Here I go again with my dumb questions...

What exactly is the point of ABS? I mean, I know (or I THINK I should say) that they supposedly help out in snow and stuff to keep your brakes from locking up..(right?) And please, correct me if I'm wrong...cause I probably am.

My personal experience is that ABS sucks (if they are supposed to help out in snow..etc) In example...I was driving down the hill from my house in a little Nor'Easter (snowstorm) and there was about a 1/2 in of snow on the road. So I start pumpin my brakes ever so slightly so I can just inch along down the hill until I reached flat land. About halfway down, my ABS starts going off and as soon as that happened I start sliding down the hill out of control...almost took out 2 cars on the way down...Thank God it was almost! I just managed to get some traction in just the nick of time...Anyway the point is that I've noticed that whenver my ABS starts going off..I actually start sliding more than if I were just pumpin the brakes the old fashioned way.

P.S. Is is true that you really shouldn't pump your brakes with a car that has ABS?

 

it's true.
BTW you can disable the ABS if you wish too

 

ABS lets your steer when you're skidding instead of locking up and going straight.

in the snow it sucks because it lets you keep rolling.

 

your ABS actually "pumps" the brakes for you. so the harder you stand on the pedal, the better off you are. you can probably pump your brakes what 2-3 times a second, the ABS does it like a billiongazillionfafillion times a second (ok not that many but more than you can)

if you pump the brakes while your ABS goes off youre actually making harder to stop.
here is a good article on ABS

 

thanks for the info guys...

just to let you know..I dont ever pump the brakes while the ABS goes off - I let the ABS do its job (mainly cause I heard that it is bad to pump them when they are on...and its almost common sense not to pump when something else is already doin it for ya)

I just think that the ABS sucks going downhill in snow! lol but i dont want to disconnect them...they dont bother me all that much.

Thanks again!

 

the first-generation ABS systems in our cars suck pretty bad.. the pulsing is nowhere near quick enough to prevent lockup and still allow you to steer, but it's better than nothing when people freak out and slam ont he brakes while they're trying to steer around something....


remember, when your front wheels are skidding, it doesn't matter which direction the wheel is pointing- it's STILL going to slide.. that's what ABS is for.. it keeps the wheels rolling so you can steer around the object while you're stomping on the brakes.

 

[QUOTE=Matt93SE]but it's better than nothing when people freak out and slam ont he brakes while they're trying to steer around something....
QUOTE]

Sigh- that woulda saved my butt 2 sundays ago . And I even praticed that crap in wet/snowy parking lots. Oh well time to order parts.

~Alex