As an old friend of mine used to say "ABS doesn't allow you to stop short, it just lets you pick where to hit!".

Tyres have a maximum braking grip that usually occurs when the tyre is rotating at a rate that is about 15% slower than it would be if you were not braking. If you can apply the right pedal pressure to achieve this rate then you would never need ABS. If you cannot (because you're a newbie or the braking system doesn't allow you to feel this point) the ABS kicks in in an effort to regain grip. Note that a locked tyre has less than 70% of its maximum grip.

A good braking system allows you to feel this threshold point much better than a bad one, reason why you should need to rely on ABS less and less as you enhance your braking system.

 

Luis
I see you have studied braking , you are 100% correct . The first person that I had try my braking system, was the person that machined the mounting brackets . He drove car up to about 40 mph slammed on brakes as hard as he could with the ABS thumping away . He said wow . I told him that's not how to test ability of brakes . I told him to speed up and push petal down slowly to stop as quickly as he desired not mash the petal down . That night he drove his truck and he called me up he said he never realized how bad the brakes were until he drove my car. The ability to modulate brakes consistently with no fade is the answer for a improved braking system.

brad
6410

 

Hi, Brad,

Any updated info on the front brake kit? Or are we just waiting to finalize the testing of the rear rotors, so you can price the whole package including the rear rotors?

Thanks,

/Rog

 

Production of rear pads in # 3 racing compound is 3 to 4 weeks away . We are making stock front pads with # 3 compound also same time frame . We are also working on # 5 compound in both stock and for brake kit this will be less dust and noise than # 3 . A #3 compound bad will take temperatures up to 1,200 degrees . It will handle any thing that car would be used for ( track time ,auto cross or street ) dust is the big problem . This pad is very rotor friendly , better than stock pads. A #8 compound is also in works better than stock less cost than #5 way less than #3 .

The pad availability and mounting hardware is holding up brake kit . I have my kit mounted with modified high strength bolts . I have been working with ARP to have custom bolts made to mount kit . Last week they finally gave me price , buying 100 pieces each, bolts would have cost me $16.00 each, kit requires 8 bolts . That would add up to $128.00 ,plus washers and nuts . I have gone to plan "B" we are going to modify stock bolts, machine costs are in the works now . I have price on rear rotors and lead time is 5 weeks . I will post information as soon as we have handle on costs . Rear rotors will fit cars with stock brakes also .
I want to be able to offer a kit that works and meets every ones expectations. I have over 6,000 miles on front kit,

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dwb1
[B]Luis
I see you have studied braking , you are 100% correct .

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by hpalmer
[B]
Technically a very good driver can stop faster than ABS under ideal conditions, but by very little.

 

Hugh & Mikey,

You are both right but that was not the issue.

The issue was that brake systems that give you little modulation capabilities induce ABS much more often than the ones that do a proper job at that. And remember: ABS is there only to deal with locked tyre situations (potentially resulting in loss of steering, extended brake distances, spinning) not to shorten braking distances per se.

If you don't believe it do a simple test: on a smooth piece of road get yourself to a given speed and panic brake (inducing ABS). Measure the distance.

Repeat trying to modulate the brakes in such a way that ABS is not induced (but on the threshold). Even a newbie will be able to stop shorter in these latter conditions than the former.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mikey
[B]


An example of this is a hard braking situation while in a turn.