brakes and tires and stuff

[GanChan]

I made an emergency stop in my little Hyundai Accent last week. Did the whole skid-n'-smoke thing, but fortunately stopped in plenty of time. My brakes seem to be doing fine since then, but I can't help wondering...should brake pads, etc, automatically be checked following a big screechy emergency stop?

Also, my front tires are, not surprisingly, a little more worn now than they were , and a little more worn than the rear tires. I read somewhere that you actually want your deeper tread on your rear tires if you have to choose, because if you hit a slick road you'll understeer, which is easier to ride out than the fishtailing you'd do if the thinner tread was on the rear. Do I have that right?

Of course I'll check the tread depth up front to make sure it's still acceptable, but maybe this means I won't be rotating these tires....

 

[bursty]

Locking up the brakes can warp the rotors, but I doubt your Accent has strong enough brakes to do that. All should be fine.

 

[robbieduncan]

I assume your Accent does not have ABS then? If it does then the ABS is broken!

Your brakes will be fine. If you did that over and over you might damage them (warping of rotors as described above).

Is the Accent FWD or RWD? If it's FWD I'd imagine that you'd want more grip up front as that's where all the power, steering and most of the braking happens.

You can always rotate the tyres front for back assuming that they are the same size. I've done this before on a FWD car to even out the wear.

 

[yg17]

I assume your Accent does not have ABS then? If it does then the ABS is broken!

Your brakes will be fine. If you did that over and over you might damage them (warping of rotors as described above).

Is the Accent FWD or RWD? If it's FWD I'd imagine that you'd want more grip up front as that's where all the power, steering and most of the braking happens.

You can always rotate the tyres front for back assuming that they are the same size. I've done this before on a FWD car to even out the wear.

The Accent, as well as all of Hyundai's cars are FWD, with the exception of certain models of the Santa Fe and Tuscon. Here's to hoping the Tiburon gets RWD sometime in the near future!

 

[Jon'sLightBulbs]

No need to check pads. What you should check for is bald spots on your tires. Those can be bad for the way your car handles, and can cause your wheels to vibrate from tires being imbalanced.

 

[Sly]

If you left long black lines down the road then you will probably need to have the front wheels balanced.The brakes should be fine. If the skid was very long, say from 80mph to 0 then you will probably need new front tyres as they will have flat spots on them which will vibrate the car like crazy next time you are on the motorway. Make sure your best tyres are on the FRONT wheels, the front wheels do the steering and most of the braking so its probably worthwhile making sure they stay on the road!

 

[iGav]

I made an emergency stop in my little Hyundai Accent last week. Did the whole skid-n'-smoke thing, but fortunately stopped in plenty of time. My brakes seem to be doing fine since then, but I can't help wondering...should brake pads, etc, automatically be checked following a big screechy emergency stop?

Sounds like you need to learn how to cadence brake don't practice it on public roads though.

I read somewhere that you actually want your deeper tread on your rear tires if you have to choose, because if you hit a slick road you'll understeer, which is easier to ride out than the fishtailing you'd do if the thinner tread was on the rear. Do I have that right?:

Yep that's correct. The weight of the engine increases front end grip, even on relatively worn tyres.

On a front engined FWD car though, you want as much rear grip as possible because the back end will be lighter, and thus more susceptible to losing grip which is significantly more dangerous in a FWD car than a RWD one.

 

[iGav]

Make sure your best tyres are on the FRONT wheels, the front wheels do the steering and most of the braking so its probably worthwhile making sure they stay on the road!

You're wrong.

 

[Sly]

You're wrong.

No I'm not, braking distances will be considerably longer in the wet with bald front tyres than with well treaded front tyres. Add steering input in to the equation and you are asking even more of the front tyres and braking distances will increase further. Chassis engineers for family FWD saloons design in understeer for safety, the worse the front tyres are the more the car will try to understeer. In the dry the situation will be reversed as bald tyres actually give more grip than treaded, however because braking distances will be much shorted in the dry, you should plan for the safest setup in the worst conditions. The chances of oversteer in a Hyundai Accent are pretty slim whatever the conditions or tyre setup unless there is a secondary factor involved such as clipping a curb, another car or you are carrying excessive weight in the boot (trunk). Manufactures and safety groups always recommend that you drive with matched tyres on all wheels, this is good advice.

 

[iGav]

No I'm not,

Yes you are. Don't belive me? go to a tyre centre and look at all the posters on the wall saying exactly what I'm saying.

braking distances will be considerably longer in the wet with bald front tyres than with well treaded front tyres.

Of course they will... but we're not talking about bald tyres are we.

In this situation advice from tyre manufacturers is you want the better tread depth on the rear wheels of FWD car, because those tyres are less loaded, and undriven... so provide significantly less grip than more worn tyres on the front with the extra weight of the engine, as well as aditional traction provided by engine drive.

Ask yourself... what is grip?

The best way to ensure consistant and equal wear is to do what RobbieD suggests and swap the wheels between front and rear axles periodically.

NIn the dry the situation will be reversed as bald tyres actually give more grip than treaded

I've heard this loads of times, usually from boy racers that presume that a bald tyre is the same as a slick one. the more rubber in contact with the road provides more traction etc way of thinking however completely ignoring the heat characteristics and properties that a tyre is designed to function in, never mind actual road conditions.

The chances of oversteer in a Hyundai Accent are pretty slim whatever the conditions or tyre setup unless there is a secondary factor involved such as clipping a curb, another car or you are carrying excessive weight in the boot (trunk).

The chances of oversteer in such a car with more worn tyres on the rear is greatly pronounced actually.

Manufactures and safety groups always recommend that you drive with matched tyres on all wheels, this is good advice.

It is... though same axle is actually okay. That doesn't really have anything to do with what we're discussing though.

 

[Sun Baked]

Actually some would say you rarely if ever warp the rotors, even people who test the brakes to the point they boil the brake fluid and fade the brakes.

It's the holding the brakes on one spot while the brakes cool that can be a problem. It tends to create a spot where you have a spot with high brake pad deposits compared to the rest of the rotor.

More grip, less grip, more grip ....

Crack the rotors, cause all other sorts of funny things -- warp them rarely.

---

If the brakes were broken in and you didn't let the brakes cool down after a hard stop, it's doubtful you'll have any problems. Because there likely won't be a pad shaped imprint on the rotor.

But with a lot of city driving, it can happen -- and at that point, it's probably better to replace the rotors when they get bad enough.

 

[matix]

worn tires on the front. better ones on the back. Take it from the guy in northern canada where it is snowy and icy for half the year. ciao

 

[joecool85]

worn tires on the front. better ones on the back. Take it from the guy in northern canada where it is snowy and icy for half the year. ciao

Not in a fwd car. Now thats not to say that you want garbage in the back, but as long as you have SOME tread, it should keep your car in a straight enough line (given that is fwd, which the accent is). And yes, I deal with snow. I live in central Maine and guess what, we get 5 months of winter weather every year. I drove 3 years in a ford escort with winter treads on the front (in winter) and regular all seasons in the back. Granted, in the winter, you shouldn't have any tire under 6-7/32 of tread regardless of winter/all season.