# Breaks not working well in the snow, went right into a busy road from a parking lot



## titan2782 (Nov 4, 2011)

1) You sure you weren't sliding?
2) The noise you hear is the ABS kicking in. Read the manual, it tells you what to expect.
3) Get snow tires. Solved.
4) The "locking" and "unlocking" is the ABS pulsing the brakes.


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## dannylightning (Jun 24, 2012)

it seems like the ABS is reacting very slowly, yes it was sliding but the breaks did not seem to be doing anything other than locking up for longer than they should, unlocking and locking up again. i would think it should lock and unlock a **** of allot faster than what mine is doing 

i have been driving in snow my whole life, this does not seem normal at all.. ill look at the manual but i really think there is a issue. these breaks scare me in the snow,


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## Hoon (Mar 18, 2012)

Seems like the car's working fine to me. ABS makes noise.


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## oMAHONEYo (Mar 23, 2012)

My car does the same thing, that's just what happens when driving on ice. Your chevy truck was bigger/heavier and therefore probably had better traction. Personally, I feel I have more control in the cruze than my sister's jeep (which is 4wd).


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## dannylightning (Jun 24, 2012)

after what you all have said and watching a few videos of ABS in the snow i guess it is doing what it should, maybe those stock tires are just horrible in the snow.

my truck was a S-10 ZR2 so it was not that heavy 3k some lbs, it was 4X4 though which was awesome for general driving, i remember ripping around in the snow in that thign, it just did not like to stop well, maybe mud tires are bad in the snow. one thing that made me thing somethign was wrong if i went over a big bump any time of year while i was breaking the ABS kicked on. none of the other cars i had, maily Honda ever acted like this but its probably just the tires on the cruze.


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## titan2782 (Nov 4, 2011)

dannylightning said:


> after what you all have said and watching a few videos of ABS in the snow i guess it is doing what it should, maybe those stock tires are just horrible in the snow.


This. Cruze qs meant for MPG. Sometimes MPG conflicts with real world scenarios like performance and snow situations. BUT, if there were a problem I have no doubt that a CEL would be thrown. As uncomfortable as it may have been, it's working properly. Grab some snow tires and race some hondas.



> my truck was a S-10 ZR2 so it was not that heavy 3k some lbs, it was 4X4 though which was awesome for general driving,


4x4 S10?! I had an S-15 and it wasn't 4x4.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

its the crappy eco tires loosing grip setting off the ABS, only thing you can do is buy better tires or learn to stop even sooner. On hills you pretty much have to ride the brakes & hope for the best with tires like that.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Where are you? If it's any place that got that wet snow that we got here, it's the ABS and traction control, possibly even stability control, doing their things to keep the car predictable as the tires lost grip. Obermd and I came to the conclusion that the OEM Goodyears work well for the dry snow he has in Denver, and not well for the wet snow I get around Rochester. 

This sounds normal for the Eco when shod in the OEM Goodyear tires. Grippier tires will set things okay.


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## dannylightning (Jun 24, 2012)

i am in ohio, i cant really afford new tirs right now, plus its on lease and i will probably give it back when the lease is over so i would hate to spend any money on the thing. i like the car but i don't love the car, it drives nice and the gas mileage is pretty good. it looks nice, i guess i am just worried that its gonna have issues later in its like some other peoples Chevrolet vehicles 

The ZR2 is made for offroading and ill tell you what it climbed up everything like a champ, allot better than most of the larger trucks....


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Low rolling resistance tires = terrible. Not the cars fault. Priuses are terrible in snow because of their tires too. 


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## Tjax (Sep 14, 2012)

I have a 2LT and was going to start a thread about the opposite actually. We only have about an inch here in Michigan but with the 40mph winds last night there was some drifting that covered the roads with an icy snowy mess. It was my first experience with this car in snow and I was very impressed with both stopping and starting. My old Saturn was scary on slippery surfaces! Tires may be the big story here..... But if I were you I'd wait for a snowy day and take it to the dealer to do a test drive. There have been some issues, rare mind you, of other Chevy's having overactive abs systems causing the vehicle to not want to stop well at all. We had a newer Chevy 1 ton dually at work that was a buy back because of this very issue. I drove it a few times and the abs would kick in under medium stopping effort causing the vehicle to take far far longer than it should to stop. 

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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Buy a set of snow tires on 16" steel rims and stop fearing for your life.

When the lease is up, sell the set to someone else to recoup some of your costs.

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## Ben Jammin (Dec 12, 2012)

Mud tires are awful in snow, hitting bumps and breaking will set off the ABS because the tires locked up. The car doesn't engage ABS because of ice and snow, it's all cases of tire lock up. I have felt the same thing you have in mine, all I did was get off the brakes and handle it on my own. I would never ever in my life drive Eco tires on any snow lol those things are like plastic


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## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

dannylightning said:


> it seems like the ABS is reacting very slowly, yes it was sliding but the breaks did not seem to be doing anything other than locking up for longer than they should, unlocking and locking up again. i would think it should lock and unlock a **** of allot faster than what mine is doing
> 
> i have been driving in snow my whole life, this does not seem normal at all.. ill look at the manual but i really think there is a issue. these breaks scare me in the snow,



Hello dannylightning, 

Stopping distance can be longer and vehicle control can be affected when traction is reduced by water, snow, ice, gravel, or other material on the road. Remember, antilock brakes help avoid only the braking skid. To be on the safe side, if you feel like the timing is off on your breaks and aren’t performing the way they should, then have your dealership take a look at them. Keep us posted on what happens.

Vanessa
GM Customer Service (assisting Stacy)


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## dannylightning (Jun 24, 2012)

thanks for all the advice, i think Monday i will call the dealer or drive down there and tell them the car is a death trap in the snow and tried to kill me.. i want it checked out just to be safe.. i have 11 days off work so i wont need to do much driving far from home.. i


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

The OEM Goodyears on an Eco are not the worst all-seasons ever in snow. The house-brand all-seasons on the cars I drove growing up were far worse. They kept the underside of the car off the ground is about the best thing I can say of them when they needed to get through the white stuff. The ones on my folks' Subaru Legacy would gladly kick the ABS on in very light snow, and make the car go faster if going downhill. I did steer around some idiots who stopped short once, so ABS worked as intended. 

Like was said elsewhere, ABS won't reduce the length of a stop. It will make sure the wheels keep turning so one can retain some control. A locked-up wheel has zero directional control until it unlocks again. 

I'm thinking this one is driver inexperience with the car more than a fault with the car. Spending $500 on 15" snow tires and wheels is a good investment in your safety. And, an accident with a leased car might result in far more than $500 in money owed at the end of the lease since the residual value of the car was reduced thanks to an accident. And, they can be sold to another Cruze owner for $200-250 at the end of the lease. 

Anecdotally, I counted 15 patches of wind-blown snow in the 7 miles between my house and the shopping areas I shop at. It takes losing control on 1 of those areas to crash. Winter tires will help out greatly in retaining control, especially when hit with a 50 mph gust of wind while driving on snow. These cars are very good in resisting gusts, and that will only be aided by appropriate tires for the conditions.


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## Tjax (Sep 14, 2012)

Funny you mentioned that Sciphi, I had commented in another thread how surprised I was hen driving on a gusty day in my new Cruze. It was almost like I couldn't even feel any gusts at all! 


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Tjax said:


> Funny you mentioned that Sciphi, I had commented in another thread how surprised I was hen driving on a gusty day in my new Cruze. It was almost like I couldn't even feel any gusts at all!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com Free App


The Eco is barely affected by even very gusty winds. It's the best car I've ever driven in windy conditions. Wind gusts are far more heard than felt. The steering wheel might need a slight twitch to stay on course in a really bad gust.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

sciphi said:


> The Eco is barely affected by even very gusty winds. It's the best car I've ever driven in windy conditions. Wind gusts are far more heard than felt. The steering wheel might need a slight twitch to stay on course in a really bad gust.


I love that. I was driving in very constant windy conditions the other night. I could see other vehicles blowing all over the road - especially small SUVs and tractor trailers, but the Cruze was unaffected. My old Honda and Volvo were all over the road. 


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## Ben Jammin (Dec 12, 2012)

As far as I've noticed head on gusts affect my speed far worse than my square body Chevy truck, still love my Cruze anyway!


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## NBrehm (Jun 27, 2011)

Get a set of snow tires, the fuelmax's are not known for snow capability


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## silverls (Nov 12, 2011)

It is all about the tires. Low resistance is the exact opposite of what you need in the snow. M+S rating or not they aren't designed for snow

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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

I have a set of LRR Nokian snow tires. They work very well in the snow and wet, and actually roll on snowless pavement. In cold weather, they ride/roll better than the OEM Goodyears. And still offer very good snow performance. They'll stop on command without ABS intervention. Turning is a non-event also. 

LRR isn't always synonymous with poor snow traction.


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## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

dannylightning said:


> thanks for all the advice, i think Monday i will call the dealer or drive down there and tell them the car is a death trap in the snow and tried to kill me.. i want it checked out just to be safe.. i have 11 days off work so i wont need to do much driving far from home.. i




dannylightning,
Please keep me posted on the progress with your dealer. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me anytime.
Thank you,
Stacy Chevrolet Customer Service


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## dannylightning (Jun 24, 2012)

today i made a trip to the mall and i was gonna run down to the dealer afterwards, i was in the mall for about 20 min and when i came out there was snow all over the ground and it was a white out, the ground was dry when i got to the mall,

when i left the mall i went into a neighborhood and started testing out the breaks in the snow, they seemed to do fine, maybe i was going faster than i though when i slid out into the road the other day, so i just went home instead of taking the car in, the roads were really bad and the car did great in the snow. the ABS seemed to be working faster today too, 

i am going to keep a eye on it for a few days and if it does anything strage again ill take it in. but for now it seems to be ok..


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## cornbreesha (Apr 29, 2012)

@dannylightning sounds kinda similar to what happened to me, but i think we were probably just sliding. of course if you feel something isn't right, you should definitely have it looked at! not worth taking any chances. btw i see you posted again in the time i was afk, glad to hear it was better today!

i actually slid through a red light today on my way home :banghead: d'oh lol
there's a red light at the bottom of a pretty steep hill & i was braking all the way down (MUCH harder as i was reaching the bottom), but it was no use. brakes were pulsating like crazy with the traction control light on the whole time (which is normal from what i understand?) and i just passed right through the intersection. luckily no cars were coming, but i was scared anyways. i live in western ny and this is my first winter driving with poor weather. i am sure it was mostly due to inexperience and sliding etc, but does anyone have any tips for me? (can't afford snow tires though). i start braking way sooner which works fine on level ground, but was there anything else i could have done in that situation since it was downhill. thanks stay safe everyone! :cat:


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## dannylightning (Jun 24, 2012)

tips for winter driving

drive slow, when your about to go down a hill slow down before you get to the hill, a steep hill in bad conditions you probably only want to be going 10mph or less and lightly riding the breaks, also manually pumping the breaks with your foot will help big time, as i was testing my breaks down a hill if the car started sliding pumping the breaks would stop me faster than the ABS will. 


if you car is a stick shift you can put it in 1st or 2nd gear and the motor will also act like a break and help to keep so the car cant pick up speed, i guess if its a automatic you can still put it in 1st gear for hills

these probably are not the best tires, as soon as the car starts to slide the ABS starts doing its thing, its very easy to make the car slide with the stock tires.

so basically go slow down hills, pump the breaks if the car starts to slide and down shift the car if you need to, the car can only go so fast in each gear so a lower gear will help limit how much speed the car picks up..

basically you just need to be very careful and watch our speed, stopping distance can be terrible in weather like that.

what ever you do dont pull the Emergency break when going down a hill or your probaby just going to end up sliding down the hill sideways or going into some ones yard, the only time i use the E break in the winter is when i want to slide the car around a corner, say i tried to take a corner to fast and the car is not turning and its about to slide off the road, pull the E break quickly and than turn the E break off again and it will whip the rear end of the car around, if your going over 10mph and pull the e break your probably going to go off the road any ways.. this only works at slow speeds, and its best to master soemthign like this in a big parking lot. wen i was young i would go to parking lots and do E break turns like that, eventually i started doing them on the regular road at low speed and i mastered that, once i decided to try them faster around 20mph and the car slid allot and my back rim bashed into a curb.. so you must be going slow or the E break will not help you, i have very quick reflexes and can do a few things at once like shift gears, steer the car work the clutch and gas and the E break all at the same time..

all the practice at that has come in handy a few times when i owned cars that did not do well in the show, i was about to slide into the curb or some ones yard because the car was just sliding streight when i turned the wheel instead of turning so i did the E break thing and make the turn and did not hit any thing, so all that crazy slidinng around when i was a kid has came in handy once or twice in my life and got me out of a potentially bad situation


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## titan2782 (Nov 4, 2011)

dannylightning said:


> if you car is a stick shift you can put it in 1st or 2nd gear and the motor will also act like a break and help to keep so the car cant pick up speed, i guess if its a automatic you can still put it in 1st gear for hills


Heh, engine braking is a big fail with our little 1.4. Not sure how the 1.8 does.


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## rmass09 (Apr 17, 2011)

titan2782 said:


> Heh, engine braking is a big fail with our little 1.4. Not sure how the 1.8 does.


Yea,all engine braking really does in the 1.4 is make a lot of noise and kind of slow you down, not as much as my previous cars


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## dannylightning (Jun 24, 2012)

engine breaking seems to work well for me in this car, it slows me down a bit if you use the correct gear to downshift, while i was out testing the car in the snow i did it several times and it definitely helped slow me down pretty well with out applying the breaks..

i did not hear any noise that was out of place or anything like that, when you do it you need to let the clutch out slowly and it will slow you down nicely, maybe it does not work well for a automatic but it works great with a stick..


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Brake not break. 

And if you find the rear sliding towards a curb in a FWD, stab the throttle - hard. 


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

jblackburn said:


> Brake not break.
> 
> And if you find the rear sliding towards a curb in a FWD, stab the throttle - hard.
> 
> ...


Turn away from the curb at the same time.


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## Sunline Fan (Jul 29, 2012)

rmass09 said:


> Yea,all engine braking really does in the 1.4 is make a lot of noise and kind of slow you down, not as much as my previous cars


I did that just today actually. Was doing 35 and dropped it into third, then second. Got me down to maybe 20 in a 1/4 mile or so, and then I had to hit the brakes. I think I have the same results as just leaving it in gear and letting it downshift itself at the lower RPM.


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## titan2782 (Nov 4, 2011)

Double clutching will help a great deal when engine breaking (via down shifting) as well as just down shifting in general.


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