If sliding was faster you would see a lot more race cars sideways at the track. You will have the fastest times and shortest stopping distances at the point just before the wheel locks up. When I race my Mustang my lap times are slower if I make the car slide. Same for braking except your stopping distance will increase with a locked up wheel.

These are the humble words of MisterCMK sent on the go...

 

I was a volunteer fireman for 5 yrs. The highway patrolman never had to unbuckle a dead person, because the firemen do it.


I did 4 in 5 yrs, the worst one had a car that flipped several times and landed upside down on top of another car.

She was a mess.

 

There you go, that's the whole concept behind it.

 

one of my trucks does not have ABS and the rest do, i learned to drive on both at a young age.

i now have a good feeling for winter driving with my snow tires to get the most force on the pedel right before the ABS kicks in...luckily my studded tires start to make noise as you ride the edge of engagement. one year i had an ABS sensor issue so i did not have it working...i kinda liked it better at lower speeds at highway speeds the ABS is better.

thats my opinion on glare ice/snow covered roads 6 months out of the year.

 

I rarely experience abs engagement. Best braking is right before lock up, if your brakes are locked up you have zero control if the vehicle and no you do not stop faster.

 

Thats interesting, can anyone verify this?

 

ABS is not meant for normal everyday driving. It is designed to modulate the braking system during a panic stop. People have a tendency to stomp the brakes during a panic stop, locking up the wheels and sliding all over the road. In these situations ABS is a life saver.

I learned to drive in a 1956 F-100. I know first hand how uncontrollable a pickup can be with all 4 wheels locked up. I was 17, a dog ran out in front of me, I stomped the brakes and turned right. The results were predictable, a full skid with the rear of the truck rotating to the left. Thankfully the road was wide and there was no traffic, because the truck rotated about 100 degrees before it stopped. If I would have had ABS back then, I would have been able to control the truck, not gone into a skid, and not hit the dog.

Is ABS 100% perfect? No. Mine always activates when I am doing about 25 MPH, applying the brakes to slow and make a left turn into my driveway. There is a series of bumps on the road that somehow fool the ABS into thinking I am skidding.

 

One of the first things you learn on a motorcycle - traction is your friend. As soon as you lock up the brakes (or "lay her down") you lose traction and control.

 

Funny, while ice racing I am sliding more than going strait and am still in control of the car.

Times ABS takes away all braking, that it bad! I would rather be sliding sideways then to have no brakes at all and not be able to stop.

 

Yes Sir, sure was and the truck gripped hard enough to bring me to a stop before entering the intersection. All this in about 40-60' at a crawl cuz I'm familiar with said hill. I have had 4WDs most of my life so this is a natural reaction when I know Im not gona stop, at least it is for me. I had to pull over just past the intersection to check my drawers and call my buddy who works for highway dept and tell him to get the salt shaker out asap. I definitely feel if I was in 2WD I would have slid right through like everyone else. It wasn't a side road 4 way it was a fairly large 4 way and the diagonal road is a 55mph road, so scary. While on the phone I was watching the intersection in my mirror. Nobody was able to avoid going through the intersection except another fellow four wheeler in a jeep who did the same thing I did. He came to a stop like me though sideways. I will assume all the cars that slid through had abs as they were all late models? This is just one experience I've had where I don't think modern engineering would have been the better alternative. Over all I guess abs is a tribute to modern R&D automotive engineering advances and some systems are better than others. I just wish I could turn it off when I want to but we all know big bro, his gooney lawyer posi and our sue happy society would never stand for that.

 

That is all wrong.

You should be modulating the brakes on a slide down a hill not slamming into reverse and spinning the tires like a loon.

What happens when you are in reverse and need to make a turning maneuver around an up coming object? With the vehicle in reverse (lol btw) you basically are throwing your hands up in the air saying I give up.

 

Keep the vehicle if forward gear and under control. Go out on a lake and practice, its fun too!

 

Here is one of the tracks with GPS. I love winter!

 

What I'm seeing missing from this discussion is the role of the proper tires.

If you're in snow, or where snow is a possibility, make sure you have snow-capable tires

If it's icy, siped tires are incredible on ice. My Nitto Dura Grapplers, while not that great in snow, are AMAZING on ice which is why I choose them in the winter over a set of Goodyear Ultra Armors I still have laying around. Around here, people driving on the snow while it's falling pack it down into a sheet of ice.

Mud, gravel, etc? All-terrains?

With the right tires for the conditions, ABS is not in the picture all that much

 

seuadr, go ahead and post what you were going to say without quoting the already-deleted post