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just started snowing pretty good today and the roads were covered. well when i break with a little force in the snow my car starts to vibrate from the brake pedals. even if i press my hardest the car will not burn through the snow, it just very slowly comes to a stop with lots of vibration. i'm wondering if this the tires or the abs thats doing this. i'm using the stock firestones from the si/ex coupe. if this was an emergency stop for sure i would hit the next car or thing infront of me. tested in my neighbor after work and going around 30kmh and full force brake the car wouldn't even give me momentom to whip my head forward like on pavement.

 
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Yea, sounds like you are describing what it is like to drive on a slippery surface. The vibration and stuff is normal. Do you feel the brake pedal pulsating when this happens? If so, and I bet you are, that is the abs. It squeezes the braks and then releases over and over unit you release the pedal or the vehicle stops. It causes vibrations, the feeling in the pedal, and is just weird until you get used to it.

 
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Its ABS, i went through the crazy snow in Toronto today too

 
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yep, abs doing its job....w/o that you would SURELY hit the car in front of you, because you will just lock your wheels and slide right into the shizzy

mark

 
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ABS actually increases your stopping distance, it just allows you to make turns, not the best turn but you could still steer with ABS instead of locking your brakes and going straight. I think it's just the snow that is why you can't turn, you have no traction when you go fast in the snow.

 
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listen to this guy!

 
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Yeah JJJ is correct, ABS does increase your stopping distance, however it gives you much better control with not-so-great traction. After driving my dad's non-ABS Camry and then feeling the vibrations from my Civic...i was shocked too. Thought I broke something, but hell it saved me from hitting an SUV in front of me.

 
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heh..dont drive in the snow stay home like me.. hahahaha

 
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Antilock brakes DO NOT increase stopping distance. They are designed to prevent wheel lockup under heavy and sudden braking, by quickly applying and releasing brake line pressure at an optimal rate (much faster and more precise than you could do by manually pumping the brakes yourself). This results in dramatically reduced braking distances and also allows you to remain control of the car during braking.

These facts have been established for quite some time now. Just pick up any training video or defensive driving video on ABS and they'll show plenty of comparison tests between an ABS-equipped and non-ABS car.

 
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i tested it out with my dads van with no abs and it stopped faster at the same speed, 25kmish. but when i did a slight turn i can feel the rear sliding a bit, but on the civic it slowly, i would say very slowly came to a hault but less rear slippage. but serious at a higher speed, 50-60km and braked in light snow in the civic my rear would lose control just like the van would.

 
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Not trying to flame, but that is not a valid test. It's like comparing apples to oranges, two entirely different cars with untold variances between them (condition of brakes, entirely different braking systems). It's entirely possible that your father's van just simply stops better than your Civic.

Let's keep in mind that ABS is designed to take effect only under WHEEL LOCKUP conditions. It is not even activated unless the ABS system detects wheel lockup. A wheel lockup condition is determined by the wheel speed sensors on each wheel. For example, if the wheel sensor on one wheel is sending signals at a much slower rate than the car is decelerating (e.g. the wheel has locked up), the ABS system will immediately kick in and modulate/pulse brake pressure to that wheel. Otherwise, if the signals from all four wheels sensors indicate no lockup, braking is accomplished using the car's normal braking system. In other words, if you are not braking hard enough or fast enough to cause wheel lockup, ABS doesn't even enter into the equation.

Referring back to the original experiment - are you braking hard enough on the Civic so that you can feel the brake pedal pulse? And are you braking hard enough on the van so that it starts to skid (wheel lockup)? If not, you are not doing a test of ABS vs. non-ABS, rather you are testing the stock braking systems of both cars. A much more valid test would be to disable the ABS component on your Civic, and compare the braking distances during a wheel lockup condition.

 
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Yeah sorry guys but Htown is correct, you dont have to be a rocket scientist to know that ABS reduces stopping distance. They even tell you in driving school for christs sake...

 
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Well we're both right and wrong. In a real-life emergency braking decision where wheel lock-up is a concern, ABS will give you a shorter stopping distance (because it will not lock-up). However, in theory since the brakes ease up when the wheels approach lock, it has a theoretical longer stopping distance. So the answer is totally in which way you want to look at it.

 
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The only time that ABS can possibly increase braking distances is in instances where you are trying to brake on an uneven surface. In this case, it is entirely possible that one wheel may be touching the ground while one or the other wheels is not touching the ground. If this happens, ABS will think that the airborne wheel is locked up because it is spinning relatively slowly, and will release brake pressure to that wheel. You will thus feel as if the braking system is momentarily failing.

But once again, in all other cases, if there is no wheel lockup, then there is no action by the ABS system. If there IS a wheel lockup condition, ABS has been proven to dramatically reduce braking distances.