Freelander 2 (LR2) Brakes in snow juddering and not working

Nodge68 said:

That's correct. My daughter passed last January, but was told in her lessons that using the engine to slow down is now a fail.

I was taught the exact opposite, and it's stuck. Actually our Mazda CX5 actually puts the next gear to us in the Ipack, and when going down hill on the brakes in 4th, it suggests selecting 2nd, as engine braking helps.

Something else my daughter was taught was stay in 3rd for a 30 limit, change to 4th for a 40 limit, and only select 5th once going near 50. Apparently 6th is for 70 MPH only.

I don't do any of that rubbish, I get in the highest gear I can for the speed I'm going, which explains why my MPG is twice as good as hers.

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CPC courses will tell you to change to the highest gear as soon as possible and block change, ie 2nd to 4th, for fuel consumption. TBH, I normally accelerate to the limiter then change up.

All I do know is that if I were going downhill in snow, the last thing I'd be wanting to press would be the brake. Let the engine do the work if poss

If you Still can't stop, try scraping it down the side of a wall this should do the trick. More friction to stop you..

Sulcalibur said:

FL2 TD4 S 2007
Literally just popped out on a very small run in the snow and the brakes were very intermittent and scared the crap out of me. Seemed to be worse if the wheel was turned even slightly. Never had problems ever with braking and are always super. It just seems the snow has crippled them (but only occasionally) and they made a horrible grating noise when pumping the brake (that didn't work). Like I said though, other times I tested they worked fine.

Any advice what I am dealing with here?

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Hi Cleaned our drive today and the FL 2 of snow, as i need to have at least one car ready each day, same as you i popped out, while out i saw a Merc 4x4 on its side on opposite duel carriage way, know that i would need to be coming back that way, i knew i would be held up, 45 minute wait in traffic, anyways pulling into our road just before i turned into our drive the FL starts to slide, ABS kicks in even though i had snow mode on 8mm of tread on S+M good year tyres, as above you can't change the laws of physics, just take you foot of the brake pedal a bit then apply again, but always best to keep your speed down, i was only doing 7mph still slide on the compact snow in the tyres and road.

Arctic2 said:

just take you foot of the brake pedal a bit then apply again,

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The abs is doing this for you, automatically. You're supposed to keep pressure on the pedal if the abs is doing it's job

All ABS does really is allow you to steer whilst braking hard. In reality, if you are a decent driver, you can stop quicker with the abs disconnected by using cadence braking. The first car I had with abs was a Nissan Primea, I had the shock of my life the first time I used the brakes on ice.

Col

Yes physics cant be changed, try stopping a 2 ton rangerover on a slope with snow/ice I had to take to the grass on one occasion to avoid the car in front I started sliding while stationary

early ABS only used the sensors on each wheel, if you hit the brakes hard and locked up all 4 wheels no ABS lol it was 86 or 87 i believe that Audi fitted a 5th motion sensor to their cars (ur anyway) to stop this.
My Father was an HGV mechanic and he said all the young lads used to complain about brake fade - they thought he wasn't wise when he mentioned engine braking..
oh 1 last thing Permanent or proper 4WD does help braking - 1 wheel gets grip and its connected to another wheel that doesn't, it stops it from skidding, again thinking early ur with diff locks.

ABS actually makes stopping in slippy conditions more difficult, but it's designed to maintain some steering, which is lost the moment the front wheels lock.
However locking the front wheels in snow will slow you down faster than ABS, as the locked wheels actually build a wedge of snow in front of them. This forms a crude but better than nothing wheel chock.
Unfortunately ABS prevents the wheels from locking, so no wedge of snow will form.
Driving on ice is a different game altogether, unless you have spiked tyres.
Although I believe that the FL2 will allow the wheels to lock below a certain speed, so might help.

Unfortunately the laws of physics can't be changed, so it's best to drive with extreme care, and be of the opinion, that everyone else on the road is a moron, especially those in pretend 4X4s.