Brakes keep locking up.

[tom_allen]

Had a situation where a car pulled out of a side road right in front of me. I was only doing 30 but I had to slam on, one of front wheels locked up and I started skidding. I managed to stop the skid and avoid the car that pulled out on me but now I've lost a bit of confidence when using the brakes. I took the car down a wide, quiet country road and tried a few stops from different speeds. The same wheel always locks up, not instantly but as some speed has been lost.

Is it me and do I need to learn how to use the brakes properly or could it be an issue with the brakes themselves? I have EBC dimpled and grooved disks and Mintex 1144 pads. The car is an S1 Elise.

[Strangely Brown]

At first I thought you were talking about an ABS equipped car and that one of the sensors was failing. When you mentioned S1 Elise that kinda went out of the window. If I were you I'd take the car to an MoT station and get the braking balance checked. Other than that I'd say that you need to learn a bit more sensitivity when braking.

[NathanE]

Do you have P-zero tyres? If yes.. get some fresh rubber on there.

[John D.]

If its the left front its probably because you're sat on the right and thus the left is slightly less loaded (assuming you are alone in the car when this happens). My Clio 172 Cup (no ABS) locks the left front much more frequently than the right. Most prone on bumpy/uneven B-roads. Don't find it too alarming anymore. Its when both go that I get worried

ETA - and theres nothing wrong with my brakes before anyone says!

Edited by John D. on Sunday 25th January 17:52

[Sam_68]

You have non-ABS brakes and a car with little weight on its front end. The time to start worrying is when you can't lock the wheels up.

If the same wheel is consistently locking well before the other side, then you may have a problem with the caliper or circuit on the side that doesn't lock up.

Also, check your tyre pressures are as they should be, that there's no unusual wear on the tyres, and that your dampers are in good comdition all round (no leaks and equal resistance to 'bouncing' a corner of the car is about as good as you can get with a basic check, but if your seriously paranoid you could remove the dampers and have them dyno'd).

Other than that, if it's only locking slightly before the wheel on the other side, then it may well just be weight distribution or road camber. You can't do anything about the latter, but if you're really obsessive, you could fit dampers with adjustable spring seats and have the car corner weighted, but I wouldn't normally bother for road use, TBH.

[RobM77]

I've got a well maintained perfect condition S2 111S with Mintex pads and it will lock both its fronts in the dry below about 35mph very easily indeed. This is perfectly normal for a car without ABS. You need to threshold brake

One wheel will always want to lock more than the other in a road car because they're generally set up for two people on board, and even then it's not flat floored to your exact weight like a racing car will be.

Edited by RobM77 on Sunday 25th January 19:23

[TIPPER]

As suggested it could be you or the car or both.
Get the suspension and brakes checked over and check the tyre pressures.
You then need to find somewhere to safely practice your braking technique.
Basically you need to be easing your pressure on the brake pedal as the car slows keeping the fronts just at the point of not locking up. The amount of movement/pressure difference required from your foot isn't much - if you've got the fronts on the very edge of locking up it should feel like just flexing your big toe will cause lock up.
Its not as easy as it sounds but its much more effective than cadence braking which in turn is more effective than just letting the car slide to a halt/impact.

[Stan.]

It'll be the n/side wheel. They all do it (unless it's abs model).

There's very little weight on the front end of an Elise and unless you've gone to the trouble of corner weighting then driver's weight loads o/side wheel greater than n/side. Hence the lighter loaded passenger wheel locks first.

To see what I mean try it with a passenger on board.

[Hollywood Wheels]

www.carlimits.com

[tom_allen]

Thanks for the replys. I've checked the tyre pressures and they are all ok, the dampers that are on it are less than a year old so fingers crossed they won't be an issue! I like the theory about the passenger side being light hence the passenger wheel locking up.

As Hollywood Wheels has suggested a Car Limits day is on my list of things to do this year.

[Hollywood Wheels]

Good man. The front nearside will always lock up first on a standard car. Try some cadence braking on an empty stretch of road perhaps? I wasn't taking the piss with the link so I'm glad you didn't take it that way. Carlimits days are just awesome. I'm the kind of person who has to be shown how to do something a thousand times, but if you're a quick learner Andy will be able to taech you so much stuff even in one day.