Temp. Disabling ABS.

[Guest]

Hey,

How can we temp. turn off our ABS for bad weather? In an Acura I know you could just pull the fuse to disable it without throwing any codes.

Anybody tried this? In the snow, my ABS turn my stopping distance into about a 1/4 mile!!

[Mole]

i thought ABS was made for slippery situations.

you can try to take the fuse out, however i dont recommend it. i've never done it before.

[Guest]

yeah, the ABS works great on slippery and wet pavement, but in the snow, its pretty bad. It has major advantages for inexperinced drivers in the snow, such as lateral skid control. But when you try and stop it can triple your stopping distance. It won't let your wheels lock up and dig into the snow to reach the pavement underneath. Its just better sometimes in bad weather to not have it, and up here, we get some freaky assed weather!!!

[Mole]

wow. how fast do you drive in snow?

what about engine braking?

[Guest]

I don't drive that fast its just the trees and stoplights and cars and intersections and cars that go slow...
Anyway i've got an auto trans, so I don't wnat to molest it. I'm gonna try the fuse tomorrow whenn it "might" get above -5, if it works I probably just make a switch and put it under the dash.

[cdssolara]

I've never heard of locking up the brakes so that you can get to the pavement beneath the snow as a stopping technique. Whenever I've driven in snow I always try to stop gradually so that the tires don't slip. This must be something new.

[Guest]

lets use our brains here for a moment:
there are two inches of fresh powder on the road. You are traveling at 30 mph. Someone pulls out in front of you. You have to stop, or slow down in lets say "80 feet" (fictiional number). You apply your ABS braking system in your solara. It engages, slowing you down gradually so that your wheels don't lock up. You stop in "78" feet.
This time, you don't have ABS... Same thing happens. Your wheels quicly lock up and dig through the snow onto the pavement underneath, you quickly stop in about "55" feet.
It happens. Don't believe me? Drive in snow, six months a year, for 9 years. You'll understand.
Now on dry or wet pavement, ABS wins hands down.
Also when I drive in the snow, I try to slow down gradually for many reasons, but when crap happens, who slows down gradually??

Thanks for the input cdssolara, I don't know if its PMS or what, but you pissed me off......

[cdssolara]

lets use our brains here for a moment:
there are two inches of fresh powder on the road. You are traveling at 30 mph. Someone pulls out in front of you. You have to stop, or slow down in lets say "80 feet" (fictiional number). You apply your ABS braking system in your solara. It engages, slowing you down gradually so that your wheels don't lock up. You stop in "78" feet.
This time, you don't have ABS... Same thing happens. Your wheels quicly lock up and dig through the snow onto the pavement underneath, you quickly stop in about "55" feet.
It happens. Don't believe me? Drive in snow, six months a year, for 9 years. You'll understand.
Now on dry or wet pavement, ABS wins hands down.
Also when I drive in the snow, I try to slow down gradually for many reasons, but when shoot happens, who slows down gradually??

Thanks for the input cdssolara, I don't know if its PMS or what, but you pissed me off......

First of all, relax. My post wasn't meant to offend, but if it did, I apologize. To be honest with you, though, your theory still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I suppose that if the road surface underneath the snow was dry and you were able to get to it and get a good grip on it, you might be able to stop faster. It would seem to me that regardless of whether you are rolling or locked up, some of the snow would still be trapped under your tires and would prevent you from getting the kind of grip you're talking about. In my driving experience in snow (upstate New York, where we got a LOT of snow), it was rarely a situation in which there was just a light snowfall on top of bare pavement. Mostly, it was snow piled up on more snow, or on top of melting snow and wet pavement. Personally, I wouldn't want to take a chance that the road surface wasn't wet or icy underneath the snow. Lock up your brakes on ice or hardpack and you won't have a chance of stopping in the situation you described.

Obviously, you know your driving situations better than I do, and maybe disabling the ABS would work under a few selected situations. To me, it doesn't seem worth the risk.

[cdssolara]

lets use our brains here for a moment:
there are two inches of fresh powder on the road. You are traveling at 30 mph. Someone pulls out in front of you. You have to stop, or slow down in lets say "80 feet" (fictiional number). You apply your ABS braking system in your solara. It engages, slowing you down gradually so that your wheels don't lock up. You stop in "78" feet.
This time, you don't have ABS... Same thing happens. Your wheels quicly lock up and dig through the snow onto the pavement underneath, you quickly stop in about "55" feet.
It happens. Don't believe me? Drive in snow, six months a year, for 9 years. You'll understand.
Now on dry or wet pavement, ABS wins hands down.
Also when I drive in the snow, I try to slow down gradually for many reasons, but when shoot happens, who slows down gradually??

Thanks for the input cdssolara, I don't know if its PMS or what, but you pissed me off......

First of all, relax. My post wasn't meant to offend, but if it did, I apologize. To be honest with you, though, your theory still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I suppose that if the road surface underneath the snow was dry and you were able to get to it and get a good grip on it, you might be able to stop faster. It would seem to me that regardless of whether you are rolling or locked up, some of the snow would still be trapped under your tires and would prevent you from getting the kind of grip you're talking about. In my driving experience in snow (upstate New York, where we got a LOT of snow), it was rarely a situation in which there was just a light snowfall on top of bare pavement. Mostly, it was snow piled up on more snow, or on top of melting snow and wet pavement. Personally, I wouldn't want to take a chance that the road surface wasn't wet or icy underneath the snow. Lock up your brakes on ice or hardpack and you won't have a chance of stopping in the situation you described.

Obviously, you know your driving situations better than I do, and maybe disabling the ABS would work under a few selected situations. To me, it doesn't seem worth the risk.

[impactX]

You are supposed to pump your brakes on snow.

There, problem fixed.

Oh yeah btw, ABS only works well on pavement. You HAVE to pump your brakes on snow or mud when ABS engages.

[cdssolara]

You are supposed to pump your brakes on snow.

There, problem fixed.

Oh yeah btw, ABS only works well on pavement. You HAVE to pump your brakes on snow or mud when ABS engages.

You're 100% correct about pumping the brakes being the preferred way to stop on snow. Neither one of us disputes that. Guest wants to disable ABS so that he (or she) can lock up the brakes in an emergency situation. The theory is that locking up the brakes will allow the tires to cut through the snow on top of the road, thereby getting to bare pavement and enabling the car to stop faster. I don't think that this makes any sense, but I'm guessing that Guest has been able to do this under certain conditions. Again, for the reasons that I stated above, I don't buy this.

[Guest]

yeah, it was PMS. ABS was created so that your car can still steer while its braking in emergency situations.. It also happens to work great on dry pavement becasue as you lock your wheels up, the tire travels on a slick surface of melted rubber, while with ABS the wheels slow as much as possible without the wheels locking up and the tire melting creating a skid. It slows the car down faster than when the tires are skidding on pavement. ABS also works well on wet pavement.
In the snow, mud or rain, you don't pump your ABS. Thats what ABS does, it acts like you pumping your brakes. You could pump your brakes, however you would have nothing to gain by doing so. You could pump them, but it would always bring you to lock up, where the computer would take over and limit that. With ABS brakes you push the pedal as hard as you can and let the computer take over, in mud, snow, and rain. Pumping the brakes is the best way to stop WITHOUT ABS.
MY point is (buy it or not) that in the snow, most types of snow, and yes I live in upstate NY also, ABS gives you longer stopping distances in the snow. For the inexperinced driver, it is better because you may still steer your car while braking with ABS. Perfect example::::::: About a month ago, in upstate NY, the was a mild ICE STORM!!! Yes there was about 1 millimeter worth of ice on the pavement. while leaving my development, I used my brakes. ABS kicked in, it took me FOREVER to even slow down let alone come to a stop. Next intersection, I braked, ABS kicked in again, and once again I started to ride the old ABS wagon. THis time I pulled the E-brake locked up the rear wheels. THe tires locked and dug through the 1 millimeter of ice and I stopped very quickly, about a third of the distance les than with ABS. It would have been quicker if all four wheels had locked up. Anyway, whatever.... I guess no one here has pulled their ABS fuse before. Like I said, next above zero day, I'll do it and post results.

[Mole]

hmm... comming from way left field here, what were to happen if you do not have abs, driving in snow, you want to stop.

would going into reverse and jamming the gas be any good?

assuming that the car is FF, the wheels are locked up, the car is sliding forward.
put the car in reverse, slightly start revving up all while keeping your left foot on the brake. release the brake little by little. a lot of work, but would it do any good?

[DavPak]

i don't care to comment on the snow situation.

but, pumping ABS brakes disengages the ABS.

[papa solara]

I would leave the abs connected. I think if you keep locking your brakes to burn through the snow you will someday loose control of your car. when the wheels are locked the tires will skid causing you to have no control of the car.I think you would be better to drive further in front of your self and to allow greater following distance.