Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2002 08:22:18 -0500
Reply-To: "Terry K." <CTONLINE@WEBTV.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Terry K." <CTONLINE@WEBTV.NET>
Subject: Re: ABS on a vanagon
In-Reply-To: 80 Westy Pokey <pokey@VANAGON.ORG>'s message of Fri, 7 Jun 2002
08:48:21 -0400
Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII
I recently went for a high end blast with a friend of mine in his new
Porsche Carrea twin turbo all wheel drive rocketship--
We were blasting down some back road at 165 and I happened to open my
big mouth, and told him I heard these things have super brakes----
He locked it down right now, and the car stopped in a straight line,
with not one iota of wheel lock--andit hauled down in feet not miles---
Neat---
My 325 BMW has ABS, and it too can stop on a dime, in a straight line,
without causing my Dunlops to have flat spots on one side--
I think ABS on a two wheel drive anything is a good idea,and most
certainly keeps the vehicle in control in an emergency situation.
Why even worry about ABS on a Vanagon?
It doesn't build up enough steam to need brakes, on pavement or in the
stones----!!---:>)
Later,
Terry
E-mail message
I remember reading an article in the early 80's on the Audi Quattro
Sport Group B rally car. Which did have a switch to turn off ABS.
The switch was because braking distances in gravel or dirt shorten if
you lock up the wheels because you build a wedge of debris in front of
the wheel that slows you down much faster. If you don't lock the wheels
you don't get the wedge.
That said, I don't think that ABS shorten's braking distances at all.
You stop pretty fast when you lock up the wheels... you just can't steer
your vehicle and are dragging (and flat spotting) four erasers down the
road. If your attitude wasn't perfectly straight when you locked you can
also expect that the vehicle will swerve when you lock.
My mid 80's Chevrolet Caprice Classic Wagon (complete with fake wood
panneling) used to lock its rear wheels all the time. It forced me to
get pretty damn good at threshold braking, that is braking at the limit
right before lockup.
Thanks,
Chris
---- Original message ----
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2002 22:22:44 +1200
From: Andrew Grebneff
<andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject: Re: ABS on a vanagon
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Noticed people debating whether ABS was ever available on
US Vanagons. A
co-worker just bought a regular US spec '90 Westfalia which
has every option
imaginable, including ABS. Seen it with my own eyes! And
for those of you
who question the usefulness of ABS, Ben, don't cast stones
until you've
tried it in the snow - it's great!
ABS of the day was hopeless in gravel or on dirt, though. Just not
designed for it, and it seriously lengthened stopping
distances, at
least in S-Class Mercedes. If you have an ABS bus and
frequent dirt,
try crash-stops. You might consider fitting a switch in the ABS circuit
so you can turn it off...
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut
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