Slammed on brakes without clutch, oops. Grinding noise.

[Ron008]

Hello,

I had to slam on my brakes to avoid a collision today and coming from years of driving an auto, my natural reaction was just to slam on the brakes. Only 1 - 2 seconds later, did I remember to clutch in as well. By the time i clutched in, I dropped from probably 60 mph to 10 in 5th gear. Before I clutched in, I noticed a pretty loud grinding noise. I went on driving without any issues and I didn't hear the noise again, but I just wanted to know what the noise was from and if I did any bad damage... Would you happen to know what was making this noise exactly?

[4onthefloor]

Hello,

I had to slam on my brakes to avoid a collision today and coming from years of driving an auto, my natural reaction was just to slam on the brakes. Only 1 - 2 seconds later, did I remember to clutch in as well. By the time i clutched in, I dropped from probably 60 mph to 10 in 5th gear. Before I clutched in, I noticed a pretty loud grinding noise. I went on driving without any issues and I didn't hear the noise again, but I just wanted to know what the noise was from and if I did any bad damage... Would you happen to know what was making this noise exactly?

Even with a manual transmission your best bet is to just slam on the brakes to avoid a collision. You shouldn't be worrying about the transmission if a collision is imminent. I would've thought it would just stall. Even if I did grind a little it's not going to be enough to wreck the transmission.

[Ron008]

Hello,

I had to slam on my brakes to avoid a collision today and coming from years of driving an auto, my natural reaction was just to slam on the brakes. Only 1 - 2 seconds later, did I remember to clutch in as well. By the time i clutched in, I dropped from probably 60 mph to 10 in 5th gear. Before I clutched in, I noticed a pretty loud grinding noise. I went on driving without any issues and I didn't hear the noise again, but I just wanted to know what the noise was from and if I did any bad damage... Would you happen to know what was making this noise exactly?

Even with a manual transmission your best bet is to just slam on the brakes to avoid a collision. You shouldn't be worrying about the transmission if a collision is imminent. I would've thought it would just stall. Even if I did grind a little it's not going to be enough to wreck the transmission.

That's true. It could have been a lot worse. I was surprised that it did not stall as well.

[IMBoring25]

No reason for grinding in that situation unless you need brake pads. What you heard was probably the engine simultaneously trying to stall and trying to run. I would not anticipate any lasting damage.

[AHTOXA]

No reason for grinding in that situation unless you need brake pads. What you heard was probably the engine simultaneously trying to stall and trying to run. I would not anticipate any lasting damage.

Agreed. There should not have been any grinding from the trans. You probably heard other noises associated with an emergency stop.

[4onthefloor]

I remember on my old car, when you slammed the brakes, the ABS made a sort of grinding noise. Maybe that was what you heard.

[six]

Sounds like ABS kicking in. Did you feel your brake pedal pulsate or vibrate when you were hearing those sounds?

[theholycow]

I agree with everybody above...either it was the engine shuddering or the ABS kicking in. What do you drive?

[kevinf]

It was ABS, you probably felt something like sliding on rocks through the pedal as well.

[Ron008]

I drive a 2010 vw golf. Now that you mention the abs, it makes sense. The brake pedal did pulsate as I was stopping.

[Chris H.]

It should be noted that cars with anti-lock brake systems will *always* pulsate when the pedal is stomped to the floor.

[theholycow]

It should be noted that cars with anti-lock brake systems will *always* pulsate when the pedal is stomped to the floor.

No. They will pulsate (or grind or vibrate) when ABS is activated. If you have good traction when you stomp the pedal to the floor you may not lose traction and therefore may not activate ABS.