Has anyone ditched the antilock?

[Reaper]

FiST went into apparent ice mode yesterday at a rallyx and I shot off course. Totally rigid pedal that would not depress at all. I assume it's the antilock and am looking into either removing or disabling it. Anyone have any experience? Being able to lock the brakes will be an asset here.

 

[Stubborn Approach]

Haven’t done a rallyx yet, but I was planning to just pull the ABS fuse when I arrive & plug it back in for the drive home.

 

[Reaper]

That works on some cars but don't know about the Fiesta. Seems like it would probably take out the torque vectoring system too which is what passes for a limited slip system here. That kind of information is what I'm looking for. Disabling antilock may require addition of a mechanical LSD. But this car's been around a decade now so the information should be out there.

 

[Dialcaliper]

So far I haven’t heard of “ice mode” as a thing on the Fiesta platform. Focus and other Ford platforms, yes, but the Fiesta/Mazda 2 is an older platform that predates that sort of thing

If you had a hard pedal and no braking, I’d first look for other problems with the system before just blaming the ABS. Pull up ForScan and check for codes on the ABS system, bleed the brakes and clutch and check for anything resembling contaminated or clogged lines. Also check the linkage under the dash and make sure you haven’t got a problem with the pedal linkage or the master cylinder seizing.

 

[Intuit]

. Totally rigid pedal that would not depress at all.

Sounds like an issue with vacuum assist via the brake booster.
What happens when you boil the fluid? Opposite issue??
Stability control may be a party to overheating your brakes.

 

[Dialcaliper]

Boiling fluid would be a spongy pedal that drops to the floor.

The other possibility is straight up pad fade which would be a lot like what’s described by the OP.

I just registered the OP mentioned RallyX - if there’s a lot of aggressive left foot braking, or otherwise continuous use of brakes with very little cooldown in between, it’s possible to straight up overheat the pads, especially as they get thin and near end of life (just not as much pad thickness/mass to absorb the heat.

Stock pads or aggressive street pads can handle heat of very mild HPDE/autocross events, but they are not up to any kind of long duration abuse where abuse is defined as constant heavy braking for more than a few minutes without cooldown in between.

In summary, could definitely be pads overheating, especially if they’re not fairly new (<1/2 thickness) and if the OP is just using stock/street pads. The pad type/brand was not mentioned which is important info

 

[Intuit]

Linking threads...
https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/is-there-an-abs-ice-mode.33003/post-517247