Overheating brakes and traction control

[Alex2020GT]

I drive my car daily and do a lot of driving in the snow. Traction control uses the rear brakes to limit wheelspin from what I can smell when I park my car. It's a brand new 2020 GT PP1 and I have around 4,000 miles on it with proper winter tires (mandatory here). Coming back from a 1-hour drive in the snow last night, the rear brakes were very hot and smelled a lot. Has anyone had the same experience? I guess I should expect a rear brakes replacement sooner than usual. What is the average lifespan of those rear brakes? Thanks

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[Norm Peterson]

Sounds (smells?) like you're relying on TC way too much. Go easy on the skinny pedal, easier than you were doing. Having patience about getting up to speed is key. If traction is limited to where using less than 50 HP starts you spinning the rear tires, trying to use up to 400 more is only going to make them spin faster. No flame intended - I know you live where snow is common, but this really is a back-to-basics situation.

If your car has drive modes, use snow/wet or whatever it's called in your market. Put 50 lbs or so of something like sand or kitty litter in the trunk as close to the rear axle line as you can get it (don't go overboard, 75 lbs is about as much as I'd ever recommend starting with).

Either keep the exhaust in quiet mode if hearing the exhaust sound tends to make you step into the throttle harder, or keep it in loud mode if you can use the exhaust sound to help you gauge when to dial back on the throttle. One of those should help, I just don't know which.


Norm

 

[EFI]

If your rear brakes are getting so hot that you can smell them, you are doing something very very wrong...or there's some issue where the caliper is stuck or the ebrake is stuck and causing friction.

No way should a little bit of TC cause that much heat, unless you're just sitting there spinning your tires continually while the TC is on and trying to stop the slip.

 

[aleccolin]

Did you check the temp on both sides, and was it even?

 

[ihasnostang]

are you sure TC uses the brakes? pretty sure in other vehicles you can hear the abs when stability control goes off to brake individual wheels. my winter beater that doesnt have stability control just retards timing (obd2) , possibly closes throttle blade too when tc goes off.

 

[Grintch]

are you sure TC uses the brakes? pretty sure in other vehicles you can hear the abs when stability control goes off to brake individual wheels. my winter beater that doesnt have stability control just retards timing (obd2) , possibly closes throttle blade too when tc goes off.

Yes, my thoughts as well. My impression is that the Mustang didn't use any rear brake tricks for TC with real limited slip diffs and throttle/power intervention being the primary strategy.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Either or both, depending on the situation. From the 2015 Owner Manual,

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
The traction control system helps avoid
drive wheel spin and loss of traction.
If your vehicle begins to slide, the system
applies the brakes to individual wheels
and, when needed, reduces engine power
at the same time. If the wheels spin when
accelerating on slippery or loose surfaces,
the system reduces engine power in order
to increase traction.

Norm

 

[ZX3ST]

Yes, my thoughts as well. My impression is that the Mustang didn't use any rear brake tricks for TC with real limited slip diffs and throttle/power intervention being the primary strategy.

They kinda have to. Torsen diffs may as well be an open diff on ice and snow. They need some amount of traction on both wheels to work.

 

[BmacIL]

Turn advancetrac off. The car is more predictable anyway and it'll stop using the brakes. The only times I've ever been scared driving this car were when the stability control intervened when I was in the middle of correction.

 

[Alex2020GT]

Did another 45 minute drive in 4 inch deep snow yesterday at highway speed (60 mph). The brake were cold when I parked it.
I put AdvanceTrac off at low speed but I leave it on on the highway, it's easier that way to keep it straight when accelerating to pass slower cars.
I can't really explain what happened the other day. Maybe it was more slippery and TC was working a lot... don't know. Anyway, I'm adjusting to my new ride, I'll should be good at the end of the winter.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Did another 45 minute drive in 4 inch deep snow yesterday at highway speed (60 mph). The brake were cold when I parked it.
I put AdvanceTrac off at low speed but I leave it on on the highway, it's easier that way to keep it straight when accelerating to pass slower cars.
I can't really explain what happened the other day. Maybe it was more slippery and TC was working a lot... don't know. Anyway, I'm adjusting to my new ride, I'll should be good at the end of the winter.

Sounds to me like you're relying too much on the AdvanceTrac, which could well be the explanation for the hot brakes experienced previously. It may well be better than you under some, many, or even most situations. But it's not good enough to rewrite the laws of physics or the principles of friction, so the harder you make it work the closer you are to (suddenly) finding out where AdvanceTrac's ability to fix things ends.

That is what scares me the most about these technologies.


Norm

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