anti lock brakes suck.

My car sucked with stock tires in the winter (they were the dunlop summer tires) I would slide right through intersections even though I could drive and turn just fine. No I have Bridgestone Blizzaks in the winter. Stops on a dime, no more overactive ABS. I would recommend winter tires as the safest solution to this problem.

 
The ABS on my legacy is a little effed up, or maybe it just doesn't work as well as it does on other cars. Either way, I have a blow fuse in my fusebox. That way it doesn't look like I disabled it... Also, my GL doesn't have ABS, so switching back and forth with my legacy gives me a hard time.

TIRES TIRES TIRES TIRES!!!!! I love my snow tires. Get some!

 
Iboc_C64 said:
My car sucked with stock tires in the winter (they were the dunlop summer tires) I would slide right through intersections even though I could drive and turn just fine. No I have Bridgestone Blizzaks in the winter. Stops on a dime, no more overactive ABS. I would recommend winter tires as the safest solution to this problem.
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but the idea is to NOT stop on a dime in the winter time... trying to stop on that proverbial dime in the winter will lead to all sorts of bad things. slow down sooner, do not tailgate...its really that simple.

 
Its a figure of speech Rez. You know I can't stop on dime the way I drive! I can't stop on a dime doing 5mph!!! Lol.

 
at 60 mph your car is traveling 88 feet per second.

reaction time, from seeing the kid on the sled shoot over the snowbank to gaaaah! stomping the binders, is 1 to 1.5 sec = 132 feet

then, even on dry pavement, a decent car takes 160 feet to stop.

on snow, you can easily triple that distance = ~500 feet

ok so now we're talking maybe 650 feet to stop, that's approx .123 miles to stop

jayzus! we are talking one effin big dime.

 
not if the dime is 650' away from the initial brake point
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I'm with everyone saying snow tires and learning proper brake control. My 95 doesn't have ABS, has drums in the rear(one which until sunday had a bad wheel cylinder) and I have had problems with stopping because I just mashed the pedal and locked the fronts up. Dry pavement with studded General Artic Altimaxs. Its even worse where it is front wheel drive. Smooth movements with the wheel, light foot on the brakes and using the engine to slow yourself down if you have a manual. If you find your car is sliding simply slow down. 3200 pound car going 40 mph = through a snow bank over a hill. 3200 pound car going 20 mph = chance of slowing and not going through the snow bank. I have two ways to get to school. For those who have ever been to Castine there is 166 and 166a. I figured 166 would be fine and I almost ate it at 45 mph. I turned around and took 166a instead. All about smart decisions.

 
CoupedUpSubie said:
I'm with everyone saying snow tires and learning proper brake control. My 95 doesn't have ABS, has drums in the rear(one which until sunday had a bad wheel cylinder) and I have had problems with stopping because I just mashed the pedal and locked the fronts up. Dry pavement with studded General Artic Altimaxs. Its even worse where it is front wheel drive. Smooth movements with the wheel, light foot on the brakes and using the engine to slow yourself down if you have a manual. If you find your car is sliding simply slow down. 3200 pound car going 40 mph = through a snow bank over a hill. 3200 pound car going 20 mph = chance of slowing and not going through the snow bank. I have two ways to get to school. For those who have ever been to Castine there is 166 and 166a. I figured 166 would be fine and I almost ate it at 45 mph. I turned around and took 166a instead. All about smart decisions.
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Are you the same Bryan Rattleff who went to Lincoln Academy? Class of 2009??

 
Pedro said:
<br />not if the dime is 650' away from the initial brake point <img src='http://www.mainelysubarus.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
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...except that Pedro would know from hard experience that an suv CAN stop on a dime, if said dime is taped to the back bumper of a miata.....

 
there shouldn't be any problems with driving any car, with or without abs.

If you are a smart driver, you would be driving for the conditions.

Slippery out? brake sooner with less force. Don't stomp on it or you'll be having problems like you already are.

Tires are also huge in this argument here. my 09 wrx came stock with summer dunlops. first thing i did in the spring? invested in snows because it makes a huge difference. Yes with my abs it can be touchy, that just means your pushing too hard on the brakes. back off on it and give space between you and your stopping point.

If you drive for the conditions, you can get by until you put new sneakers on your car.

 
They ironed out the abs weirdness by 09 though. The early abs could be downright scary.

 
Nigel Prodrive said:
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...except that Pedro would know from hard experience that an suv CAN stop on a dime, if said dime is taped to the back bumper of a miata.....
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no that was a mercury gand marquis (whatever the crown vic is)
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The full size blazer stopped about 12" past the dime tapeded to the bumper of my first SAAB.
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(65mph vs 0mph)
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I agree that the ABS on the early Impreza's isn't all that great. When mine had ABS (some sensors went bad, wasn't worth the money it would cost to fix them) it kicked on way too early, especially on dirt. I noticed a pretty large improvement in braking after it was removed, especially on dirt.

I think driving without ABS takes a bit more driving skills, but my truck does not have ABS either so I am used to it.

 
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I don't use it in my legacy, because my GL doesn't have it. Weird going back and forth.

The older ABS sucks, around 97 or 98 they changed it and it seems to work better. (this is just my experience driving different subarus).

With the newer ones you can actually lock the wheel up if you don't brake to hard, but just hard enough. If you're nice with the brake pedal (which you need to be without ABS anyway) it works about the same. Now if you slam the pedal to the floor in slippy conditions... You idiot. The computer does it's job, but can't fix you being stupid
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^ not directed at anyone in particular, just sayin'

 
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