In an emergency braking w/o ABS, should i hit the brake so hard it locks the wheels? not lock the wheels? try to down shift and brake? leave the transmission in gear and not lock the wheels? what should i do? pray?
thanks for helping

 

Pump the brakes and if you hear the wheels skid let off and continue pumping. It's hard to remember, but if you lock the wheels and skid it will take longer to stop. This is basically what ABS does, it pumps the brakes at a much higher rate than you could and if one wheel locks up, it backs off on the breaks on that wheel..

 

In an emergency stopping situation without ABS, you should apply progressive pressure to the brake pedal until either its as hard as you can, or until you feel the wheel start to lock (dont just slam on the brakes b/c it will lock sooner than if you apply progressively harder pressure, which allows the weight of the car to shift to the front wheels where most of your braking power is.). If it starts to lock, back off a bit until it isnt locked and repeat. Essentially, you end up pumping the brake to get as much stopping power out of the brakes as possible. your brakes have much mroe stopping power than your wheels skidding against the road, so keep the wheels rolling while stopping.

One exception would be if you needed to steer to avoid a collision. Then, you would need to brake hard while going straight, and let off the brake to avoid collision and then get back on the brake. Non-ABS cars cant be steered well when the brakes are applied. the S2000 and other cars with ABS will allow you to steer AND brake. Sorry of this sounds confusing, but you should probably take a safety or performance driving course that teaches these techniques (and practice in empty lots or something)to really get good at it. Good luck and have fun!

 

The word "pump" the brakes may be a bit misleading. What you are asking about is called threshold braking. Every person who drives ought to know how to apply the brakes and I give you a LOT of credit for asking!!!

Get on the brake pedal as soon as you can with out stomping on it. Apply greater and greater pressure smoothly and firmly. As soon as the tires lock up and skid you are not slowing down at the quickest rate and you clearly do not have steering control. As you are applying the brakes and pushing harder and harder if you begin to hear or feel a skid you need to release pressure on the brake pedal so the tire can stop skidding and then reapply pressure again. The trick for me has always been to start applying pressure to the pedal slowly and then increase the pedal pressure evenly. Jumping on the pedal too abruptly will cause the tires to skid and then you are not maximizing the braking capability of the tire/car/pad combo.

A tire making noise is not necessarily skidding. At the track we call it "a squealing tire is a happy tire". The maximum coefficient of friction for many tires is reached at a point where the tire begins to "talk". During threshold breaking you have to feel the difference in the front tires between skid and squeal. To achieve threshold breaking is not an easy task, it takes practice.

When I have a friend in the car I have a game we play. As you are driving along without warning the passenger will say or point out a landmark, a shadow, a bridge, a road sign, whatever. The goal is to stop before you get there without locking up the tires, remembering to look in the rear view mirror first! The lesson here is the passenger surprises you with the point in which you have to stop so you don't have the chance to get prepared mentally. On the track or in a real life crisis you are not going to have a chance to get prepared you need to get on that pedal quickly without jamming it on! This is what I suggest my students do when they are not at the track so they can begin to develop the skills needed to maximize the brakes on a car without ABS.

Great question!