Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:13:48 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Vanagon ABS
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reply-type=original
fundamentally speaking.........and by inherently superior design.....
a vanagon is going to do WAY better than any Ford Explorer or chevy pick-up
truck.
remember the Ford Explorer flap a few years ago......about how many people
were getting killed in them..........
the become known as the Ford Exploder ......they are pure American crap car
design, of the worst sort.
Road holding ....inherent ability to track correctly, respond well to driver
inputs..
those traits are woefully lacking in American stuff.........particularly
trucks.
Proper ABS brakes are quite useful. My 88 740 Volvo turbo sedan has a Bosch
system.
You can have one front wheel on ice, and the other 3 tires on dry pavement,
nail the brakes, and the right front won't lock, even though it's on ice.
'the problem'..........the thing that causes many crashes is, when the
fronts are locked........there is no steering.
People would have to know to let off the brakes to get steering back. Many
people slam into trees, with front tires locked, and steering at full left
lock.......if only they knew to let off the brakes to get steering back.
and even with modern ABS.........if all the wheels are locked in a panic
stop on a slippery surface................the ABS brake system will think
the car is stopped..........
since all for wheels are not turning........and people loose control that
way too.
TRULY.....the drivers and the cars .......to 'sum total' of the fleet on
the roads........have gotten worse, not better, despite technology. ABS
brakes are a good thing though, for sure.
Also........it should be noted, that a stock Syncro Vanagon has a very
strong ABS affect as the front and rear are mechanically linked
together.......
and the whole drive train tends to keep the front wheels
turning.............unlike in 2WD rear wheel drive, where you can easily
lock up the fronts from heavy breaking on slippery surfaces, thus loosing
steering control, and once a tire is skidding it has less stopping ability
anyway. Best braking force occurs just short of lock-up.
I think anti-lock braking was first used in aircraft.
And your common driver is far less skilled than the common driver of the
60's say. Then people KNEW that had to drive carefully with 2WD and skinny
tires, and mostly they sure did ! And they didn't go barreling down a rain
slackened freeway at 80 mph in SUV's either then. duh !
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Whittaker" <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 8:11 AM
Subject: Re: Vanagon ABS
> Dear Brakes
> i would hesitate putting ABS brakes on an older vehicle
> there just seems to be something inherently wrong about such a retro
> fit --
> but hey that is just me --
> I recall some of the earlier ABS systems which were simple add ons in the
> last part of the 1980's
> i had just moved from an early 80's chev truck to a newer one in 1987 --
> with ABS ...
> lots of driving issues --
> now granted there was some operator learning curve ...
> but i wouldnt install OSX from My Apple G5 onto a Macintosh ...
>
> anyway that is just my thought ...
> if you want excellent stop-ability --
> Really good tires with excellent thread design suited for the climate you
> drive in
> Tires suitably wide enough to make at least a 6" x 6" foot print on the
> ground
> disc brakes all around and good quality brake lines that are rust free --
> pads that are not below their wear bars --
> you know the standard braking stuff ---
>
> this is just my opinion and i am certainly not a brake specialist --
> likely there will be differing opinions ...
>
> i do test my brakes in emergency like conditions at least every 3 months
> i find a piece of an empty road and push the vehicle to a normal driving
> like situation
> and slam on the brakes as if i were forced into a sudden stop --
> just to see how she works ---
> outcome has been strait -true and whoa -- right now --
>
> this helped a great deal when last fall i had to do an emergency stop in
> the
> pouring rain --
> heavy traffic on the Island Highway just near the turn off to Brentwood
> Ferry --
> all traffic came to a sudden stop at 90KpH +... i stepped hard on the
> brake
> pedal ... we stopped strait and true --
> the guy behind me in a 90's explorer did flip flops and oh my gosh i was
> sure he was going to nail us from behind --
> at the last possible second .. and with our hearts full of prayers -- he
> managed to "POP" into the other lane --
> he got a green light and carried on ... he averted his gaze from me ...
> we both knew a bullet had been dodged --
>
> but aside from that ...
> with the excellent rain and ice tires michilen hydro-edge from go-westy
> tire
> package
> with excellent brakes -- i knew we were going to stop ...
>
> good luck with your experiment .. thanks for reading
> yours
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 7:14 AM, Zeitgeist <gruengeist@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> This requires all new hubs w/wheel speed sensors, right?
>>
>> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=563462
>>
>> --
>> Casey
>> '87 300TD
>> '94 100CSQ Avant
>> '89 Bluestar
>>
>
>
>
> --
> roger w
> There are two kinds of jobs in the world:
> Picking up garbage and telling people things.
> Successful people do both, with the same good attitude. (riw)
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