Any reason not to use ABS?

[mr henderson]

Thinkng about this queston leads me into thinking about how braking works generally. It seems to me that as long as none of the wheels is locking (which, of course, is what ABS prevents) then having full braking power available at each wheel has got to be the best option.

The alternative is to artificially limit the braking power at the rear wheels, by whatever means, bias bar, limit valve, weaker brakes, means that full braking power is not available at the rear wheels just in case it might lead to the rear wheels locking.

So, no wheel locking, no problem. Or so it seems to me.

[alga]

Ford Scorpio/Granada used essentially the same drivetrain as Sierra with a bit longer wheelbase, and had ABS as standard.

[aaronbassett]

and 5 studded wheels to

[miles50]

I am using Scorpio brakes but not the ABS. The master cylinder and associated hardware weigh in at over 11 kilos and is massive. Plus the disc pads have wires running out of them and are costly. The car is so light compared to the Scorpio I figure a bias adjustment should suffice.

[mr henderson]

The car being light doesn't necessarily help stop the wheels from lockng, if anything, with there being less weight pushing down on each tyre, the problem cold actually be worse. I agree that as long as the bias is adjusted to send most of the braking effort to the front wheels then there won't be any involuntary "handbrake turns", but what I am looking at is ways of geting the rear wheels to do their share of the braking, up to the point at which they would lock if ABS was not fitted.

[AshG]

you wouldnt be able to do that. If the abs were to fail the braking has to work as normal. To test at iva they remove the abs fuse. You would be totally relying on the abs to stop the rear wheels locking. If the abs stopped working it would be over braked at the back resulting in the back end coming out.

[flyerncle]

Having had an ABS unit fail on me once was not a nice thing to have, the pedal went rock hard and did nothing at all just as the lights changed to red.
There was no traffic and the seat still bears the grip mark of the buttocks that were clenched on it.

Nice idea, but my own personal opinion is it's a lot of hassle for limited gain and dont forget the IVA and you need a 60/40 split for effort front to rear.
Ford fit neat little valves to reduce rear pressure and again for the IVA bias adjustment must be fixed and non adjustable so negating any benefit.

Do all these "adjustments" after the IVA.