I am really puzzled by this one. If I am braking and go over bumps in the road, I get a complete brake fade while going over the bumps then braking resumes on the smooth pavement. My 03 never did this, in fact I have never had a car do it. My 06 only has 17,000 miles and i noticed the brake fade last summer. I could not really get my car in then and it wasn't a big priority.

Any thoughts before I get it in? I am going to change out the brake pads soon, but the brakes generally work just fine

Thanks! : )

 

you're not getting brake fade - you're losing traction.

 

^^ Traction issues causes this?? What the heck....

I KNOW I have had suspension problems with this car and NO dealer can find the problem...I don't think I have any choice but to redo the suspension with Eibach. I think it's bizarre. Is this normal behavior for this car? It's really bad at highway speeds when i hit bumps....dangerously bad. Like am thrown all over the lane. I'll go over a bump at 60 mph or higher and I feel the back end slide out to the left or right. It's the only thing I don't like about it and i don't think it's especially safe because there is a loss of control going on.

I've talked to several owners and no one has this issue and it's not me. I've had muscle cars all my life and I'm OLD. LOL

 

I'm confused as to what you are saying you feel. The *** moving around is the nature of the beast with a stick axle car.

It's possible it went unnoticed to you in older cars because of the lack of a panhard rod. The rear had more freedom of movement. With the panhard rod connecting the body and rear, when the *** moves you move with it much more noticeably LOL.

You could of course trade your car in for a 03-04 Cobra, but then you would just be upset about the car running hot all the time

 

LOL no, not willing to trade it. : ) Guess I just have to get used to it but I am still upgrading the suspension. Thanks for your input-appreciated.

 

Correct, it is NOT brake fade. It is the tires not staying in contact with the road, and when leves the ground the ABS engages in what's known as"ice-mode" because it sees one or more wheels locked but not the other and assumes you are on ice. Generally this mode won't let a car stop @ more than about .3g, which about 1/3rd of the available braking power.

Most likely culprit is shocks. And while you are thinking of changing, Eibach dampers (shocks) aren't great either). And if might not be the shocks. Do you have big and heavy wheels and tires? Does the car act up any other time?

I work with suspensions, day in and day out. I think I can help you not only solve this issue, but also make the car handle better too. But we have to think our way through it....

 

Well no wonder I hate driving this at highway speeds on the expressway and hit bumps. NO ONE believed me when I said the car didn't feel safe! NO ONE 3 dealers test drives and we could not find the problem. I have just bought new tires...same size 18" stock fan 18" rims.

The car drives different the 1st10 minutes. Like a slight shimy in the front end, oversteers a bit too. I was going to get a front end alignment to see if that is the problem. Obviously the new tires are perfectly balanced...I bought new tires to replace the T/A's all seasons as I was sliding alot on wet pavement let alone snow. After the car is warmed up there is still a slight front end shimmy. very slight.

Now....let me try to describe this. Picture you are driving an expressway and on the overpass and there is a slight curve to the road going 65 mph. You are steering slightly on the curve and you hit some bumps in the pavement-normal on overpass section of highways. Depending on the degree of the bumps...instead of maintaining your direction, the car is all over the lane and you have to slow it down. I've felt that back end feel like a zig zag.....so instead of keeping the car straight going over the bump...the back end takes a direction that feels sideways.

ask me more questions....maybe between the two of us I can get my dealer to listen again and find it. The brake fade just started the past 6 months and it was last year when I was at the dealers.

Thank you BIG TIME for any insight you an provide.

 

The shimmy is flat-spotted tires. It happens and lessens or goes away as the tires soften with heat. You tires are not "perfectly" balanced if it never goes away, but the fact it is bad and mostly goes away as you drive tells me it's flat-spots from sitting.

Your other complaint is pretty clearly shocks. Shocks deal with mass, the movement of it, and how the car works on bumps. Now, I'm not sure if you've had a solid axle car before but by nature they are upset by bumps, particularly when turning than any IRS car. But again the stock shocks aren't super great dampers. YOU NEED BETTER SHOCKS, something adjustable so you can make the damping best suit what you are after. Here, because of what I've read I think a set of D-specs would be the ticket (and I even has a set in stock). Koni's are great, but are more precise, you need and want a bigger range of change and the D-specs are more cost effective too.

The dampers are just not doing the job. They aren't keeping the tires in contact with the road as well as they should be, and they are not controlling both the mass of the car, or the unsprung mass (wheels, tires, axle, etc).

 

Are we talking about twoseparate issues? hitting bumps while turning and getting more rear end movement than expected, and the brakes not working as expected?

I could be worns out shocks in the rear; not controlling the rear end over bumps well, and reducing braking over bumps if it causes the ABS to go off.

 

I beleive we are talking about the same issue, just two symptoms.