Anyone else tried their ABS in the snow

[Locky]

We had about 3-4 inches of snow today so I thought I would give my abs a try out, and to be honest it was a bit strange.It stopped the car but there was a lot and I mean A LOT of feed back through the brake pedal, like a heavy buzzing.I know its meant to do that but I didnt think you would feel it through the pedal that much.Its not like that on an Audi A4 Ive driven.

Did anyone else try this out today and have the same effects?

 

[matt_arundale]

i tried it out, i didnt want to nor mean to, i just didnt have a choice, lol. where i live not many cars drive down the roads so there was literally 1.5 inches of ice and an inch of snow on top of that, i couldnt even get moving properly after pullin away in second gear, braking is awful, u literally have NO control over the car what so ever, so now im tryin to use my gears to brake, hard to do for me cause i wasnt taught this way, same as whn u try and turn, how light is the steering!! jesus christ! tried to turn earlier and the car kept goin in a straight line, still when i finish work i think im gonna go find an empty car park, seein as it will be about 930 and the freeze will have started! lol

matt

 

[Locky]

lol know what you mean... Im just off to college now so Ill give it another go... the road outside my house is like a sheet of ice...

 

[Jeremy Townsend]

Thats normal. You feel the ABS working through the pedal normally but in snow, when its working overtime, you will feel (and hear) it

 

[Steveold]

yup... all you have to do is keep a constant breaking presure dont be scared of the noise..... good fun eh?

 

[SoLow]

still say its better than without ABS, my Astra doesnt have it and all you do is slide!

 

[Locky]

Yeah it was fun... I just got back from college .... I was trying some braking in a turn manouvers in my street (its quite a big street) and it does control the car well... the only thing I dont like about abs is that you can never be sure exactly where it is going to stop you... whereas with standard brakes you have more feel for your stopping distance although it is longer than a car with abs...

I was out in the workvan today (Renault Master) with near to 2 ton on the back and it wasnt actually that bad under braking

 

[GR7]

Quote: Originally posted by Jeremy Townsend on 08 January 2003

Thats normal. You feel the ABS working through the pedal normally but in snow, when its working overtime, you will feel (and hear) it

Jeremy

You seem to be such a useful, knowledgeable guy to have on here!

 

[172Cup]

ABS does not work in the ice and snow as well as a non-abs car, albeit with someone who can control a car.

Went out in the Impreza and although AWD/4WD is good for car control, braking was a nightmare as the abs kicked in and therefore did nothig to completely stop the car.

Went out in the CUP and although the driving traction was not as good, the control at the braking points was much better, especially as I was left-foot-braking, thereby controlling the car between throttle and brake constantly. Worked a treat!!!!

left-foot brake and no-abs will win anytime.

172CUP

 

[KDF]

Well all I can say is ABS saved my car last night on a patch of ice/snow. Cant really be bothered typing the full details, but my car escaped without a scratch. I however needed a new pair of boxers.

 

[Tom]

warned you

 

[RobFenn]

Hold on, ABS wouldnt help, it doesnt stop you from skidding.

I agree with 172cup, left foot braking is useful, and make sure you pump the pedal, dont stamp on it like you would in an ABS car. Dont put too much pressure on it either.

The best thing to do in this kind of weather is to be in as high gear as possible, and keep your distance from other cars, you cant account for black ice.

 

[KDF]

Quote: Originally posted by RobFenn on 09 January 2003


Hold on, ABS wouldnt help, it doesnt stop you from skidding.

That is exactly what ABS DOES DO ! it releases the wheel once it locks up, nothing more, nothing less.

It is YOU putting your foot down on the break peddle for the level of traction available on the road, that causes the wheel to lock in the first place.

Im curious as to what you thought ABS did, if not to stop you from skidding ?

 

[Tom]

Hence Anti-Lock Braking System

some of us need more sleep

 

[Steveold]

lol

 

[RobFenn]

Erm ABS lets you steer and brake at the same point.

In the ice and snow, manual braking is better, in fact in the conditions i were in yesterday my ABS didnt work full stop.

 

[Steveold]

But it only lets you steer and brake because the wheels dont lock up!

 

[RobFenn]

kiss my hairy ass

lol

 

[Marc]

If your on snow/ice and your ABS kicks in it is best to treat it like a car without ABS. Just take your foot off the brake and keep applying gently, dont press it too hard. Mine locked up this morning and it worked a treat! Not as good as on conventional brakes but you cant have the best of both worlds........................

 

[Tom]

......... but you could if they gave us a switch

 

[KDF]

Yes, despite everything I have said about how much I love ABS, I would still like a switch installed as I dont think you should be forced to use the system if you dont want to.

Personally i would have it on for all but track days etc..

 

[RobFenn]

You dont have to use it though, your foot is the switch!

 

[KDF]

okay Robfenn, how many walls have you hit now then if you dont use your brake pedal ?

 

[RobFenn]

cheeky..

ABS is only active when you start to lockup, you can override ABS by driving properly as then it wont come on!! Since when were you forced to use it?

 

[KDF]

You are forced to use it because as you can not predict the exact level of grip you are bound to encounter the ABS system.

I for one like to stab the brakes on a wet surface (or at least I used to) just to test for grip, and how much is there before breaking traction.

This is very hard to gauge on an ABS car.

Its like traction control it doesnt do anything unless you start to loose grip etc. but manufacturers decided in most cases that you should be able to switch this feature off, I would just like to see the same for ABS.

 

[RobFenn]

Well if you jab your foot down in the wet the ABS will cut in, so you know theres not much grip. I appreciate the point youre trying to make but traction control is a device which can limit what a good driver can get out of a car, ABS does not, so it doesnt need to be switchable. A scenario could be a a woman turns the ABS off by accident in her litte car, and then realises its not on till too late.

 

[KDF]

Well that would be her fault for being a stupid person that switches off things she doesnt know anything about.

The same could be said about traction control, she takes a corner too fast and has accedently switched off traction control which would have got her round safely, instead she in now 100 foot down a cliffside, her seatbelt is stuck, and the petrol tank has just caught fire...and she has ruined her makeup..

Some would say that ABS limits a drivers ability, and in many ways I would agree, put ABS onto colin mcraes rally car and watch him try and get a fast time, sometimes it is an advantage to be able to lock the wheels.

 

[RobFenn]

Women dont do over 30

You have a handbrake to lock the wheels

 

[KDF]

I think you are loosing this discussion

The back wheels.. what if I want to lock the front..

Choice is everything, I dont like to be restriceted in choice, if there was no choice we would all be driving the same car in the same colour etc.

 

[Steveold]

I agree KDF now find me a way to turn off my ABS!!! But same as having the CUP and not having the choise to have ABS!

 

[KDF]

There must be an easy way, cause if it detects a fault in the abs sytsem it auto disables it and you get your ABS light on.

 

[Steveold]

I know thats what I thought..... maybe I should try things like unplugging one of the rear wheel sensors....... hmmmmm thats a thought

 

[Eric 16v]

Nowt wrong with ABS.

Id like to see someone press the brakes and release them 50 times a second when they are heading towards a kid that has run out in the road in front of you!

Its all very well saying you should cadance brake etc..etc.. But this isnt GT3, its real life and in real life most people instinctively slam on the anchors and hope for the best, ABS allows you to do that so all you have to do is concentrate on steering around whatever is in the way.

If my old VTR had had ABS I would have been able to steer round that Rover 620 instead of slamming into the back of it at 30mph!


Ill never drive, let alone buy a sporty car without ABS again.



Same discussion on the PugGTi forum and people agree, anything that saves numptys doing daft things on the road is a good thing!

 

[Steveold]

Yeah but it would be nice if we had some way to disable it... I wouldnt be disabling it everyday just when i want some fun

 

[Locky]

Does the ABS work off a fuse inside the car... Just pull the fuse on it.That would probally turn it off..

 

[Locky]

By the by this is the first car Ive had with ABS... and I find it fine... its only working when your standing on the brakes... the rest of the time you get the normal feeling through the pedal.. One thing that does annoy me though is that abs is never fitted as standard on commercial vans... Ive owned serveral now for work and abs is always an optional extra.When youre loaded down with 2 ton and someone pulls out of a side turning you need all the braking help you can get... Ive had a couple of near misses that way.

 

[Simon172]

I normally like ABS, but its the first time ive driven in the snow with it and boy what an experience! I was driving home from my G/fs house down her lane that had lots of snow on and it is perpendicular to a mainish road. Anyway, im doing something like 5 mph and i decide to brake - oh here goes, the ABS has decided to cut in like and im thinking i wonder if the car will actually stop??? anyway, it doesnt stop, just vibrates under my foot. I release the pedal and try again braking with less force, still no good - ARRRG my car isnt stopping (kinda like the instance in Austin Powers 1 with the Steam Roller and the hench man), i get to near the road and its still moving - by this time im physically sh!tt!ng myself, "Please STOP!!!" anyway, i resort to pulling the handbrake and steering to try and angle the car so that my nose wont be sticking out into the road, this seemed to help and it finally came to a hault. Oh my god, either i was going too fast down the lane or there was a whole lot more ice/snow there than id calculated. Either way, she was sliding. I remember driving in my non-abs Scirocco in the snow and to be honest i believe i was just as scared in that as i was tonight. I drove to petersfield from my house and it usually takes 15 minutes to get there (7 minutes is the record), one night we decide to go snow hunting in our cars as theres moderate snow on the ground. While we were out it decides to snow heavily and i decide hmmmm, best go home before were snowed in. The journey home took 55 minutes. I usually enjoy the odd drift in my car off a roundabout etc, but a 55 minute powerslide was not my idea of fun, especially when you really cant interact with the direction the car will be travelling in. I can honestly say that driving in the snow was my scariest driving experience. I was physically shaking at the thought of losing it into something/one etc all the way on that journey. Never again will i put myself into that situation. It took 10 minutes to go up a hill that usually takes 10 seconds to negotiate!!!! my tyres were really bare on that Scirocco and i had to use the kerb to get some grip up there along with 6000 rpm snow melting techniques as all the SLOW and CAREFUL /high gear methods were not working in this instance!

Sorry about the blethering.

 

[viceroy]

The 172 is also my first car with ABS and Ive only ever encountered ABS at the very last moment of braking but then I think it must be my braking style, where I start off with moderate pressure and as I slow down I either maintain or descrease the pressure till the very last moment where I add some pressure to stop.

Ive never rear ended anyone although I have been rear ended a couple of times so I think my technique works in most conditions although Ive never driven in snow (2 inches of hail on the road was the closest Ive come)

 

[KDF]

I dont know.. some people get a little snow and they go crazy ..

Its easy to drive in the snow.. you just use higher gear/engine braking and anticpate having to slow the car down.

According to renault though, you cant put snowchains on the 172.. only the ordinary models.. bummer, we got to get some special tyres fitted or somthing (studded tyres probably)

 

[VR6man]

snow + clio172 = crap

i dont know if its to do with the lack of weight which is normally such a good thing (when the roads are normal) or the power or a combination of both but i agree with simon..i HATED driving in the snow....

pulling away in anything but third gear made the car slew across the road, stopping just wasnt happening either using the gears or using the brakes and i never felt happy that the car was going in the direction i wanted to...

the wheel felt ultra light and twitchy...

when i used to have the golf, i drove in the snow in that.....

it pulled away ok without having to use 3rd all the time...

it stopped ok... even on slippery surfaces...ok so the abs came on but the car actually stopped unlike the clio which didnt even slow down under braking !!!

and the steering wasnt all feathery....

now im guessing that all the extra weight must help especially over the wheels... but all the same.. the clio scared the life out of me in the snow