ABS is there to stop your car from locking up your tires. It doesn't necesarrily make you stop faster, But generally, it does. The idea is, if you lock up your tires when you brake, that means you've exceeded the tires' ability to grip. So if the tires aren't locked up and you're still braking, you should stop considerably sooner.

If you can do this yourself, of course ABS will be pointless. But most people can't, especially in an emergency situation.

 

I've been in situations where abs has both helped me and hurt me. I'll keep the abs on, although the cabin switch idea isn't bad. Is there any side effects of doing that?

 

It's a simple two wire intalation. I would install it in series with the fuse. It should be installed after the fuse incase you do something stupid like run a wire where it can be pinched and short out. that way the fuse will blow before any damage is done. In otherwords, if you know what you're doing, the only side effect is the ABS light that will come on on your dash. I think this would be a good side effect so I could easily tell the status on the switch.

 

Great idea! Auto-X guys could use that too.

 

Lancer7, didnt you just diffuse your argument when yo ucomplained about lack of stopping power and then said that your tyres were bald? Clearly you know that stopping a car isnt a direct result of the brakes moreso than it is a relationship of brakes, tyres and car geometry (suspension setup, load etc). So if the tyres are bald, dont expect to stop well, with or without ABS.

 

That ABS driver control system is a really good idea... when i start auto-xing in the rain or maybe even in the dry I'll think about doing that... has anybody done it yet?

 

because he tried both ABS and non-ABS with the same situation (aka same tires, same weather conditions), his experiment would be good in my book...

adding blad tires to the equation would be the same as trying ABS on ice vs. snow. You're just subtracting some of that friction..that's all.

 

I've got new tires now... I'll test them out next time the weather is bad.

 

I installed the ABS switch over Christmas break. It's very handy and was easy to install. However, I've always worked on automatics before. Factory wiring harnesses always went straight back behind the dash and through the firewall. I own an MT now. I was surprised to see the factory wires run down the fender rather than go straight through the firewall. It took two coat hangers to follow them.

 

Don't mean to sound argumentative our confrontational or anything but it just kinda bums me out to see people blaming their cars for things that aren't necessarily the cars fault. We had some other ABS talk in a diff area where some guy claimed his abs "nearly threw him off the track".

I live in Utah, and we get a fair amount of snow here. I have noticed that the ABS is pretty inclined to engage even when I wouldn't have expected it to. I counter this by downshifting while braking to slow down more quickly. No, I dont claim to be a pro at the stuff and yes driving in the snow can be really stressful.

After being educated myself on the pros/cons to abs I can still say this: blame the indian, not the arrow. No one's car almost threw them off the track. THEY almost threw their car off the track. If you are having trouble in the snow, give yourself more stopping room. It still is ice after all.

 

the guy nearly goin off the track...that was his fault. But for the most part, It's not black and white. I'll say this though, just to make it less gray... Given you're a good driver and can stop shorter in the snow w/o ABS than w/. WHILE STILL MAINTAINING DRIECTIONAL CONTROL! then why not take ABS off. A couple of feet can save you from bumping the guy in front of you. Although I would not go above 30/35mph without ABS because beyond that point it becomes difficult to brake effectively while still maintaining directional control.
As for the general public, better keep ABS on all the time.

Keep shifting

 

Ya man, and I don't mean to attack anyone at all. I'm just sayin that on ice/snow/whatever, use caution and the surpising fact that abs doesnt slow you down any more quickly in the snow won't necessarily scare the bejesus out of you. Because if it did freak you out, chances are you were moving a lil too fast in bad conditions.