Crazy_Jake

I'm thinking of removing my ABS just to free up some space in the engine bay. I've never felt the ABS kicking in through my brake pedal, so I see no reason to keep it other than safety precautions like during rain or ice. Will there be any noticable difference in pedal feel?

maxcooper

I don't see any problem with removing the ABS if you don't want it. It shouldn't mess up the feel if you do it right. I think the ABS assembly has a proportioning valve in it for the rear brakes, so be sure to retain it or replace it with another proportioning valve.

-Max

Crazy_Jake

What exactly does that do?

jspecracer7

I have a write up on the subject WITH pictures. PM me and I'll send you the link.(shhhh....it's a SECRET place )

spigot

iTrader: (4)

Generally the proportioning valve reduces the ammount of pressure to the rear brakes. The key is to have the fronts lockup just before the rear. If you think about how a car nose dives when you apply the brakes, you can see how it will be much easier to lockup the rear brakes, so in order to counter this effect you need to reduce the force on the rear brakes and that is what the valve does.

Matt

Silex

Secret's out!

Wade

iTrader: (1)

I would seriously consider keeping it. It is a great safety device and if you ever have to react very quickly to try to prevent an accident, the antilock feature could very well safe your car (or your life). I seriously wouldn't remove it. Removing things like A/C is one thing, but this device could very well save your life, please don't mess with it.

Wade

rynberg

I completely agree. The ABS is not very big and is tucked in the far corner there. Removing it is not really going to open up the engine bay at all.

jspecracer7

That's quite interesting. But I would think that you would want the rears to lock up BEFORE the fronts. This is so that if you do start to lock up the brakes, at least your fronts are NOT locked up and you still have control of the car. Since the front brakes still have traction, you would still be able turn away/possibly lessen the damage, etc.

Just wondering

spigot

iTrader: (4)

It really does depend on the application, for the street or anywhere else that there is good traction then what you need is for front brakes to lock the front wheels slightly before the rear wheels lock. This means that the car remains in a straight line, steered and stabilised by the rear wheels. With the rears locked up, the back wheels steer the car and the steering wheel is virtually useless.

On a slippery surface or in a drift setup then you would want the rears to lock before allowing the back end to break loose before the front so that you can initiate a slide.

The real key to avoiding things is to not lock the brakes, this is relativly easy to do in dry conditions by simply modulating the pedal, however the reason ABS is used is for the times when the driver can't modulate the pedal quick enough(rain). It is interesting to note that abs will increase the stoping distance in snow, when the brakes are locked, snow will build up in front of the wheel and act like a plow, with abs the plow effect is never acceived since there is never any buildup in front of the wheel. However you will still have steering input with ABS.

As to wheather or not you should remove your ABS... it depends. If you have not done things to your braking system that throw the ABS out of ballance (big brakes, new master cylinder, bigger sticker tires) then there is no point to remove it. Unless having ABS increases your stopping distances (which it can if it isn't ballanced correctly) then there is no reason to remove it.

I'd be supprised if max hasn't had some strangeness in his setup, however I doubt he's tried to run his car without abs.

Matt