I'm in a discussion about which stops your faster, ABS enables vehicles, or non-ABS enabled vehicles. I want to see who is correct. The situation is:

pure stopping distance, no controlability factors, or adverse weather conditions. Its a 75 degree sunny day on clean pavement. discuss...

 

ABS. stopping is done by friction between the ground and tires. the non abs car will probably lock its wheels causing less friction, meaning more stopping time.

ABS will keep the wheels from locking, maximizing friction with ground.

:dunno: i have no proof, just using facts off the top of my head.

 

ABS


Usually with ABS, the car is equipped with 4 disc brakes, which helps in stopping distance. It would of saved me from locking up my brakes which swirved that caused me to hit somebody in a sunny 75 degree perfect weather day a few years ago.

 

wouldn't tires have a say in this too ?

 

I don't like ABS. Am I the only one?

 

abs will stop waaaay faster no matter the conditions; assuming the system is working properly. tire condition has no bearing assuming the comparison is done with the same vehicle or same wear characteristics. abs is nice!!

 

By controlability, do you refer to the driver's threshold braking ability? If a driver can brake to the point of not locking up, and will not cross that point, then all things being equal, wouldn't that be better than an ABS car that is intermittently locking up?

Also, what is the brake bias like on the non-ABS car? IMO, Civics may have a tad too much bias on the fronts. Brake bias at full braking wouldn't be as much of an issue on an ABS car...

ABS has been continually stressed that a car won't stop quicker...it's more of retaining some control in extreme braking situations because you can't really steer a car with the fronts locked up. Or, ABS can be more of a stabilizing thing, as many cars in the early days of ABS actually had antilock brakes on the rears only.

Of course, I don't have no physics or mechanical degree, so what do I know? =)

 

I'm not worried about controlability, or anything.


all other factors about the car are the same. IE: same car in each case, with the ABS fuse pulled.

 

I know from autocrossing different cars in my class that cars with ABS can stomp on the brakes ALOT later than I can. I drove a Prelude Si with ABS and I was amazed at how late I could brake. In my car the brakes would lock up and I would slide past my turning point.

EDIT: Altough my car is lighter than the others in my class So I can brake about the same time as they can.

 

ABS Sucks IMO, I feel like I have less control in my ABS cars. When I step on the brakes I want the car to stop, not gradually come to a stop. But not all ABS systems are the same either. They have developed over the years and the differences in some systems are pretty extereme. I read an article once about how bad the WRX's ABS sucks. My SE has really good braking and pedal feel versus my sisters Accord EX which feels like **** and it seems like it takes a million years to come to a complete stop. My Civic and my GXE both have four wheel discs and no ABS, and they both are very predictable when you stomp on the brakes. Is this comparison with the same driver? My civic is completely different with four wheel discs versus the rear drums it came with.