of roundabouts with national speed limits in MK I'd have thought you'd experienced the ABS

I work in MK so can say that no, the ABS is not what you encounter. Brake fade on the other hand, after 3 quick 0-60-0 dashes, quickly becomes an issue. Caught me out good and proper when I was new to the car (and the place).

Brake fade on the other hand, after 3 quick 0-60-0 dashes, quickly becomes an issue. Caught me out good and proper when I was new to the car (and the place).

Think yourself lucky you weren't private-hire driving in a Cavalier TD (which notoriously had problemos with rear drum adjusters) around the hilly Saddleworth area :eek:

That could get 'interesting' at times. :(

I can't recall ever seeing the ABS come on.

But the traction control.... thats a different matter, comes in way to early for me, and the missus goes mental if I turn it off!