00 Corolla Skidding when braking

asharkman

Hey guys, I have a 00 Corolla just got it NCTed and the breaks seem to be fine.
Thing is when it rains and I have to apply the breaks the car skids like a mother bleeper.
Any ideas what could be causing it?
Should I get better Tires? The tires that are on it are fine not to worn etc...
Cost about 65 each maybe a bit more.

Anan1

Sounds like tyres to me. The NCT checks for tread depth and cracks etc, but tyres can go hard with age. Or they might just be poor tyres to begin with. Does the car skid in roughly a straight line?

asharkman

Anan1 wrote: »

Sounds like tyres to me. The NCT checks for tread depth and cracks etc, but tyres can go hard with age. Or they might just be poor tyres to begin with. Does the car skid in roughly a straight line?

Oh yea defo skids in a straight line alright. Say i was coming up to the lights, not doing a mad speed maybe 20/30 miles an hour, then the lights changed to red, if i stepped on the break to stop it'd just slide and i'd have to release and press again and sort of pump.
Kinda dangerous!

CJhaughey

Sounds like ABS working against poor tyres.

Anan1

Sounds like tyres to me, so. I take it the car doesn't have ABS?

asharkman

Anan1 wrote: »

Sounds like tyres to me, so. I take it the car doesn't have ABS?

No ABS in the car unfortunately.

CJhaughey

Really? My wifes 00 corolla has ABS so I assumed (wrongly) that your 00 should have ABS as well.

Biro

Tyre problem. Get them changed soon, they sound dangerous. The amount of thread on a tyre is no indication to the amount of grip they'll provide. Get a decent set like Dunlop, Good Year, Bridgestone, Pirelli, etc.

Anan1

I'd replace all four if you can afford it, especially at this time of year.

asharkman

CJhaughey wrote: »

Really? My wifes 00 corolla has ABS so I assumed (wrongly) that your 00 should have ABS as well.

Hmm how could I tell is it does or not?

asharkman

Biro wrote: »

Tyre problem. Get them changed soon, they sound dangerous. The amount of thread on a tyre is no indication to the amount of grip they'll provide. Get a decent set like Dunlop, Good Year, Bridgestone, Pirelli, etc.

Is it enough to go to Kwik fit and ask for Dunlop?
Or do i need a make model number for the tires that i'd like?

CJhaughey

Have a look in the engine compartment, the ABS unit is the gold coloured clock with lots of small pipes coming out of it on the drivers side on top of the wheel arch.

If you are running standard 14" tyres Pirelli P2500 are a good choice, they wear evenly unlike other brands on this car.

Tipsy Mac

What make are the tyres you have at the moment?

JimmyCrackCorn!

I bought a car recently with cheap tyres on it. There legal(as new) but same issue as above so much so i have ordered new ones.

Good tyres make a world of difference

asharkman

CJhaughey wrote: »

Have a look in the engine compartment, the ABS unit is the gold coloured clock with lots of small pipes coming out of it on the drivers side on top of the wheel arch.

If you are running standard 14" tyres Pirelli P2500 are a good choice, they wear evenly unlike other brands on this car.

Nothing like that inside the engine so I'm guessing that i don't have it

asharkman

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

What make are the tyres you have at the moment?

Just went down and read them they are called.
SuperSteel 657 have to say the name doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence.
Have two of them on the front and two different ones on the back.

Tefral

asharkman wrote: »

Just went down and read them they are called.
SuperSteel 657 have to say the name doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence.
Have two of them on the front and two different ones on the back.

Ya theres your problem right there. Get a set of Bridgestones or Toyo's, they are expensive but you wont loose grip!

Try www.camskill.co.uk or eiretyres for good prices delievered.

asharkman

cronin_j wrote: »

Ya theres your problem right there. Get a set of Bridgestones or Toyo's, they are expensive but you wont loose grip!

Try www.camskill.co.uk or eiretyres for good prices delievered.

Interesting, so what would be a good quality tire then
Pirelli P2500, or Brigestones or Toyos?

Thanks for the help so far on this one guys.

mickdw

Could you have one wheel braking more than the other. If that is the case, it wont matter how good the tyres are, you will skid as so as you try to brake.
What did the nct result for braking look like? Was it near the limit of imbalance on the front axle?

asharkman

mickdw wrote: »

Could you have one wheel braking more than the other. If that is the case, it wont matter how good the tyres are, you will skid as so as you try to brake.
What did the nct result for braking look like? Was it near the limit of imbalance on the front axle?

No NCT result was pretty much perfect. There was a problem where one was braking more than the other but I got that fixed.
The pads and disks are in good nick.
I'll check the results again later but I'm pretty sure that one wheel isn't braking more than the other.
In dry conditions I can brake, let go of the wheel and it won't drag off in one direction. If that's an indication....?

Carstuck

I had a 00 corolla before & it only used to happen times. I reckoned the problem was that the corollas have a short braking system & if you jam the brakes it happens. Would I be right in saying it only happens when you jam the brakes, not when you brake gently?

asharkman

Carstuck wrote: »

I had a 00 corolla before & it only used to happen times. I reckoned the problem was that the corollas have a short braking system & if you jam the brakes it happens. Would I be right in saying it only happens when you jam the brakes, not when you brake gently?

Yea exactly, if i step on the brake coming up to lights etc even when I'm not going fast she'll just glide along graceful as a swan.
Quite scary in fact.

Muckie

Frighten stuff! Decent set of good all weather tyres and you should
notice a big difference.

CJhaughey

asharkman wrote: »

Just went down and read them they are called.
SuperSteel 657 have to say the name doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence.
Have two of them on the front and two different ones on the back.

That would be these ones, made in China.:rolleyes:
http://www.euroshina.com.ua/en/tyres/Federal/Ss-657
Trust me Pirelli P2500's are the best, other tyres tend to wear the edges.

asharkman

CJhaughey wrote: »

That would be these ones, made in China.:rolleyes:
http://www.euroshina.com.ua/en/tyres/Federal/Ss-657
Trust me Pirelli P2500's are the best, other tyres tend to wear the edges.

That could be them alright.
Yea i'm gonna pop down to quick fit and pick up 2 of these bad boys, maybe i'll kit out the rear wheels next month.
Checked out the site that cronin_j mentioned so i'll compare the costs of getting em delivered and fitted by someone vs buying and fitting in quickfit etc...

Cheers guys.

Danuogma

Maybe it is down to your driving style, instead of stepping on the brakes maybe you should ease on in plenty of time and gradually increase pressure. If there is a decent amount of thread on your tyres you shouldn't be skidding around the place. All tyres sold here have to meet certain standards - even the ones made in china.

Dark-Mavis

From the name "SuperSteal" I presume they are very hard wearing tires, that will last for ages but won't warm up in wet weather giving crap traction.
If you do need to brake hard build up the pressure on the pedal don't just jam on the pedal.

cabrwab

Danuogma wrote: »

Maybe it is down to your driving style, instead of stepping on the brakes maybe you should ease on in plenty of time and gradually increase pressure. If there is a decent amount of thread on your tyres you shouldn't be skidding around the place. All tyres sold here have to meet certain standards - even the ones made in china.

True and true,
However meeting those min standards does not mean they are a good tyre in the wet under breaking.
But not all situations involve gradual braking so in those emgency situations why not have a good tyre with grip that doesnt skid, i would also get the brakes checked out if you nervous at all.

asharkman

Danuogma wrote: »

Maybe it is down to your driving style, instead of stepping on the brakes maybe you should ease on in plenty of time and gradually increase pressure. If there is a decent amount of thread on your tyres you shouldn't be skidding around the place.

Ah yea I give myself plenty of braking distance, I have to!!!
But you know what it's like, your driving along and then you realise the lights have gone orange or red so you kinda have to put your foot on the brake.
I'm not skidding up to lights every day but the once in a blue moon that it does happen it scares the bejesus out of me and makes me think of getting a new car with ABS!
I do release and then push again but there seems to be a fine line between skidding and not skidding.

bazz26

asharkman wrote: »

Ah yea I give myself plenty of braking distance, I have to!!!
But you know what it's like, your driving along and then you realise the lights have gone orange or red so you kinda have to put your foot on the brake.
I'm not skidding up to lights every day but the once in a blue moon that it does happen it scares the bejesus out of me and makes me think of getting a new car with ABS!
I do release and then push again but there seems to be a fine line between skidding and not skidding.

The Corolla had ABS as standard since 2000, is yours the 2000 to 2002 model:



or the 1997 to 1999 model:

asharkman

bazz26 wrote: »

The Corolla had ABS as standard since 2000, is yours the 2000 to 2002 model:
or the 1997 to 1999 model:

Mine is the 2000-2002 model.
I tried to goggle what ABS would look like in that car but couldn't find anything.

Like I was driving my girlfriends 2005 focus in wet weather and just to see the difference I completely jammed on the brakes from like 70km/h and the car stopped with out any skidding at all.
Much better experience!

Flesh Gorden

out of curiosity, take the car to an open car park have someone stand outside and when the brakes lock,
see if one side is still moving while the other locks up


this is what happened to me when the master cylinder failed - very scary

in my case we taught it might be air trapped at first or a seized piston,
but when we bled the system hardly no fluid came out and under no real pressure



Also - Does the pedal travel all the way to the floor?



tyre wise I've been using Toyo Proxes - can't go wrong with bridgestone either, both Jap companies so well used to Monsoon conditions

buy off the net and get them fitted and balanced locally

eg - including vat+delivery I paid €63 ea for 17" Toyo's - €130 ea. from main toyo agent

cheaper then bridgestone - have a great rep for wet conditions - often said they stick like sh*t to a blanket

Tefral

Flesh Gorden wrote: »

tyre wise I've been using Toyo Proxes - can't go wrong with bridgestone

cheaper then bridgestone - have a great rep for wet conditions - often said they stick like sh*t to a blanket

Disgustingly true... I have toyo proxies on my car along with Bridgestone Potenza's. Both tyres i would recommend. Mate of mine owns a tyre shop and he has them on his car and he could have any tyre he wants...

congo_90

are they "eco tires"? or anything like that written on the side? they usually designed to increase fuel consumption but at a loss of grip! Had an arguement with someone over this recently. Pay the lil extra for proper tires. Their price will offset the price of crashing you're car into another car.

Until then, Increase your braking distance as you may be leaving it too late to brake. Try brake smoothly and evenly as you approach a stop.

BigEejit

Flesh Gorden wrote: »

out of curiosity, take the car to an open car park have someone stand outside and when the brakes lock,
see if one side is still moving while the other locks up

I second this, must test in the same conditions that you have your problem though (some poor fecker standing in the rain ) check both sides.

Carstuck

Yea the 2000 corolla should have abs. If you look beside the amber light for the back window, you should see abs written beside it.

asharkman

Carstuck wrote: »

Yea the 2000 corolla should have abs. If you look beside the amber light for the back window, you should see abs written beside it.

Interesting, I'll check it in the morning.
It must be malfunctioning if i do have it though!

wing52

That happened to me too, 60 mph overtaking,had to pull in sharpish

(my fault) the back swung like a good thing caught her grand.

Turned out the brake equaliser had had its day.

Cost 200 punt to fix.God only knows what it is these days!

Not something you'd hear about often though.