ABS just saved my ass, and my car's ass...

sorta on the same topic as traction control and abs are related.
got in a fairly new benz w/ trac control and was trying to park it (on ice).
damn thing WOULD NOT move!!!
all i could do was idle and it was a slight uphill space so, there i am, can't go forward, can't go backward......
finally i got just off idle and the tires wern't spinning, (trac wouldn't let me anyway) and into the space.
turned me off traction control right then and there...
i suppose there was a on/off switch for the damn thing but being a benz, i didn't want to spend the morning reading the ****ing owners manual.

abs on the other hand has saved my *** and a few others

does it belong on a rod?
more power to ya if you can do it...

 

my buddy had a brand new Cadillac Seville around 2000. for no good reason it started applying the brakes hard when he made a turn. not touching the brake pedal, and no brake lights.

he brought it to the dealer and they worked on it for 3 days. when he went to pick it up he made it to the first corner before it did it again. when he took it back the second time they just replaced every sensor and computer even remotely connected to the brake system. guess that fixed it.

pretty complicated system to jerry rig to your car. what's going to happen when something fails?

 

Don't know about the newer systems, but when GM first came out with it, it had a problem. Worked great on slick/wet roads, but if one wheel left the pavement as in a pothole, that wheel would lock up. The only way to unlock that wheel was to get off the brake and hit it again. The County used GM products and everyone had to be trained in this idiosyncrasy. Fords didn't have this problem.

 

No, you are right.

Personally, I'd rather not hand over the responsabillity of Modulating my Brakes to a machine.

And, having the option of locking up my wheels has saved my *** at times too...

But I'm sure there are situations where having a good working ABS system is pretty nice too...

 

uuhhhh.... I know. Point being that they are both computer controlled systems, developed for a specific application. They took years and cost ****en heaps to get to the still less than perfect state of the art. A backyarder doesn't stand a chance.

It wasn't mine. I swear. Please don't think it was mine.... Forgive me....

Yep!

 

I want to see you find that ****on when you are all arms & elbows, running out of room, mid corner....

 

I prefer the traditional method of driving a bit more conservative and leaving plenty of room between myself and others and SCANNING ahead and to the sides like they used to teach in HS Drivers Ed!

Then the HP is there to get the **** somewhere else when you really need it, like getting pinched by a truck on the left and some ***hole merging from the onramp at 75!

 

**** traditional, I'd rather be alive, and my car not 4 feet shorter...I can't believe the responses implying the car is not a Hot Rod because it's got ABS (completely invisible) and OH MY GOD it has RADIAL TIRES TOO. It's got seatbelts too, and I use 'em. It'd have an airbag, but my buddy wanted the bag back when I parted the Caddy. You'd rather be dead than have brakes that'll save your hide? Duh. I can't drive becase some dumb *** runs a stop on a state highway into traffic? WTF?

In case any of you think it's just a pretty face, the paint is 25 years old, rubbed thru to the primer in several spots, before anybody started doing that to make paint look old, the top is the same age, and we pull a trailer with it. If you all think I don't know what a traditional rod is SUPPOSED to look like, check out the '36 I'm building that's my avitar...

Oh, and since we're talking new tech in old clothing, this car has traction control as well. I like that too, and it's WAY faster with it on than it is setting still in cloud of tire smoke. Which it does with the traction control off.

 

This is the car in question. I like it much better this way than wadded up.

 

I think of ABS as more of a steering aid than a stopping aid.