Last weekend I was the passenger in my buddy's '04 Cummins when he had to make a somewhat-quick stop for a red light. It really wasn't that hard of a stop, but he mentioned right after that it feels kind of funny when the ABS kicks in on the back wheels. I was surprised that ABS needed to activate for that particular stop, so we headed to a clean pavement area for some braking tests.
As expected, the truck's braking was less than impressive. But what we didn't expect was that the truck seemed to stop better under threshold braking - in this case keeping the ABS from activating - than it did on a full ABS stop. So we got my Mazda3 and, while the braking was much better, it still seemed to stop better without the ABS activating.
I know that you can stop better without ABS on dirt and snow, but isn't ABS supposed to reduce stopping distance on dry pavement? Has anyone else tried this?
As expected, the truck's braking was less than impressive. But what we didn't expect was that the truck seemed to stop better under threshold braking - in this case keeping the ABS from activating - than it did on a full ABS stop. So we got my Mazda3 and, while the braking was much better, it still seemed to stop better without the ABS activating.
I know that you can stop better without ABS on dirt and snow, but isn't ABS supposed to reduce stopping distance on dry pavement? Has anyone else tried this?