RE: A snow/ice storm and my A4Q (longish)...

[Rob Winchell <rbw@avs.com>]

When I got my 200, I was shocked to see a switch that allows me to turn off 
the Anti-locks. I looked in the manual, and their reasoning for it was 
something like:

In conditions where snow has fallen over ice, locked wheels will build up a 
"wedge" of snow in front of them (like a plow), giving better stopping 
power.


Rob Winchell

> From:    Orin Eman [SMTP:orin@netcom.com]
> To:      John Legelis
> Date:    97-03-18 16:14:07
> Subject: Re: A snow/ice storm and my A4Q (longish)...
>
> > Nits:  This is my first car with ABS, and while I don't deny it's
> > ability to stop a car on the slick stuff I have found the the lack of a
> > switch to defeat the system impairs my ability to determine how slick
> > the roads actually are.  In non-ABS cars I can judge road conditions by
> > gently pressing on the brake, while feeling for impending wheel lockup. 
> > ABS doesn't allow me to do this test, or a least makes it harder to
> > judge these matters since the ABS pulsations really mask any brake 
pedal
> > feel.  Does anyone else feel this way, or do I just need to get use to
> > the system?  I've even entertaind the idea of wiring in a 'defeat'
> > switch to the ABS fuse...
>
> I agree... sort of.  I found that my A4 1.8T stops better on snow and ice
> if you keep it out of the ABS.  Why???  Well, my theory is that once
> the ABS cuts in, it releases pressure to a slipping wheel a certain
> percentage of the time, say 25% of the time, so you get less braking
> than if the wheel was locked up!  Of course, you GAIN directional 
control.
>
> Orin.