mconforti wrote:Over the weekend, I heard strange noises coming from the rear of my car. I took it to my local garage and they told me that I had to get the wheel bearing replaced on one of the rear wheels (it was wobbling all over the place).
If the bearing had broekn whilst I was driving, the wheel could have locked up. In this case, what would have been the best way to stop the car safely?
mconforti wrote:Over the weekend, I heard strange noises coming from the rear of my car. I took it to my local garage and they told me that I had to get the wheel bearing replaced on one of the rear wheels (it was wobbling all over the place).
If the bearing had broekn whilst I was driving, the wheel could have locked up. In this case, what would have been the best way to stop the car safely?
mph999 wrote:mconforti wrote:Over the weekend, I heard strange noises coming from the rear of my car. I took it to my local garage and they told me that I had to get the wheel bearing replaced on one of the rear wheels (it was wobbling all over the place).
If the bearing had broekn whilst I was driving, the wheel could have locked up. In this case, what would have been the best way to stop the car safely?
You're at the mercy of fate/luck ...
I had a tyre partly let go on Sun, front right on a bend at about 60mph ... Lets just say it was a bl**dy good job it was
a: A left hand bend
b: Nothing oncoming
as it took me half of the other side of the road to get the car back - and I suspect most of that was luck.
A wheel locking may put the car in a spin - best course of action, stand on brakes and try to lock the wheels, if there is no chance of recovery.
Martin
TripleS wrote:Ooooh, nasty! Two thoughts though:
If it was right front tyre, why is it best that it happened at a LH bend?
Presumably an ABS equipped car would prevent one from locking the wheels, so that option would not be available to help keep things straight(ish) would it?
ScoobyChris wrote:TripleS wrote:Ooooh, nasty! Two thoughts though:
If it was right front tyre, why is it best that it happened at a LH bend?
Presumably an ABS equipped car would prevent one from locking the wheels, so that option would not be available to help keep things straight(ish) would it?
A couple of thoughts in reply.
On a LH bend there is road to your right and verge/wall/tree/house/hedge to your left. If the car loses half the ability to turn to the left it'll tend to the straight ahead which in this case will be on-road rather than off-road. In the case of a RH bend, it'll be heading for the scenery. As was said though, if there was traffic coming this would have been far less desirable!
My guess on the second one is that the ABS would have logged a fault code if one of the wheels is permanently locked (because of the bearing failing) and disabled itself so it should be possible to even up the braking to all wheels and try and get the car straightish. I suspect it depends on how the ABS handles faults though which you probably won't find out until you're in the situation where you need to know...
Chris
ScoobyChris wrote:A couple of thoughts in reply.
On a LH bend there is road to your right and verge/wall/tree/house/hedge to your left. If the car loses half the ability to turn to the left it'll tend to the straight ahead which in this case will be on-road rather than off-road. In the case of a RH bend, it'll be heading for the scenery. As was said though, if there was traffic coming this would have been far less desirable!
TripleS wrote:
Presumably an ABS equipped car would prevent one from locking the wheels, so that option would not be available to help keep things straight(ish) would it?
Best wishes all,
Dave.
TripleS wrote:
I think if I were to suffer a tyre problem at a bend, I would rather have a chance of hitting something (which in many cases could be soft) on the nearside, rather than run the risk of hitting something hard, and maybe travelling fast, coming the other way.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
jont wrote:Anyone know how well run-flat tyres work in those sort of situations?
mph999 wrote:TripleS wrote:
Presumably an ABS equipped car would prevent one from locking the wheels, so that option would not be available to help keep things straight(ish) would it?
Best wishes all,
Dave.
If you're spinning, at some point the wheels will stop rotating as they are going sideways, if your foot is hard on the brake, they will not start to rotate again, and so will stay locked ...
Martin
TripleS wrote:With regard to ABS systems and how they respond to fault conditions, I can't imagine them detecting a tyre failure and disabling themselves so that one would be allowed to lock the wheels, but my Stressed friend will probably know more about these things.
On vehicles equipped with anti-lock brakes and hub assemblies with an integral ABS sensor or tone ring, the ABS warning light will come on if a wheel-speed sensor is reading erratically or the signal is lost. The ABS system will set a fault code that corresponds to the sensor location (left front, right front, right rear or left rear) and disable the ABS system until the fault is fixed. On these vehicles, the only way to get the ABS light to go out is to replace the hub assembly (assuming the problem isn't a simple wiring fault or loose connector).
ScoobyChris wrote:TripleS wrote:With regard to ABS systems and how they respond to fault conditions, I can't imagine them detecting a tyre failure and disabling themselves so that one would be allowed to lock the wheels, but my Stressed friend will probably know more about these things.
Did some Googling and turned up the following site:
http://www.aa1car.com/library/2003/bf50360.htmOn vehicles equipped with anti-lock brakes and hub assemblies with an integral ABS sensor or tone ring, the ABS warning light will come on if a wheel-speed sensor is reading erratically or the signal is lost. The ABS system will set a fault code that corresponds to the sensor location (left front, right front, right rear or left rear) and disable the ABS system until the fault is fixed. On these vehicles, the only way to get the ABS light to go out is to replace the hub assembly (assuming the problem isn't a simple wiring fault or loose connector).
Of course, I have no way of verifying that, but I do know that if a single ABS sensor fails (or is left unplugged after a brake change ), the system will throw up the dash warning light and disable the entire system. I guess the thinking is that as it can't ascertain the state of the system, it is safer to disable the ABS completely than leave it available in an unpredictable state?
Chris
TripleS wrote:
The only times I've caused the ABS to activate on our 406 have been when I've put a wheel over the edge onto some muddy stuff when meeting another vehicle on a narrow country road, and once when braking from about 15 mph on a snowy surface.
In the latter case I felt that the car responded less well to the braking than it would have done without ABS, but it was only my feeling and not based on any proper comparison.
Return to General Car Chat Forum
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 40 guests