Katyushin

Conventional wisdom on ABS, as touched on by others, is that you should never in normal driving conditions have to experience it- it is there specifically to assist in extreme circumstances (as in avoiding the obstruction). Those extremes can be influenced by any combination of poor road condition (loose/wet) or tyre performance, or brake system health (padss, fluid, discs).

ABS can be expereicned progressively in certain conditions, or fully engaged (lots of Brake Pedal feedback).

If you are regularly experiencing ABS in all conditions, then you are at the car's limit of adhesion for (your weight of braking for the given circumstance)

Everybody reacts at different speeds and applies different braking effort based on their own appreciation of the situation - anticipation, reaction, control, it's all variable baby!

CiderBoy

The ABS on the S2000 is quite relaxed and cuts in quite late.

Practise your braking and you'll never use in general.

For me it's there for those moments of emergency, like someone running out in front of you, where you are unprepared and slam on the anchors.

I love the fact people have ABS. Just this morning I stopped on the motorway slip road, looked in my mirror and see a Fiesta getting bigger and bigger; the wince on the drivers face getting tighter and tighter. I pulled forward a little and she stopped just in time. Without ABS she would have been in my boot!

Nick Graves

The damping is prone to fade and on poor roads, one does get the occasional thump from the NSF.

It tells you that you are braking to the car's limits & should adjust accordingly.

The car will still stop the quickest just before ABS cuts in, so one pump will reduce the deceleration rate & mean you won't have to lift, unless you want to turn the wheel. Always get the braking over first.

If you're getting any more than that, you are over-braking.

Try decelerating a little earlier. The S2000 will outbrake a lot of things, but don't get carried away!

RUSS H

Try to provoke it in a wet car park a few times.

Russ.

simonprelude

AFAIK the owners manual suggests that the ABS system should actually be purposely used every so often, other wise the ABS pump can seize

slomofo

...not necessarily, ABS does not shorten stopping distances, it gives you control to undertake a manoeuvre under extreme braking. She could have ended up alongside you!

RUSS H

Really?

Russ.

Dembo

No, not really. ABS does stop you faster than locking up wheels, but slower than threshold braking (i.e. at the limit of locking up).

If anyone else has the 1st Lotus DVD, he demonstrates this.

RUSS H

ABS does not shorten stopping distances....Compared to what I should have said.

I was being sarcastic as usual

Russ

CiderBoy

Mmmmmmm.

Not if you are going to break traction...that is what it's there for. But you can stop quicker without breaking traction.

Not only does this make sense to me, but I've proved it on an airfield marked out with cones where I did several runs breaking from 90mph+ to a standstill. Oh and I also had a F1 test driver in the passenger seat coaching me.

A good stop where the ABS did not kick in was a significantly shorter distance than relying on the ABS.

That was enough for me!

Nick