Grain Valley News
  • Home
  • About
    • Submit Your News
    • Contact
  • News
    • Voter Resources
    • Online Puzzles
  • Community
    • Events Calendar
    • Kindness Awards
    • 2023 Garage Sale Directory
    • Parade
  • Job Board
  • Best of Grain Valley
  • Support
    • Advertise
    • Become A Sustaining Member
  • Business Directory Submission Form
  • Home
  • About
    • Submit Your News
    • Contact
  • News
    • Voter Resources
    • Online Puzzles
  • Community
    • Events Calendar
    • Kindness Awards
    • 2023 Garage Sale Directory
    • Parade
  • Job Board
  • Best of Grain Valley
  • Support
    • Advertise
    • Become A Sustaining Member
  • Business Directory Submission Form








​news

Brakes, ABS, & TCS Systems

6/8/2019

 
by David “Sam” Luttrell Jr, Absolute Automotive LLC
​     Does your steering wheel shake/wiggle while coming to a stop? Is there a vibration/buzzing in the brake pedal? Does the brake pedal kick back up or feel hard when you brake?
     What about that high-pitched squealing noise? These are all signs your vehicle's Brake/ABS/TCS system may need to be serviced or replaced.
     Let’s start by talking about the basic brake system components and how they function on your vehicle. When you apply pressure to your brake pedal, it is pushing a plunger in the Master Cylinder. That plunger is pushing the brake fluid through the brake lines going to all 4 wheels of the vehicle.
     The fluid going to the front brakes flow into caliper mounted behind each front wheel. The caliper has an inner and outer brake pad that squeeze the brake rotor.
     The fluid going to the rear of the vehicle flows into another set of calipers or wheel cylinders for drum style brakes. The brake pads squeezing the spinning rotor creates the friction that slows the vehicle. That friction also creates heat, and over time that heat warps the rotor.
     Warped rotors are the source of steering wheel shaking and wiggling while braking. The brake pads can be made out of different materials, some are semi metallic, and others are ceramic.
     The quality and price of brake pads vary tremendously. Cheap brake pads will squeak/squeal and prematurely wear into the rotors. Always insist on high quality brake pads, whether you’re a DIY-er, or having the brakes installed by a qualified mechanic.
     The Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) and Traction Control System (TCS) work together and sometimes are the same system. The ABS/TCS system is designed to keep the vehicle from skidding/sliding out of control while braking, and more sophisticated systems prevent wheel spin while trying to accelerate.       
     The ABS/TCS computer system uses wheel speed sensors that are usually mounted near or in the wheel hub/bearing on the front and rear of vehicle; some are mounted on the rear differential. The wheel speed sensor sends a signal to the ABS/TCS computer that shows how fast each wheel is spinning. When braking, if 1, 2 or all of the wheel speed sensors stop sending a signal to the ABS system abruptly (skidding/sliding), the ABS system activates and will pulse the brake fluid pressure to the corresponding wheel.
     This activation allows the tire to rotate instead of skidding or sliding, so you can regain control of the vehicle. This is the vibration or kick back you feel in the brake pedal.
     A failing wheel speed sensor or wheel bearing can send a false or no to the ABS system when the brakes have not been applied. This will sometimes turn on the ABS/TCS light and cause false activation during normal braking conditions. I mentioned the wheel bearing/hub assembly because some wheel speed sensors are built into the wheel bearing/hub assembly and cannot be changed separately.
 
     The purpose of this column is to help the average person have a better understanding of how their vehicles operate. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have at sam@absoluteautomotive.net or 816-847-5252. Absolute Automotive is located at 104 E. AA Highway, Grain Valley.
 
Picture
Photo credit: iStock photo.

Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Burton Kelso
    Business
    Cathy Allie
    Celebrations & Transitions
    Census
    City Of Grain Valley
    Columnists
    Community Profile
    Covid19
    Covid-19
    Economic-development
    Education
    Elections
    Financial-health
    Fitness
    Food Inspections
    Good News
    Good-news
    Grain-valley-assistance-council
    Grain Valley Fair
    Grain Valley Historical Society
    Grain-valley-partnership
    Grain Valley Schools
    Health And Fitness
    Health-and-fitness
    Home And Garden
    Jackson County
    Kindness Awards
    Ld
    Local News
    Looking Back
    Lorne-meinershagen
    Missouri House Of Representatives
    Missouri Senate
    Musings From The Middle
    Neighborhood View
    On-the-job
    Pets
    Police Blotter
    Quick-news
    Rdn
    Recreation
    Sally-whitaker
    Seniors
    Senior-send-off
    Sports
    State Of Missouri
    Technology
    Tracey-shaffer
    Transportation
    University Of Missouri Extension
    Waynes-world

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018

Grain Valley News

Grain Valley News is a free community news source published weekly online. 
(c) 2023 Grain Valley News

Contact Us

PO Box 2972
​Grain Valley MO 64029

Privacy Policy
Picture