Tires or brakes and stopping distance

[John105]

Hi Everyone,
I am having an increase in concern with my tires, or maybe it is the breaks? 3 times now on dry pavement someone 2 car lengths ahead of me, (that is the distance I stay away or even 3 car lengths away) has hit their brakes which of course makes me hit my breaks. My car has slid forward. This scares the you know what out of me, thinking what if this was rain or snow, I would be in trouble, especially since I live in Michigan! I have the Michelin Defender Ice and Snow tires, they do not make these anymore. The dealership states the tread is still very good, I can say the tread is still very deep. They are only about 1 1/2 to 2 years old now, I do not drive too many miles on a daily basis. But hitting the brakes on smooth or bumpy pavement has given the same issue/response going 40 mph. And I have never stopped hard before and heard my tires screech! They are inflated to specs on the door 35, and actually 1 psi higher 36. I have a 2015 Honda Pilot.

What are your thoughts on this? I am going to take it to the dealership and have them test drive it. Thanks in advance for your responses and time.

When you say slide forward, are the brakes locking up? Probably it's hard to visualize what's happening, but a drive with a tech is a great idea. If possible, go with them so they can see what you mean.

I did something like this when my new to me Lexus had a thud sound when braking. The tech (owner of shop) took 2 careful drives with me (2 circuits that they use around the shop), listened carefully, lifted the vehicle and pulled 4 wheels to inspect. He concluded the sound is the brake pads shifting because this car has none of the factory provided shims (there are 4 per caliper or 16 shims). Nobody really does that because once again Toyota makes them really expensive and they're tossed when a shop does a brake job (it would be better to transfer them to the new pads due to cost).

 

[The motor guy]

Like any other product, the seller wants to get rid of them, but they usually indicate the year of mfg. when clearancing the items online. In a more innocent scenario like Costco, imho whenever the store "orders" tires for you, say now it's dec 2024, they could very likely sell a tire made 1 year ago and I think it came from the mfg not their own distribution center as they're doing fifo.

Everyone is different, but to me, it's not like milk or meat from the grocers, where the date is crucial. There has been a long debate on whether tires "expire" at 6 years, or 10 years. If anyone is going to throw away tires based on date, not condition, I really would suggest that donation aspect. Like you would extra building materials to habitat to humanity. Let someone who can't afford tires have them. Do I put my money where my mouth is, absolutely. My BMW snow tires are date coded 08. If I cared about the date, I would have tossed 3 sets and be on my 4th right now.

The key is stay away from tire shine. Causes them to crack

 

[TiGeo]

This isn't a tire issue.

 

[IndyIan]

Hi Everyone,
I am having an increase in concern with my tires, or maybe it is the breaks? 3 times now on dry pavement someone 2 car lengths ahead of me, (that is the distance I stay away or even 3 car lengths away) has hit their brakes which of course makes me hit my breaks. My car has slid forward. This scares the you know what out of me, thinking what if this was rain or snow, I would be in trouble, especially since I live in Michigan! I have the Michelin Defender Ice and Snow tires, they do not make these anymore. The dealership states the tread is still very good, I can say the tread is still very deep. They are only about 1 1/2 to 2 years old now, I do not drive too many miles on a daily basis. But hitting the brakes on smooth or bumpy pavement has given the same issue/response going 40 mph. And I have never stopped hard before and heard my tires screech! They are inflated to specs on the door 35, and actually 1 psi higher 36. I have a 2015 Honda Pilot.

What are your thoughts on this? I am going to take it to the dealership and have them test drive it. Thanks in advance for your responses and time.

I've been in a couple cars where the abs would go nuts and release too often and too much going into almost a resonance, so the brakes were hardly on, and the stopping distances were very long. Almost like stopping on glare ice, but it was a dusty dry gravel road.
Personally I would pull the abs fuse and go do some testing on my own on a back road, but if you aren't comfortable with that, take it to a mechanic and see what's going on.

 

[barryh]

Also, you will not feel ABS during normal braking...it is designed to activate during VERY abrupt braking only.

It's not easy to get ABS to kick in on dry roads. The only time I've tried to do it was on an advanced driving course and it was very difficult even with tyres that had been deliberately under inflated. You have to get some speed up and hit the brakes really hard. That was someone else's car, I wouldn't try it with my own tyres in the dry but I do it as a matter of course on snow just to check the ABS is working and cycle some brake fluid through the unit.

 

[TiGeo]

It's not easy to get ABS to kick in on dry roads. The only time I've tried to do it was on an advanced driving course and it was very difficult even with tyres that had been deliberately under inflated. You have to get some speed up and hit the brakes really hard. That was someone else's car, I wouldn't try it with my own tyres in the dry but I do it as a matter of course on snow just to check the ABS is working and cycle some brake fluid through the unit.

Like this? during the first 15 sec. Agreed....unless you foot to the floor on the brake pedal ABS isn't kicking in. No ABS intervention here.

 

[Jetronic]

Like this? during the first 15 sec. Agreed....unless you foot to the floor on the brake pedal ABS isn't kicking in. No ABS intervention here.

But with modern CARS sporting Electronic Brake distribution, it is indeed very hard to get ABS to kick in: brake pressure gets limited to the rear wheels before ABS is needed. You really have to push through it. With a mechanical or simpler brake force distribution it's easier to get ABS action. And even easier with vehicles with higher centre of gravity.

Trucks often seems to be a gzneration or 2 behind, but I suspect even they have it already, it's kinda been a thing for 30 years now.

 

[userfriendly]

The topic of directional vs non directional tires and directional tires on backwards and snow traction has been discussed before.
It was found that directional tires on backward have better snow traction including stopping distance, but worse all round in rain and dry conditions.
In Michigan, especially the upper peninsula, non directional tires might be the better choice.