Snow and ABS

[degzi]

Just wondering has anyone took the fuse out to disable ABS in the snow, as I prefer driving without it when its all icy and stuff. Not good when ABS kicks in and wont brake because its ice. 

My old car used to have a button to disable it.

Is it even possible.?

[ricksmith]

Hi
Trying to send you a pm and cant get through.
Rick

[chrisc]

Not having ever driven in snow, what would be the purpose of disabling the ABS?

[degzi]

Hmm don't know why pm wont work.

Id just like to disable it when its icy. If your ABS kicks in on snow or ice it takes way longer to stop.
sometimes its good to skid if its snow.
i also live where there's lots of hills, and have overshot a junction coming down the hill on more than one occasion due to ABS coming on. Its great in all other conditions, but lethal in some icy conditions.

[madasafish]

I disabled traction control last year in 300mm of snow.. Just got up a long country road - little chance to gain speed due to sharp corner at bottom and only one car up it before.

The ABS continued working I think but as I never braked..who knows?

I had a Rover 800 where the ABS went AWOL in snow and stopped working automatically - red light on dash. For a big car it handled very well in snow and I got up hills many other cars failed to. (about the only thing it was good for as the build quality was carp . It was new - a company car).


Round here anything with rwd and no winter tyres gets stuck at least once in winter...Last year we had one icy morning where the pavements were unwalkable.. I literally slid slowly across teh pavement and into a parked car The result of snow which had melted with rain and then frozen quickly leaving a smooth obstruction free ice coating. The trees, walls and hedges were covered with a layer of ice - magical site. I did not have my camera:-(
Roads were fine - heavily salted and gritted.

I have to grit and salt our drive in winter - a slope up to the road means it can be difficult...

[culzean]

On proper ice the ABS or no ABS argument is irrelevant - your tyres don't have any grip - period - the best way to tell if you are on 'proper' or black ice is that all your tyre noise will disappear.   On gravel and loose snow the ABS can prevent the 'snow-plough' effect where a wedge of snow or gravel can build up in front of a locked wheel and help you stop - this may lengthen stopping distance but at least you should be able to steer.   At all other times the ABS is a triumph of engineering safety that can counteract the tendency of the average driver to push the brake pedal to the floor and close their eyes  -  (and we all know that is all other people on the road, because we are all above-average or great drivers when we are behind the wheel).

I would leave the ABS connected, because 9 times out of 10 things are going to be better with it,  and if you do disconnect it and you have an accident, you will maybe at best have no insurance cover, and at worst end up in jail.

if your car has traction control (or vehicle stability assist or whatever) it may be better in some situations to turn it off in loose snow- depends on the car, but at least there is a button for that and it will most likely come back on automatically when you start the car next time - because again 99 time out of 100 the car will be safer with it turned on.

here is a tip from and American car journalist -

Give yourself a brake. Learn how to get maximum efficiency from your brakes before an emergency. It's easy to properly use antilock brakes: Stomp, stay and steer. Stomp on the pedal as if you were trying to snap it off. Stay hard on the pedal. Steer around the obstacle. (A warning: A little bit of steering goes a very long way in an emergency. See Tip 8.) If you drive on icy roads or roads that are covered with snow, modify your ABS technique: After you "Stomp" and the ABS begins cycling — you will feel pulses in the pedal or hear the system working — ease up slightly on the pedal until the pulsing happens only once a second

[guest1844]

^^^ Wot he said. The benefits of ABS far outweigh any disadvantage.
I did a skid pan course once. The instructor had the car hurtling towards something we were about to hit. Argghh - suddenly he released brakes and we steered round it. His memorable line was that you go where you're looking - in this case what you're about to hit. The trick is to look for your way out, and there's a fair chance you'll make it. (Look at the solution, not the problem). ABS gives you that chance, all you have to do is look for the way out, and the ABS will take care of the skid.

Furthermore, disabling your ABS will give an insurance company an excellent excuse to not pay up.

[degzi]

Thanks for the reply guys. Never crossed my mind to think about insurance issues.
ahh well looks like i will be leaving it alone.

best thing to do is find a quiet bit of empty car park or something and just get used to the car when it snows. Ill defiantly try the trick to see if the abs pulses slower.

[guest2913]

I would serious advise you not too!
January this year, my ABS failed in the snow after driving 2 miles, went to slow down for round abound to find out my left brake had froze, the car span 90 degree went side ways down the road! with a car each side of the car, thought the car was a gonna! lucky nothing happen every one was driving slow and few people tried  to push the car out of the snow build up around the round around, scary situation