ABS - Keep or remove

[Josh]

All cars I've had were terrible at braking in the snow, with the ABS kicking in and the car just rolling until it finally comes to a stop. Very scary on a cold morning when hitting black ice at a junction and overshooting it!

[ManwithSupra]

A good driver, especially in the wet, on gravel or on snow could stop a MKIV with no ABS in a shorter distance than one that just jumped on the brake and let the ABS take over. By good, I mean someone experienced in keeping calm and making a split second conscious decision to come off the brakes where all normal instincts tell you press harder, a LOT harder If you feel you can do this instinctively, and reliably, you might consider removing it I guess. But fail to act as above just once and you might find even a dinosaur system like the MKIV has will save your embarrassment or worse. On snow ABS that cannot be turned off can be dreadful. A decent snow driver will lockup for controlled periods to allow a "wedge" of snow to form in front of the tyres, rather than have the ABS vibrating the pedal like a massager, and the car carrying on at undiminished speed. Latest generation ABS is better, but on snow a good Scandinavian will show it as inferior to the human.

 

Now, if you had the latest Bosch Motorsport ABS system, even the best of the best will be beaten by the the electrickery.

 

Is that the M4 system Chris? I have heard wonderus things about that.

[David P]

I don't have it on mine as it wasn't born with it.

 

Most of my driving experience has been without ABS and rarely do I have a problem, but when they come, if you can't think and act faster than it's happening then it's already happened.

 

An unnoticed gradient or unexpected poor traction can swiftly become a brake-treadling/sphincter-whistling equation.

Edited March 18, 2014 by David P (see edit history)