Bud,
Funny you should mention this. Nearly the same experience the other day
with my 91 Saab 9000 with ABS. Only difference was a truck entering
traffic, causing the car in front of me to slam on brakes. Wet pavement. I
was going about 40 mph. Based on 25 years of driving experience (and
re-enacting that slow-motion thought process that occurrs during a panic
stop), I was anticipating a skid and a thump. Instead, the Saab stopped
quickly, smoothly and in a shorter distance than I expected. I did feel the
brake pedal shudder under my foot, but everything else was smooth as silk.
It made me feel much better about the ABS on my car, anyway. First time I
really slammed them on in over 105K miles and nine years!
I do recommend that everyone with ABS (and without, for that matter), go
find a safe parking lot and try some panic stops on wet and dry pavement.
I've done this with my MGB. It gave me a good sense of what the car could
do in a panic. It also (I think) was the cause of my rear wheel cylinders
to begin to leak. No problem, easy replacement.
Scott McKorkle
1978 MGB
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-mgs@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of Bud Krueger
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2000 4:01 PM
To: MG List
Subject: ABS experience
It's been interesting to read the theory of ABS, but let me share an
experience
with you.
A little over a year ago (9/98) I was on my regular morning commute on
Boston's
Southeast Expressway, driving a 1996 Mercury Mystique with ABS. The car
ahead
of the car ahead of me slowed rather abruptly; the car ahead of me stopped
very
abruptly; I stomped on the binders and drove right into his back bumper.
Believe me, I had left adequate space between us. I've commuted close to a
megamile and this was the first accident that I've been in.
The ABS would not allow the brakes to come anywhere near locking up. The
pedal
was against the stop and the car just wasn't stopping. There was no pulsing
going on at all. Remember, the action of ABS is to relieve braking pressure
when the system senses that the brakes are about to lock up. Guess what
happens
if the sensors react too quickly? $2000 worth of damage that barely showed,
much
of it due to the a/c components right behind the bumper.
If you have an ABS system --- check it out sometime before you need to stop
in a
hurry! Just MHO.
Bud
--
Bud Krueger
http://home.ici.net/~bkrueger/
52TD
77MGB
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