A.B.S. sucks...

[james t]

in the motorcycle world, Honda was the first to do it. ABS on the CBR1100XX Blackbird... the magazines proved that a competent rider could out-brake abs. i have never really done extremely hard braking on my X before, until about an hour ago. i tried 4 stops, as hard as i could. 4 times, i was extremely dissapointed. you get on the brakes hard, and initially it feels like its gonna pin you to the windsheild. that is, until the abs kicks in. then, you get the surging pedal and it stops way too slow. i could do better. the abs kicks in WAY before the tires start to "lock". why do we put up with stuff that is just to compensate for poor drivers? i did 2 runs against my friend's X (same as mine, 4 door 5 liter) and mine did a little better, due to the slotted rotors and Performance Friction pads, but damn... just when you start to pin sh*t to the dash, you get the abs B.S. my X can stop WAY HARDER THAN THIS... this post has absolutely no point other than to see if anyone else is also sick of abs performance. instead of spending millions of dollars a year developing abs for stupid drivers, why dont we teach our youngsters from an early age the "art" of panic braking? it would be cheaper, and safer. thank you brother government for forcing something on me which i could do better. it does not take that much training to learn "threshhold braking". i think everyone in the U.S. should have to graduate a performance driving school (such as www.driving101.com ) in order to obtain a driver's license. just my $0.02.

to quote Dennis Miller... "sorry if i got off on a rant."

 

[VBVA]

Hey man, it was a good rant. Rant all you want, b/c abs definitely does suck. My abs is opposite of yours in that mine kicks in too late. My tires lock up if I brake hard then the abs kicks in and I get thrown back. I would like to know how to disconnect it, I think I am better off without abs.

 

[rpenner54]

ABS blows! Always has always will! The ONLY time it's helpful is on snow. Even then someone who is halfway competent should know how to brake with a NON-ABS system. On my parents old Suburban it was exactly like you describe. Slam the brake and you get nothing cause of that crap coming on. My mom hit some Bug cause she couldn't stop in time even though the brake was at the floor.

It's just another useless thing they can charge you for. On my Green truck if I brake hard the ABS light comes on as I lock up all 4.

 

[TDG]

Pull the fuse.

 

[Pendarus]

Has anybody here driven a car with a modern ABS system? I drove a BMW X5 in the rain on a freeway and had to do a panic stop. I thought the seatbelt was going to break! I swear that thing stopped better on a wet road than any car I've ever driven on a dry road. I will admit that the system in the Explorers does suck! But don't blame the concept, when done well it is a usefull thing. I would rather the lady behind me on the cell phone in traffic has ABS than not.

 

[JDraper]

I wonder if there is any way the abs engagement point can be modified in the Explorer (gotta find a "friendly" Ford dealer with a good computer tech). I think they must calibrate it to make sure you can steer during braking, not for maximum braking capability. ABS is generally a good idea, it's been used in airplanes for years and works very well, but the Explorer's does suck. I'd like a switch that allows me to turn it off if I wanted to.


FYI, for those of you with older Explorers that have the Rear ABS only, it turns itself off in 4WD mode.

 

[99explorer5.0]

I went to the Volvo fire and ice driving experience two weeks ago. Basically volvo rented out an old military air strip and set up cones for us to test drive the cars to their limits in a safe envionment. They even went as far as to wet part of the track down with dishwashing soap and water. I have never in my life been in a car with such stopping power.

Some people dont understand the purpose of ABS. The main purpose of ABS is not to stop faster. It is to be able to control your car and turn around an object instead of locking up and having no steering. Ill admit myself that my explorer doesnt stop on a dime and i dont expect it to. But what i can do is mash the pedal to the floor and choose to crash through someones rose bushes rather than the rear end of someone else's car that will sue you in a heartbeat.

 

[rpenner54]

I know what ABS is supposed to do. The fact is with a bit of training anyone can out perform ABS on their own. You just have to pay attention to what's going on. ABS is a saftey feature that has made people lazy and not know how to properly drive anymore since they depend on their vehicle to do it for them.

Sorry I have seen the tests and I know they are biased towards ABS everytime.

TEST
ABS car- Run as fast as possible while it's raining slam on brakes see what happens.

NON-ABS car- Same test holding down the brakes.

Car with the ABS will stop under control, the car without will slid all over the place right? Right... However if you brake correctly without the ABS you can stop just as fast or faster then ABS.

 

[james t]

i have to agree with rpenner54. abs is good on some vehicles but overall it is crap. and i like the idea of at least trying to adjust the threshold on the X. mine WILL stop hard, as i said it will pin your @ss to the windsheild until the abs kicks in. good rotors/pads and wide grippy street tires will allow it to stop much better than a stocker. the abs kicks in WAY TOO EARLY. also, abs is for all of the masses that do not know how to drive. show me a race car (or motorcycle) with abs. case closed. abs does have a benefit on ice/snow. abs is the band-aid on the stab wound. it tries to compensate for unskilled drivers. it is really not that hard to learn the art of "threshold braking". it is one of the easiest racing skills to learn. but what you have is mom on the cell phone while the 2 kids scream over who gets the Playstation next, and she's trying to fix her lipstick. a deer crosses the road ahead, and automatically she jams both feet on the brake pedal as hard as she can. that is why we must live with abs. i do not like having a computer brake for me, i want to do it.

 

[yob_yeknom]

If you're breaking hard enough for the ABS to kick in, then you've passed the point where the brakes will lock up. You couldn't brake any harder without locking them up and sliding if you didn't have ABS.

 

[Jason_25]

Does anyone know how to turn ABS off on a second gen?

 

[Robb]

I believe that the "average" driver benefits from the use of ABS. Sure, I believe I could can "out brake" my ABS on my X (not true of my Bimmer), while testing in a safe environment or during those sudden, but not crucial, stops in traffic. But, could I out perform it when a child runs out in front of me in the street and takes me by surprise? Can anyone say that they honestly could? ABS gives the freedom, in a situation where there is no time to think, only react, to simply slam the brakes and hopefully come to a safe stop. I can honestly say that I am not sure if I could make that critical stop safely (without ABS) while driving and having about 100 other things on my mind other than the perfect braking procedure.

As for me, if my dog (no kids yet) runs out in the street, I would hope that the car coming down the road has ABS!

just my $.02,

Robb

 

[Crankcase]

There is a BIG difference on slippery surfaces.

In my dad's '90 F150with just rear antilock, I have had the front end losing steering on simple slow slippery stops. The brakes lock too easy on that truck.

But in the 94 Explorer, which has 4 wheel ABS, I have never had a problem.

I agree that a very good driver can do better, but in reality, 90% of drivers just mash the pedal to the floor in a panic stop.

 

[james t]

Originally posted by yob_yeknom
If you're breaking hard enough for the ABS to kick in, then you've passed the point where the brakes will lock up. You couldn't brake any harder without locking them up and sliding if you didn't have ABS.

this is NOT true on my explorer. like i said before, i stops VERY hard for a second before the ABS kicks in. then, when the ABS kicks in, it stops about half as hard. this is what we mean by abs threshold. a good abs system will have the threshold set were the tires will "growl" when stopping hard. this is the sound a tire makes (street tire) right before lockup. when you hear this, you know you're stopping as hard as you can. i am stopping very hard until the abs takes over. the threshold on the X is set way to low. maybe not on a stocker with 235/75 junk passenger tires, but mine has good rotors/pads and grippy 17" performance tires. now, i can not take advantage of my mods in a hard stop.

 

[John_Rock]

Originally posted by Jason_25
Does anyone know how to turn ABS off on a second gen?

As one guy said in an earlier post, there should be a fuse somewhere. I, myself, would find it faster and easier just to unplug one of the ABS wheel sensors that runs to one of the front wheels.

Here's an edited picture of one of my ABS wheel sensor connectors on the front end. This shot is from when I was doing my 3" body lift, that's why I had the truck torn apart.
Dead Link Removed

 

[Jason_25]

Originally posted by Aquaman


As one guy said in an earlier post, there should be a fuse somewhere. I, myself, would find it faster and easier just to unplug one of the ABS wheel sensors that runs to one of the front wheels.

Good Idea. I think I may just unplug the sensor from the rear diff, and then just take the bulb out of the dash. Thanks for the info.

 

[John_Rock]

I look forward to the Ultimate ABS brakes.
I'm sure someone somewhere is working on them.
Magnetic Brakes!!! No touching parts at all. Just polarize the magnetics in the proper sequence to bring the vehicle to a controlled stop.

 

[Silverblade]

My ABS was starting to mess up and doing a really crappy job and making my braking worse so my brother unplugged it when he was borrowing it, i got kinda scared and went to an open parking lot in the rain and did 60-0(KM) stops and i can stop way better then stupid ABS now.

 

[TarHeel085]

what 99explorer5.0 said is very true about volvo's. my mom has an S60 T5 and that thing will stop on a friggin dime! no joke i went from 40 to 0 in about 50ft if that, its crazy the stoppin power in that thing. some cars such as MB cars and Bimmers have a so-called "brake boost" which increases the stopping power tremendously!

 

[Jason_25]

Your explorer has brake boost too. You'll notice it under the hood to the right on the firewall. It has a vacuum line running into it. I made the mistake of driving without it plugged in one time and it was nearly impossible to stop.