Brakes lock up in snow

Canary2323

Original poster
Member
Mar 31, 2012
346
Hey so driving in nemo earlier and went to stop and brakes locked up and felt horrible, if a tap slowly it was fine. Is this normal to lock up like that? Just had brand new brakes and rotors two months ago. Also does everyone with a 4wd keep their truck in 2wd or auto position in normal driving?
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
Grabby brakes can happen if they're very cold or wet, I think. Drag them a small amount to heat them up to dry them out.

Recommend never using A4WD mode since it can break the transfer case internals, and the sudden engagement of the front wheels ONLY happens after wheel slip is detected, and can cause surprising and squirrely behavior. If it's slippery enough so you're tempted to use A4WD, just go for it and engage 4HI. If it's just wet, 2HI is good enough. You should not be driving so close to the limit of your traction that you *need* the front wheels to drag you through turns.
 

million-miles

Member
Jan 10, 2012
189
With ove a million miles of driving on snow ice and what ever. ABS is good for wet roads but lock up on snow and ice can happen its just to slick. I would put it in all time 4wd for snow its better to have all tires break loose at one time than have one set break loose then another grab. Like roadie said it would be all over the place. But the best set up in bad weather is with a stick so if you have to break the power from the wheels and let the car just roll.

There are people who like to drive. I have an absolut love and passion about driving.
 

MoJoRisin'

Member
Jan 11, 2013
22
My big trucks brakes are slammers once they get wet and sit. They will give you a chiropractic adjustment they slam so hard and skid. Worked the same way regardless of having ABS or no ABS. Reason I say this is my ABS was acting real goofy and activating when on dry pavement as I was slowing down and I would loose ability to stop and steer. I promptly removed the fuse for the ABS and filed a complaint with the NTSB because I view this ABS issue as a serious safety issue for people that do not know enough to disable the ABS. A few times I was pretty close to rear ending the car in front of me at stops.

Explanation from Chevy is that the sensor has problems due to that area getting dirty. Well when we did a front brake job I tried to pull the ABS sensor and when we did that destroyed it. Of course in order to get another sensor you have to buy a whole hub - which I chose not to yet because it is quite a bit of $$ on the K3500. I was hoping that Chevy would belly up to the fact that they have a safety issue (RECALL??) here and would replace the sensor - not yet and probably no period.
 

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