abs delete? worth it?

[browntown]

Lack of ABS means inevitable rear-ending? I'm clearly older than you because I've only driven cars with ABS in the last decade of my life. Every car before that (and there were many) did not have ABS and I've managed not to rear end anyone.

That said, modern ABS is a wonderful safety feature. My honda and subaru have wonderful / reliable / and Predictable abs systems. I just don't like the way my e30's abs works and I'm not sure if it is just my system or the platform itself. Either way I'm too lazy to deal with it, so out it goes.

Because RaceCar ken. c'MON. Yes I know racers love a good ABS system too, let's not get into that.

And that's the secret of modding cars anyways. Half the crap on an e30 is over-engineered, there is a lot of convenience that can go away in these cars. Deleting is generally easier than repairing or replacing. My A/C, P/S, P/A, OBC, etc were all victims of my "well that is simply in the way and doesn't work like it should -- in the trash it goes"

Lazy modders unite.

[nrubenstein]

tossing the idea around. it would be another system to not have to worry about, supposed to have more control supposebly. any truth to this?

keep in mind it is my DD, any situation where not haveing ABS is better?

or is this a HORRIBLE idea

Under ideal circumstances, you can have very, very slightly shorter braking distances without ABS. Under most circumstances, they will get longer. If you're not a very good driver, they get a lot longer. The crappier the tires you run, the more you want ABS as well.

If you want a classic example of a no-ABS victim, think of white325is' sepang. "I hit the brakes and it just slid" is the indicator.

[M3 Ryan]

Most cars and drivers are better off with ABS. I removed mine in my M3 about 9.5 years ago and have never missed it. I have brembo's all around with 4 pistons each...
I prefer a fully functional system in a daily driver. My car sees sprited driving and car shows so it's fine without ABS...

[richard.bratton]

The ABS system in E30s may be old but works really well. I've driven with and without in the same car and there is no change in pedal feel. I can't think of any compelling reason to remove the ABS system...

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

[u3b3rg33k]

I have driven my DD E30 100k+ miles with no ABS. The light came on and I never fixed it. It is nice in some instances. By todays standards the ABS in the E30 is junk. Even cars from the late 90s have better ABS. The E30 ABS is only a panic mode intervention. Meaning road full of ice and so on. I could be wrong.
If you know how to drive and can modulate the pedal ABS takes longer to stop.

As someone who ice races, I consider myself to be rather familiar with e30 ABS. I find it extremely difficult to out brake the ABS in an e30 (provided you're TRYING to threshold brake, not just stomping on the pedal like a buffoon). I've taken to using the ABS as a traction indicator by intentionally triggering it to find the best point to threshold brake, as the surface at an ice race is in permanent flux.

Compared to the ABS in some of our newer cars, (like our ford exploder, I can out brake its ABS repeatedly by about 20 feet on sheer ice), I am usually within a foot or two of the ABS in the e30.

My preferred method of reliably using the ABS as effectively as possible is to depress the pedal rapidly until it triggers the ABS, then back off so it only clicks now and then.

As for the ABS coming on when it shouldn't, I've yet to experience that occurrence in my car - I've managed to trigger it once on the road (when demonstrating the full braking ability of the car to someone on the road near my house, I managed to get it to click once as I came to a complete stop), and once at the track in a similar fashion when I was getting overly excited with the slow pedal. In both instances the system did not intrude and reduce stopping distance (had it not clicked once, the wheels might've locked), and in the two or three "panic stops" I've had since acquiring the car, It has yet to put me into someone's bumper.

In one of the 'big three' cars we've owned, I've had the ABS trigger while parking thanks to a virtually nonexistent patch of oil on the ground, and ended up stopping straddling the planter, as the ABS decided that steering was more important than braking. had it not been so intrusive, I would've stopped just fine (I was going around 5mph at the time).

[smooth]

Lack of ABS means inevitable rear-ending? I'm clearly older than you because I've only driven cars with ABS in the last decade of my life. Every car before that (and there were many) did not have ABS and I've managed not to rear end anyone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation

[Stoner Sam23]

I like this, there is a lot of good info here. But has anyone actually done this? I see it as "if it works don't fix it." But if the ABS is bad does it actually improve brake feel/response to remove it?

[smooth]

No.

If you're dead set on removing the ABS just disconnect power to the controller.
If it's malfunctioning I think it's disabled anyway so disconnecting it is probably not even necessary.

[JTDay]

Why would you go through the trouble to delete a system that already works? The e30 ABS works great. Unless your experienced with threshhold breaking under a multitude of environments, I'd say keep the ABS. The car can "bite" you, so to speak.

[lbreevesii]

On a DD? I say keep it. Its easy to modulate when you're on the track or driving a backroad, but if you need to panic brake in the street it may save your ass from a crunch.

[Jonny Cash]

Every single racer Ive ever talked to prefers ABS over non. Whether it be flat spotting 1000$ tires, standing on the pedal in the wet etc etc.
Besides maybe what, 15lbs(?) of weight, there is no benefit of removing it period.

Of course I figured all of this out AFTER i ripped mine all out.

That said Ive co-driven a very powerful e30 with lots of race rubber with no abs, and almost lost my spleen at the end of the back straight so what do i know.

[FunfGan]

I've had my abs unplugged since I bought the car, later found out the wires were cut. I, nor my instructor, at a local SCCA driving school could even get my brakes to lock up anyway. Fluid was full, lines were bled, aggressive-ish pads... Go figure.

[KenC]

I've had my abs unplugged since I bought the car, later found out the wires were cut. I, nor my instructor, at a local SCCA driving school could even get my brakes to lock up anyway. Fluid was full, lines were bled, aggressive-ish pads... Go figure.

Something was wrong with your brakes. Our e30 track car has no ABS and the brakes can be locked up rather easily (I did it and spun into the grass at Infineon.) The e30 has pretty aggressive brakes.

[FunfGan]

Something was wrong with your brakes. Our e30 track car has no ABS and the brakes can be locked up rather easily (I did it and spun into the grass at Infineon.) The e30 has pretty aggressive brakes.

Never understood it myself. Brakes worked excellent, just couldn't lock them. I'm assuming it had to do something with grippy tires, and boat anchor wheels.

[einstein57]

My abs has never worked. I'd like to remove the pump to offset some of the intercooler weight and to improve pedal feel. I'm just going to pull the lines out of an 85 next time I go the yard. I don't want to bother with bending new lines and buying more tools.