au contraire.
For most people, which includes me and probably you, ABS can generally stay
closer to wheel lockup, giving shorter stopping distances wet, icy AND dry
roads. In deep gravel and deep snow, however, maximum braking is achieved
by locking the wheels up, building up a wedge of material in front of the
tires to provide the stopping force. In this case ABS would increase
braking distances. I agree that a reasonably good driver on dry pavement
WITH A BRAKING/SUSPENSION SYSTEM WITH REASONABLY GOOD FEEDBACK will often
beat ABS - but I'm skeptical about mushy Dakotas. A final advantage of ABS
is to take the concentration required to threshold brake out of an emergency
situation - freeing up your mental energy to potentially steer around a
situation.
----------
From: elliott@cyberspace.com
To: Dave Hornback
Cc: Glenn S. Wiltse; dakota@csclub0.cs.fredonia.edu
Subject: Re: Hello Dakota Folks
Date: Tuesday, September 10, 1996 12:21AM
From what I've heard about 4 wheel ABS is that it's great on wet or icy
roads but that stopping distances are longer on dry pavement. The reason
is that the maximum effective braking is right at wheel lockup which is
reasonably easy to maintain on dry pavement. On dirt or other loose
surfaces it depends on how good you are, and 99.99999% of folks ain't that
good.
Larry Elliott, '92, 3.9, 4x4, 5 sp'd, LE
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