Protege 5 Braking System

[CarDemon]

Anyone out there in cyberland really put the P5's braking system to the test?

Has it saved you from a potentially messy situation?

I think they are pretty decent myself and I may have to get used to that EBFD (Electronic Brake Force Distribution) thingy. I think that's what it is called. Something about transferring the braking application force to where it is needed most. I'ld have to read the promo pamphlet and tech book to get it right.

Anyways, I think it is a modification of the ABS system out on the market and this is my first car with ABS. I hope in an emergency I would remember not to do threshold braking, but to just ram the brake pedal to the floor steer and avoid if possible.

Any comments, queries, stories, corrections and violent objections are welcomed in advance. http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blush.gif

[hondakilla]

I feel the brakes are o.k.

Pros
-4 wheel disc (upgrades will make huge difference)
-good pedal feel
-brake power transfer works well

Cons
-I think the ABS kicks on a little to early especially in wet conditions
-they begine to fade as soon as they get worked a little hard
-I had the ABS kick on in the winter so early that I slid through an intersection(explanation below)


2am and coming home from work and it was snowing like crazy (1 of the 3 times it did last winter) I'm laughing at all the SUV's in the ditchs when I turn onto Sandlewood from Heartlake road and see a poor kid in a Celica wipe his car out and hop the curb! I stop and see if he's o.k. and he was just a little pissed. I continued home and was approaching and intersection very slowly (40 in a 70) because the celica freaked me a little. I just barely put any pressure on the brake pedal and the ABS comes on instantly! Instead of stopping me it just keeps pumping but my car is almost at the intersection!(if I had locked them up I would have stopped in time guaranteed!http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif So I debate (very quickly) on if I should blow through or pull the e-brake an turn it sideways and hope the it will stop. I ended up blowing through but after that I am not to confident on the ABS!


Also, has anyone had the ABS come on when you have braked solidly (not enough for ABS) but you hit rough or uneven road and it comes on anyways? Its happened to me a few times....really weird!

[Evil Homer P5]

I find the brakes fine, this is also my fist car with ABS.
on friday when i was driving to work i almost missed the driveway i was supposed to go into, so i applied more pressure on the brake pedal and the ABS kicked in. I didn't think it needed to come on, but oh well...

But the car stop's very good in the rain i find.

This was a few months ago on my way home down a side street. It was raining and roads were wet of course, so i decided to speed up to about 100km in a 60 zone. don't worry, no one else was on the road at the time.
So i just hit the brakes as hard as i could, stopped very good and staright. heard a wheel lock up once or twice, but was for only a second.

But still good brakes, i guess i'll find out the hard way how they are in the snow and ice this winter.

[Protege00]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (hondakilla @ Sep. 28 2002,04:40)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">2am and coming home from work and it was snowing like crazy (1 of the 3 times it did last winter) I'm laughing at all the SUV's in the ditchs when I turn onto Sandlewood from Heartlake road and see a poor kid in a Celica wipe his car out and hop the curb!  I stop and see if he's o.k. and he was just a little pissed.  I continued home and was approaching and intersection very slowly (40 in a 70) because the celica freaked me a little.  I just barely put any pressure on the brake pedal and the ABS comes on instantly!  Instead of stopping me it just keeps pumping but my car is almost at the intersection!(if I had locked them up I would have stopped in time guaranteed!http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif  So I debate (very quickly) on if I should blow through or pull the e-brake an turn it sideways and hope the it will stop.  I ended up blowing through but after that I am not to confident on the ABS![/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Had that happen to me aswell last winter, ABS kicked in too quickly in a snow storm and ending up sliding right into an intersection(turned red my way and oncoming) heading straight for a Town Snowplow(would have T-boned him), he saw me and stoppped in the middle of the intersection, I cranked the wheel just enough to get around him into oncoming traffic and then quickly back again....just barely missed the 4 cars in the intersection...rather scarey afterwards....Oh and I was doing about 55-60 in an 80, and was quite far from the light so no one can say it was my speed.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Also, has anyone had the ABS come on when you have braked solidly (not enough for ABS) but you hit rough or uneven road and it comes on anyways? Its happened to me a few times....really weird![/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Yeah I've had that problem before aswell...

[MP5rYda]

this ABS braking system.. does it vibrate at the pedal and feel like its struggling to stop?!

jus wondering cuz i tried to make a sudden stop at the light and it felt like my car wanted to make me look like an idiot and stop in the middle of the intersection!! http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sly.gif

[spish]

have had to use the breaks to their full potential a few times now.  recently to avoid a 80+ year old man who should NOT have been behind the wheel of a car.  this guy shouldn't have even been alive!  http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif   basically the old man decided to merge into my lane (right) without signalling, and round the oncoming corner.  i had no choice but to panic stop and hope i didn't shit myself in the process.  sure enough the ABS kicked in on dry pavement - mind you i damn near put my foot through the floor while going 50+ Km/h...  missed t-boning him by about a foot.  laid on the horn and noticed that he was completly oblivious to anything around him as he went on his merry way.  FUCK!  so everything on the back seats is now on the floor (mixing console, Mac G4, a bunch of cables...) and I'm totally pissed.  luckily everything survived with only a few minor scratches.

the breaks are good.  better, in fact, than what's on my friends '02 GTI (1.8T).  in terms of power they are on par with the GTI, however where ours excel are in their ability to track the car in a straight line under heavy breaking -- before you enter ABS territory.

I tend to be quite light on breaks in the city though.  my last set in my MX6 lasted 76,000K!  i fear my P5 breaks won't last nearly as long however.  i never drove the 6 on a track.  the 5 has been to shannonville twice this past summer.

a word on the breaks at the track:  UPGRADE YOUR BREAK LINES AND FLUID!  this is the single easiest mod you can make that will enhance break performace.  get lines with braided steel mesh.  they reduce the expansion of the rubber while under heavy breaking and lessen fade.  the only problem i encountered was boiling the fluid on my 12th lap.  out it came and with the help of a good friend it was replaced with some DOT 4 stuff (boiling point over 600C). no problems since.  i also flush my break system after every outing, just in case...

-spish http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/crazy.gif

[CarDemon]

So..., Does the brake pulsate or vibrate under hard braking ABS conditions like some of us have read and seen on automotive shows and magazines?

[MP5rYda]

umm.. i've never really drove a car with ABS before.. my last car was a mustang gt cobra.. so i'm not really sure what to expect with ABS!?

and yes they do pulsate and vibrate during hard breaking! my question is... &quot;is that suppose to happen?&quot;

[Joe_Pro5]

Yup, it's perfectly normal for the pedal to vibrate when abs kicks in. I guess it's to let you know that you're entering a skid or something. Sounds like it's broken, almost like you have rocks in your breaks that are grinding between the pads and rotors..... but it's normal http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif

[7plymaple]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"> I hope in an emergency I would remember not to do threshold braking, but to just ram the brake pedal to the floor steer and avoid if possible.

[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Dont hope.. practice. Go into an empty parking lot and do some hard breaking and avoiding maneuvers. If the cops see you tell them the truth. They will probably let you continue. http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[MP5rYda]

whew.. i was jus about to bring my car back to mazda to tell'em that my breaks were messed!

thanks! http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif

[MP5Navy]

AHAHHAHAHAHAHHAH

It's BRAKES not BREAKS!!!!!!!


Sorry just had to get that off my chest....
Please continue to spell the word incorrectly if you wish.

[MP5rYda]

oh sorry.. i knew it looked wrong! lol! http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[MP5rYda]

mah badd yo!

[Jika]

I thought my brakes sounded like that too but now I'm relieved. I've only had my ABS on once during an emergency stop on dry pavement. Coming through Aurora to the Yonge/Wellington intersection, pretty stale green light for me with an MPV in front of me when out of nowhere a new model stang comes flying around the corner, almost clips someone crossing the street. Anyway the poor MPV driver did a pretty good maneuver and ended up doing a somewhat wide left turn at about 70K, surprised the damn thing didn't tip over, almost clipped the building. I ended up face to face with the stang driver as he spun out and was about 6 feet away from my front end. hard to judge distance when you're in that kind of a situation but boy did my car stop fast. Good thing for the stang driver that he took off quick, as i just bought my 6-cell mag lite (have you ever used one of those things as a weapon!?)

What tires did you guys have on when you said you slid through?

[Joe_Pro5]

Can you call your brakes &quot;breaks&quot; if your brakes break a lot? What if one brake breaks, do you have three brakes and one break?

[Silvermp5]

Joe you're too much. http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/withstupid.gif

[Harrisonn]

I find the brakes are pretty good. However, the tires are questionable. If the ground is even a bit wet, I find the tires skid quite a bit. So, maybe the tires have some factor in causing the abs to kick in early. When I have snow tires on, the abs seem to behave better.

[feedb4ck]

Really, you all find they kick in too early...

I went down near the docks... The wide road just off Cherry Street, (in front of Cherry Beach Recording Studio) to try to show baby what the ABS does, so she wouldn't freek out if it ever happened to her...

I really had to try to get the ABS to come on... I mean, I REALLY had to try... I was going about 80, and hit them pretty hard, and it was just normal breaking... (er, braking, lol)

I think I've had them go once while driving... and I've had to slam for a number of 80 yr olds who shouldn't be driving... I've had no problems with the brakes.

[ChopstickHero]

Brakes fade very quickly after a few hard stops. ABS kicks in too much sometimes and is probably set at a sensitive level. i think grippier tires would help since they will not lose traction as much as our stocks. other than that, i find the pedal feel very good and responsive. people that drive my car notice always make note of the brakes b/c the first time they start to press the brake, they press too much and we jolt forward.... http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif surprise! 4 wheel disc brakes!

[CarDemon]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (7plymaple @ Sep. 30 2002,10:59)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">...Dont hope.. practice. Go into an empty parking lot and do some hard breaking and avoiding maneuvers.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Well buddy!
It is called 'Trial By Fire'.
Approaching a 4 way stop sign my auxillary driving lights picked up a sheet of hard compacted snow which was just as good as ice.

There were other cars moving off in their respective sequential turn when I was threshold braking as usual and gearing down. However this time the car kept going a little faster than I wanted it to, so pressed harder until I felt my first VIBRATION.

OH yeaahh!!!
My P5's ABS scared the $#!@ outta me as it felt like my brake pedal was a blender crushing ice with that electrical shorting-out sound and pulsation. Hat's off to technology as I didn't fishtail. I go for a winter fitting today to aid in my winter driving.

[Protege5 Kid]

MY buddy (the one with the mesh hat that comes to the meets) sister ownes a P5 and she called me in a panic. She said she's been on the side of the road scared to drive cause her brakes are making a funny noise! ha ha ha

I told her that's the charm of the car, it's ABS makes the cars sound like it's going to die. Told her it was normal and fine!

[CarDemon]

I believe car companies should warn all users of what ABS brakes FeeL and SoundS like MORE IN THEIR LITERATURE. I feel sorry for most female drivers who just buy a car and drive which is 95% of them.

I can just imagine my mom who has it on her 1999 Mazda 626 who has never used it in an emergency situation. The feeling of riding over a CORAL REEF would just make her crash.

[Gen1GT]

Tire selection makes a huge difference in brake performance. As Chops, Jean and Dave might attest, the Gen1GT brakes are pretty good with my 205s on. I practically set my rotors on fire. Jean thought my CAR was on fire! Brake fade is decent though. Not amazing, but will improve come time to replace my pads/rotors. I'm thinkin KVR, with Hawk pads. That combo will difinitely improve distances and fade...

Simon is right, you should practice your emergency braking. Maybe we should make it a meet???