What exactly are the characteristics of this phenom?

On Sunday I went into the braking box with plenty of distance to stop. The ABS engaged but I knew immediately that the car was not slowing down enough to make it. It was reported that the rear locked up and smoked. On my 3rd run run I stopped with 5-10 feet to spare with similar if not more entry speed. I realise that rubber can be put down with 90+ competitors, but because this box was so long there really wasn't the need to push it, hence very little rubber laid. Because the 350z brakes are so strong (especially with HP+ front pads), it's easy to tell when they're not working as they should.

Lately, I've had this wonky braking at least once per event.

If some of you get this, how do you deal with it? Pull the ABS fuse?

 

Yeah I have ran into this two times both at high speed braking. Pedal goes hard and the car just glides. No cure except to brake earlier that I know of.

 

mpowers, does your ABS still engage while "gliding"?

 

is there any way to remove a fuse and disengauge ABS?

 

yes I belive it does atlhough the last time it happened I was doing 70mph and forced me to drive though the grass. So what I leaned to do is let off the brake after the abs stops working and re brake. Its like the abs does not know whats going on and freezes. Oh and if you going foward with the abs on and then spin the car in a reverse direction the abs does the same thing.

phile I perfer the abs as aposed to no abs on the track, its a weird phenomenon.

One more thing all the times have been with race tires which I not sure if it matters.

 

There could be several issues you all are experiencing.

(1) You have to be relatively smooth with the brake pedal on our Z. I've found that getting on the pedal too hard too fast will cause the car to engage ABS and too deep into the braking zone. Then again I have pads with an insane coefficient of friction.

(2) Pad knockback. If you are cornering hard, there is always a little play in the bearings, and the rotor could be pushing your pads back into the caliper. The result is that you have to tap the brake lightly to reseat the pad to the rotor. This issue really only manifests itself on cars with large diameter brakes.

(3) Electronic Brake Distribution: It distributes braking power to the corner(s) with the most traction, but I've found it tends try and outsmart the driver, even if the driver is doing it intentionally.

Just my two cents...

 

Fritzman sorry read you post incorrectly no the abs does not work when you'r gliding. It may be what John said , with the EBD. What ever it is it sucks.

 

Thanks for the info. I think it might be related to John's first explanation. I'll keep that in mind the next time it happens.

At first I wondered if it was my driving (ie: expecting too much from the brakes) or if I'm overestimating their efficiency as it has been reduced with the increased camber up front. However, I've learned to trust my driving (at least it's consistency, good or bad), so I figure it's electronic - especially when I'm being told the rear are locking up enough to smoke yet I hear/feel the ABS working.

I'd hate to have to pull the fuse because I feel ABS removes one variable from the "workload" of doing a run in Solo2.

 

I've felt this in two cars, my Camaro first, at Nationals my first time in the car, boy that was a pain.

Also in the Z. I haven't had it happen yet this year, maybe the shocks helped, but mostly the cause appears to be getting the car unsettled and then braking too hard. If you have a tire off the ground and try to brake it happens.

As mpowers said, braking earlier seems to help, but really trying to get the car settled before braking seems to work best for me, although not always an option.

 

Christoc's experience is the same as ours. Ice mode(hard petal ,no braking) happened when the car was upset going into a turn(unfortunately a common autox thing) the cause is a wheel off the ground just when you touch the brakes.
We fixed 90% of the problem with Koni DA's and a solid 34mm front bar all setup to keep the nose flat and keep the rear tires on the ground.There is no cure. The fuse won't work either.