marc_w Posted December 17, 2004 Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 That's it. I've had it with ABS. It snowed about an inch last night. I pull into my parking lot this morning and there is a nice virgin section. I drove through and squirt the back end out a bit - there's a good amount of traction. Hit the brakes to pull up to a corner spot in the back. I'm doing 15mph about 30 feet in front of the parking spot. "RRRrrrrrrrRRrRRrRRRRRrRrRrrrrrr" *bump*. Before I knew it, I put the front of my truck about three feet up an embankment, scratching the lower part of my bumper. That was great. It's so helpfull that I can steer, when I'm trying to stop. Okay.... I'm done ranting. What's the easiest way to disable ABS? Can I just pull the fuse? Pull the wheel sensors? Disconnect the power to the ABS motor? I like how the ABS works on dry pavement... and it's still mildy helpfull in the rain... but in the snow, its a disaster waiting to happen. I'd ideally like to wire it up to a switch so I can turn it on and off. Ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSAlaska Posted December 17, 2004 Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 I have had no problems in the snow or ice with the ABS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xero Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 any of those would work.....abs does its job tho. its really not designed to make you STOP but more along the lines of make it so the wheels dont lock up and their fore help in the breaking process. if your wheels lock up your not stoping you just skidding. and on ice/snow nothing can really help you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan06SS Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 I don't ever get a chance to drive in snow... but how in the hell would ABS be the problem? ABS is going to shorten your stopping distance regaurdless of traction (rain, dry, snow, or otherwise) I'm confused Please explain why you think disconnecting your ABS will keep you from sliding into a snowbank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSplaytoy Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 If I speed up and then step on the brakes hard the pedal vibrates badly and doesn't apply the brakes until the pedal goes smooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdss Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 I thought my ABS worked great in the snow. I still lightely modulate the peddle myself untill I get traction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6.0ss Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 In snow and Ice, ABS sucks, on my last 4 cars I have pulled the relay for the ABS or the Fuse in the winter. ABS does not help you stop faster all the time, it only keeps the tires from locking up. So you can imagine that when you are on a very slippery surface and you want to stop, (even at slow speeds) and you can't get your brakes to lock up or even give you some stopping power and it becomes scary. I had a really bad experience on a gravel road in my SS. was cruzin 40 mph and had a stop coming up, pressed on the brakes and there was little pot holes rutted out in the gravel road from others stopping, (most will know what im talking about). Well you can imagine that when you tire hits a pot hole then is pushed off of the ground for a brief moment and the brakes lock up the tire for that second while it is airborn before it falls into the next pot hole. If i did not have ABS, I would not have flown threw the stop sign and almost kill another car!!! In place of that Fuse you could run a switch to the cab to turn it on and off when you think you need it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
styleandspeed Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 Actually in dry weather most ABS cars brake slightly slower than a non-abs counterpart. In any sort of inclimate weather ABS helps you quite a bit though. I would keep it, and just be a bit more careful in the ice/snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted December 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 I'm pretty well convinced that ABS lengthens your stopping time/distance on snow/ice. I'll get flamed for this, but I'll admit that I'm a very agressive driver in the snow. I'm perfectly comfortable with the truck completely out of shape. I'm not the only one - I had a Jeep Grand Cheroke chasing me in the snow this morning, we looked like the Dukes of Hazard... minus the jumping. I tried to setup a little test this morning to demonstrate ABS vs no ABS... It was around 12*F out, so the snow was very dry. There was actually a fair amount of traction. My test: Roll along at ~30mph, and apply the brakes two different ways. Test 1 This is threshold braking. I got into ABS a bit, and hopefully you can see the speedo hang up a little. That's what that nasty noise is. Test 2 Stomp on the pedal, and let ABS do it's thing. The video actually ended a touch too quick. It's hard to tell in the vid, but the ABS lengthened the stop time from about 5 seconds in the first vid, to 6 to 6.5 in the second one. I don't know what that works out to be in feet - but if you're really interested I can go and actually measure out some distances tonight. When I threshold brake, the rears bite nice and hard. The back of the truck gets light, and it's very easy to drift/manuever when you're stopping. I think ABS is still really good for higher speeds in the snow... where you can get out of shape in the blink of an eye... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted December 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 If I speed up and then step on the brakes hard the pedal vibrates badly and doesn't apply the brakes until the pedal goes smooth. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah, that's the part I hate about ABS - the part where you start to feel hopeless because ABS kicks in and decides to modulate the brakes for you. I'm stealing this from another forum, but this is the best way I could describe how I think ABS works/feels in the snow: For the southern folks, picture it like this: You're driving on a snow covered road. Traction is good. You can overpower your wheels fairly easily, but if you're gentle you have great traction. Your first inch of brake pedal travel works great. You stop securely and confidently. You're very comfortable with this, stopping this way 95% of the time. Someone pulls out in front of you, or you come around the corner and get surprised by something. You step on the brake, pedal happens to go down to 1.5" - the secure/confident braking you had is completely gone. It feels like you lost all but a small amount of your braking power. Your vehicle feels like it suddenly weighs twice as much. You panic, and step on the brake hader, making the sitution worse. You end up stopping further than you would have if you didn't trip ABS. An example of how I think ABS works in the dry: GREAT. You stomp on the pedal as hard as you can, the truck stops with a few little chirps or squeaks from the tires. No drama at all. You have great braking power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted December 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 I had a really bad experience on a gravel road in my SS. was cruzin 40 mph and had a stop coming up, pressed on the brakes and there was little pot holes rutted out in the gravel road from others stopping, (most will know what im talking about). Well you can imagine that when you tire hits a pot hole then is pushed off of the ground for a brief moment and the brakes lock up the tire for that second while it is airborn before it falls into the next pot hole. If i did not have ABS, I would not have flown threw the stop sign and almost kill another car!!! I've had very similar experiences, just in the snow. I thought I read some online test by a magazine that stated that cars stop quicker when the wheels are allowed to lock at lower speeds - the wheels dig in and "plow" a pile of snow in front of them that acts as a wedge or something. Off to go look............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xero Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 well as i stated before the abs IS NOT designed to STOP you, but rather its designed for the mere fact that i stops the wheels from locking up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haulin79 Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 The reason why locking your brakes in snow is GOOD for stopping is that it allows a snow wedge to build up in front of the tire. It is a common technique used by snow and ice racers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blown94Cobra Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 ABS was not made to make you stop quicker ie shorter distance. It was made so you can steer the front of the vehicle in a given direction by pulsating the brakes. Go in a snow covered parking lot without abs and lock the brakes up and then try to turn chances are you will continue straight. But do the same with abs and you will be able to steer yourself while braking at the same time. Nothing will stop shorter than having all 4 wheels locked generating the most friction between the tire and the road. Friction is what slows/stops you but then you lose you maneuverability so you can't have you cake and eat it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUNNER Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 If you want to dump the ABS just pull the fuse. Guys who plow snow with their trucks pull the fuse because with the added weight of the plow the ABS comes on alot, which is good for normal driving but when plowing snow is a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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