Check your BRAKES

[philndz]

So last night i was out late and roads were empty so I thought it was a good time to check the brakes. I made 3 or 4 hard stops at different parts of road and every time I had one wheel lock up and just slide while the other 3 were stopping effectively but not locking up. it was the passenger rear tire that would lock up and just get dragged along by the vibe until it came to a complete stop. is that brake messed up (to powerful) or is it the other three that are messed up (not powerful enough)??? i have a base vibe so its drums in the rear. should i get the dealer to look at it?

[KSNeptune]

Consider that with only a driver in the car, the weight will be higher over the two front wheels and the rear driver side wheel than it is over the rear passenger wheel.Put another person of equal weight into the passenger seat and try your tests again. If you steel get single wheel lock, then that wheel may be maladjusted.KSNeptune

[ragingfish]

Do you have ABS? If so, no wheels should lock up at any time...and in that case, most definitely get it looked at by the dealer...

[dmitri]

lol i drive the brakes so hard in my GT....the 4 wheel disks are great it stops better then any car ive driven.

[philndz]

no i dont have abs on mine

[Vibe Rater]

quote:no i dont have abs on mineSounds fairly normal. What's your mileage?If you really wanna lock em' up, pull on the hand brake. Don't try this at home kids. Not responsible for any damage or injuries that may occur. While supplies last. Not legal in all states. Limited time offer. Must be 21 years of age or over to qualify. GM employees or their immediate families not eligible. Some conditions apply. See your local dealer for details.

[MadBill]

Another obscure but possible cause would be if you had coilovers and didn't have them adjusted equally. One corner could then be 'light" and would lock up easier.BTW, factory brake balance is normally designed to ensure that the fronts lock first as the pressure is increased. Cars are horribly unstable with only the rears locked!

[philndz]

quote:Another obscure but possible cause would be if you had coilovers and didn't have them adjusted equally. One corner could then be 'light" and would lock up easier.BTW, factory brake balance is normally designed to ensure that the fronts lock first as the pressure is increased. Cars are horribly unstable with only the rears locked!it really does feel like that wheel is just light....all the others come to a smooth fast stop where as that one wheel just slides along being dragged....never had this w/ any other car???????

[MadBill]

One other possibility is a bit of grease or brake fluid on the friction material. This can cause grabbing.

[Toasted7]

I have an issue with my brakes also. I don't have ABS and I have a Base Vibe. When I am going down and hill and need to slow down I apply a small amount of pressure to my brakes and every now and then they seem to grab a lot more than they should. The pedal moves down a lot and I'm not even pushing on it. I drive down this hill on almost a daily basis when I'm going to work and my brakes do this almost every time. It is a noticeable amount of grab and that bothers me. Is this something I should have checked out or is this normal?

[AKLGT]

the brakes work great, but be careful of fast wear and tear. same thing on my tundra. the brakes wore out at a rapid pace. very prematurely. they were completely gone at 30K miles. I'll be making sure I keep better track this time.

[canadavibegt]

quote:the brakes work great, but be careful of fast wear and tear. same thing on my tundra. the brakes wore out at a rapid pace. very prematurely. they were completely gone at 30K miles. I'll be making sure I keep better track this time.Not sure what your doing to your cars but I put 190 000 Km on my Toyota PU and still had the original brake pads... I put 199 000 Km on my ford Mustang and only changed brakes once..... Maybe you should be a little easier on them and they would last longer. (heat is the main cause of premature brake wear, sudden or hard braking tends to wear them out.) Slow gradual brake applications should keep them working for a long time.

[AKLGT]

quote:Not sure what your doing to your cars but I put 190 000 Km on my Toyota PU and still had the original brake pads... I put 199 000 Km on my ford Mustang and only changed brakes once..... Maybe you should be a little easier on them and they would last longer. (heat is the main cause of premature brake wear, sudden or hard braking tends to wear them out.) Slow gradual brake applications should keep them working for a long time. Actually, I have spoken to many Tundra owners and they have had brake pads wear within 20K miles. so, I don't think it's necessarily something that I alone am doing. I've had a 1983 Tercel that the brakes lasted until 115K miles. I had 2 different mechanics tell me the brake pads they are using in the newer vehicles are not as good as they used to be. cheaper parts i guess.

[tinman]

Brake pads don't last as long as they used to because older brake pads had asbestos in them. That's no longer an option due to environmental concerns. So, we line the landfills with more, but less dangerous brake pads.

[goodvibe]

This won't solve the problem but it may help. I don't know if stock Vibes have a proportioning valve (They're getting rare due to antilock)but they're not hard to install. You can bias the brakes slightly more forward. If there's more tire on a car (more stopping power) the factory bias setting wont be optimum because you're getting more forward weight shift on a hard stop. Unfortunately different weather and road conditions will vary the correct bias due to traction variables so for street driving it can't be just right all the time and the stock setting is probably best all around. This wont even out the back but you'll get more stopping power overall and have better control. Antilock would compensate for bias changes in hard stops. I would have the dealer check it next time you're there but what's happening is quite common and normal for all cars without antilock when the rear gets lite.

[Dax]

Quote, originally posted by trdvibe »quote:Not sure what your doing to your cars but I put 190 000 Km on my Toyota PU and still had the original brake pads... I put 199 000 Km on my ford Mustang and only changed brakes once..... Maybe you should be a little easier on them and they would last longer. (heat is the main cause of premature brake wear, sudden or hard braking tends to wear them out.) Slow gradual brake applications should keep them working for a long time. Actually, I have spoken to many Tundra owners and they have had brake pads wear within 20K miles. so, I don't think it's necessarily something that I alone am doing. I've had a 1983 Tercel that the brakes lasted until 115K miles. I had 2 different mechanics tell me the brake pads they are using in the newer vehicles are not as good as they used to be. cheaper parts i guess.I can vouch for TRDVibe. My Tundra ate brake pads like crazy. 30k miles for my first set, sold it at 40k. I think the Vibe can only do better than the Tundra. Mmm...boy do I miss the 300+ lb/ft of torque though. Oh well, 30 MPG is a good trade-off though.Dax

[fieryhill]

My vibe it seems to be somewhat the opposite, It seems to not stop fast enough but it's probably just a problem with my right foot lol. I've already bumped someone elses bumper thinking I had enough time to stop. But anyway, my brakes seem to be wearing funny I don't have ABS and disc/drum set up, my front discs have ridges in them running in a circular motion and was wondering if this is normal?

[ragingfish]

From my understanding, rotors should be polished and smooth. No grooves. Grooves could be a problem. This is, of course, assuming I understand things properly...Can't hurt to stop by any dealer and just ask them if it's a problem or not...you can see it through the wheels, can't you?