AndyMc

Hi Guys

I have tried some brake tests on my car and thought you might be interested in the results.
I have a my98 with AP 4pot front brakes under 16inch wheels and standard rear brakes.

First of all I tried some runs from 100mph using some part worn continentals that I have on a spare set of rims.The car pulled up very well in a dead straight line and was very stable and confidence inspiring.

Each run produced a very similar time of around 3.9 seconds which was virtually identical to some previous runs I did with SO2's.This was surprising because the Continentals have noticeably less grip than the SO2's,well around corners at least!

I then tried a run with the ABS fuse pulled and got quite a shock, I hit the brakes fairly gently,or so I thought, but all the wheels locked and the car went very sideways, very quickly so I had to abort the run.
After a few practice runs I managed to record some times but they were awful ranging from 4.3-4.7 seconds and it took all my concentration to stop the wheels from locking,and this was in the dry,god knows what it would have been like in the wet!

I was expecting to be able to match the abs assisted times but it was as though there was too much rear brake bias.
Does anybody understand why this is happening?

What do the brakes feel like on Imprezas without ABS do these also feel like they have a lot of rear bias or do Subaru deliberately set the rear brake bias high on ABS equipped cars and let the electronics sort everything out?

Dave TS you seem to be anti ABS, any idea whats going on?.Maybe you could pull the fuse on your car and see what happens.

I know there is no problem with the fuse in,but what concerns me is what would happen if the ABS didn't work when I was expecting it to such as at a trackday.I think I would almost certainly crash.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Andy

PS all runs carried out on private land honest

ZAZ

I have a 95WRX with no ABS and the car is fine under braking as long as there is drive going to the wheels. If I put my foot on the clutch it locks up quite easily in the wet and the back gets very light.

coyote

I always disconnect my ABS when I go to the track. Both because my lap times are actually faster and because I went for the brakes one day and there was a rock solid pedal but no brakes. Seems that lifting wheels can confuse the system.

Dizzy

Wow glad to see the m6 is being put to good use.. and you dont have to come to a complete stop if u see the filth with his hair dryer

TURBO7379

During the snowstorms last christmas I removed the ABS fuse but refitted it after 1 run in the car . Every time I braked the rear brakes locked straight away and the back of the car came round making it totally undrivable . The only time I've had any ABS problems is when I was having some 'fun' in a large field which had just been harvested and was quite slippy . After a few donuts , 4-wheel drifts , etc. I noticed the ABS warning light was on and the ABS didn't work . I sweated for a while until I switched the ignition off and on again and the ABS system reset itself .

Derek

harj

When im on track in the 22B it always gives me huge when you get lock up and smoke bellows from the tyres

ABS, Pah