snow + braking = hello ABS Options

[Valo666]

So, today we got the first snowfall that actually stayed on the ground for more than a second. Any ways, at every intersection there was alot of packed down snow witch froze over witch turned to some nice slippery ice. Any ways, i remember this from last year, but didnt pay to much attention to it, but pretty much if i hit the brakes more than 1/4 of the way down, my ABS kicks on. Not a big fan and i dont wanna disconnect the ABS, so i was wondering what would be causing the ABS to kick in so early?? could it be pads, rotors, the actuall abs sensors? personaly its just becoming a pain in the ass for me and i dont wanna deal with it all season long.

[Bigmeanbulldog55]

Mine does this on icy roads. It works just great on dry and rain. I thinks it's just doing what it's suposed to.

[Bitter]

a wheel has locked or is about to lock and its doing what its supposed to. unplug it and see how your car slides to one side or the other! its trying to keep you in a straight line and believe me it does a good job!

[GreenyST204]

I love my ABS.
especially when i have pasangers
scares the f out of them.
but i dont have snow here.
I do remember having to ride my bike to school in Belgium in the snow,
It hurts alot.

[Valo666]

i know how the abs works and i know what its suppost to do, but it shouldnt kick in as soon as im touchin the brakes.

[Bitter]

on ice it should, seriously try stopping without it.

on ice anything less than a studded tire has NO grip at all, how easily do your shoes slip on ice? thats how easily your tires will slip on the ice.

[JonMarkos]

This is going to be my first winter in 6 years without ABS ...ABS > tapping brakes

[OntarioCeli]

Guess im not the only one, Same weather here today and the brakes on my 94 seem to lock up fairly easy, no i dont have ABS.

[Bigmeanbulldog55]

i know how the abs works and i know what its suppost to do, but it shouldnt kick in as soon as im touchin the brakes.

If you really want, put your ABS on a toggle switch to see what you think about it on and off. I might just try this for the fun of it.

[n1ckz0r]

LOL, my old aerostar used to not have ABS and during the winter i'd slide everywhere, i once took out part of a field becuase a stop sign was ahead, I love my celica and its ABS.

Where do your breaks start to really BREAK. at about 1/4th?

[Valo666]

yea...like if i compair the braking i was doing yesterday to regular braking..the braking i was doing yesterday was about 1/4 of the way down as i usually do for slowing down on dry and that 1/4 of the way down triggered the ABS to kick it...like it wasnt like i was slamming on the brakes..it was i was just slowly applying pressure and when the pedal was about 1/4 of the way down, ABS kicks on.

[sinner96ST]

not a huge fan of ABS, I can do the braking myself, just gotta pump em gently and it does the job.

if your wheels lock and it goes off, its just doing what it was designed for. sounds normal to me

[Bitter]

yea...like if i compair the braking i was doing yesterday to regular braking..the braking i was doing yesterday was about 1/4 of the way down as i usually do for slowing down on dry and that 1/4 of the way down triggered the ABS to kick it...like it wasnt like i was slamming on the brakes..it was i was just slowly applying pressure and when the pedal was about 1/4 of the way down, ABS kicks on.

i'll say it again, the ABS was engaging because a wheel on ice was locking. abs was doing its job, you never even knew a wheel was locking.

[Valo666]

it wasnt locking though...trust me..i hit the brakes with like no pressure what so ever and BAM it went off. I know what abs is suppost to do, i know what it feels like when it locks and i know that i wasnt locking up any wheels. My old supra had ABS in it and it would kick in all the time too, but that was because i didnt have any breaks in the rear so the front would lock up automaticly. Im just sayin that it shouldnt kick on as soon as i put pressure on the brakes cuz i dont care what you say, a wheel will not lock up when im going 40km/h and lightly touch the brakes. Like light enough that as soon as my tail lights come on, so does the ABS

[azian_advanced]

^^ we used to own an old caravan and the abs would always just go on, even if the wheels weren't slipping. it was a problem that we never fixed.
so, there may be a problem with your abs system, if what you say is true.

[phonex98]

I know you seem convinced somethings wrong but

"im going 40km/h and lightly touch the brakes"

If you are on ice or wet slush, yes they will! Just dealt with a decent storm on teh west coast and when everything froze, ABS was on 95% of the time.

[Predator]

not a huge fan of ABS, I can do the braking myself, just gotta pump em gently and it does the job.

if your wheels lock and it goes off, its just doing what it was designed for. sounds normal to me

the thing is that where abs is the most valuable, in an emergency situation, you just wont be able to stop the car as soon as with abs.
let's say a kid runs out in front of you on a slippery road. it's hard to "pump em gently" in such a situation, even if you do, you wont use the tires grip as efficiently and you have to concentrate to keep the tires from locking up.
i'm not really a fan of all these systems that keep you from doing this and that but abs in one of the things i do like, can't really see anything negative with it

valo666: i guess you can pull the fuse for the abs and try without just to see how soon it locks up

This post has been edited by Predator: Dec 6, 2006 - 6:24 PM

[Bitter]

it wasnt locking though...trust me..i hit the brakes with like no pressure what so ever and BAM it went off. I know what abs is suppost to do, i know what it feels like when it locks and i know that i wasnt locking up any wheels. My old supra had ABS in it and it would kick in all the time too, but that was because i didnt have any breaks in the rear so the front would lock up automaticly. Im just sayin that it shouldnt kick on as soon as i put pressure on the brakes cuz i dont care what you say, a wheel will not lock up when im going 40km/h and lightly touch the brakes. Like light enough that as soon as my tail lights come on, so does the ABS

if it only does this on ice/snow, yes you were locking a wheel and you just never knew it. if it does this ALL THE TIME, then there is a problem.

[Rayme]

The thing is, your car doesn't know if its on snow or ICE.



If the abs kicked in, it means there was 1 wheel that locked or started spinning slower than the other ones.



So if your system really is bad, it should kick-in even on bare pave with excellent traction, that would mean a problem...



As for my abs..the previous owner took out the bulb in the gauge cluster...lol, probably because it was expensive to fix...but with the "winters" we are getting, I don't really miss it..thought I'd love to have it working!