I beg to differ on a recent post. ABS is worth every penny, and very reliable.
I did a couple of full pressure stops the other night in the 91 245. the road was wet and it has 4 studded tires.
It really hung out the anchors! And stopped perfectly straight, I even did one stop on a downhill curve, perfect. I have had lots of other 240's, no way could I get one of those to stop like this in those conditions. The brakes were just as powerful but I would have had to lift off the brake at some point to stay straight, and gone longer distances.
One time a few weeks ago my daughter was driving to work, the roads had black ice in many places, we hadn't put on the winter tires yet (bad move on Dad's part). She manged a couple of down hill stops. The ABS was working overtime but she stayed straight and stopped before each intersection every time, Thanks for ABS!!
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89 744&745-16v's 4+OD, 91 245SE auto, 84 242 Ti 4+OD

i'm a beleiver,and feel comfortable with the wife and daughter having it also.
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92-965-211k, 94-965-215k, 92-944t-205k, 83-242dl,totaled(8/04), 84-242GLT,totaled(2/03),83-245GLT,retired(03)

we had driver's training for work and it was a cool demonstration of abs. basically abs allows you to steer when you have maximum braking force. the exercise was to drive towards a kink in the road (setup with cones) at 50 mph or so, then jamb on the brakes when the instructor surprises you with the signal, then come to a stop midway through the first 90 deg right-hander. i didn't slow down enough so i had to steer through the first right hander, then stopped midway through the next 90 deg left-hander... all while the brake pedal was pumping and the tires were scrubbing. if this was a non-abs car and you locked the front tires you'd plow straight through the cones. of course it's possible to not-lock the front tires but it's also extremely difficult to do so in a panic situation.

It's simple physics.
Keeping friction to the maximum point while "static" (contact) friction - before it becoming "kinetic" (sliding) - allows for the best stopping distance.

My 940 has ABS, and up here in Canada ice and snow the difference is appreciated over my 240 w/o ABS.

When someone says that a driver can simulate that control by being aware and easing off the brake ,well he cannot, reason beig that ABS allows independant wheel (left / right) to adjust pressure. One brake pedal controls all four at the same time.

I recall though the pain when changing out the ABS gear on my 940 to have the same # teeth, so it can be a maintanance issue....

Greg Mustang
Montreal Canada

>>It's simple physics.
Keeping friction to the maximum point while "static" (contact) friction - before it becoming "kinetic" (sliding) - allows for the best stopping distance.<<

Agreed, under most conditions. In some conditions, a sliding tire will stop better than a sliding one, and in these conditions ABS increases stopping distance, sometimes dramatically.

That's why rally drivers don't use it, as posted in the other ABS thread. In some snow conditions, as I have experienced, ABS increased stopping distance. I think this probably has to do with build-up of snow and or dirt/gravel in front of the tire that increases friction, and in snow this build up could clean away the snow so the tire gets to grip on merely wet road with far greater traction than snow.

>>When someone says that a driver can simulate that control by being aware and easing off the brake ,well he cannot, reason beig that ABS allows independant wheel (left / right) to adjust pressure. One brake pedal controls all four at the same time<<

That's true, but I've talked to people who hit a pothole under braking and the brakes released enough to put him into the intersection, and descending a steep gravel driveway that was washboarded caused his ABS brakes to release enough to actually increase his speed when he was standing on the pedal. Scary.

In most situations ABS works wonders, but in some, you want to be able to slide the tires (I do, anyway) and ABS will not allow that. In a few years no one will know how to stop a non-ABS vehicle on ice, since ABS is pretty universal on newer cars. Those drivers had better not drive anything without ABS on snow or ice.