Well getting home tonight was an experience... I came up to a junction that looked fine, very slowly, and applied the brakes very gently and all of a sudden my brake pedal has turned into a jack hammer smashing at my foot because the ABS had a fit. I nearly went up the arse of the car in front of me because it just wouldn't brake because whenever it tried it just started to skid so it stopped trying. At the time I panicked and just stood on the brakes, was very close to pulling up the handbrake though that might have made things worse!

Anyway, since that happened I turned the ASR off. Problem is now I gain the ability to brake, but I started sliding all over the shop, so I ended up turning ASR back on.

Is there any way to disable ABS but keep traction control on?

I'm guessing the answer is no, but it was worth an ask.

Any tips for driving in the snow?

I found when things started going sideways, putting the clutch in seems to straighten things up a bit.

Edited 5 January, 201016 yr by luke_a

Corect the answer is no.

My logic says - In most situations when you at risk off dying (high speed) having ABS is a very good thing. In situations like snow when ABS can increase braking distance (but still steer) you are not (should not be) going fast enough to put your self at risk of death. So its better to have it there all the time. Im sure someone can invent a scenario where that doesnt apply though. Some Audis would let you turn it off but Im not sure whether they still supply that option.

For what its worth I only just made it home tonight in my Octy PD VRS.

First snow this winter (all pretty and white now - yah ) but the Falken summer tyres are poor in snow (so were my Michelins I had last year). I was finding it hard to maintain momentum even on a slight incline even with ESP etc. Have put it in the garage for the time being and will go to work in my Bongo tomorrow (its got 4WD and LSD) and winter tyres that it came with from northern Japan.

well asr isnt traction control all it does it cut the power when it sees the loss of traction to one wheel and deadly imho

as for abs you will find that it will stop you better like this than you be full hammer on the pedal you will slide further

abs is worth having and has been proven to work very very well

i would say if you nearly went up someones arse you need to slow down and drive to the weather conditions...

In my petrol vRS the first thing I do in the snow is turn traction control off as it is next to useless.

Personally I like to feel what the car is doing and drive accordingly, especially when grip is limited.

I drove home very gingerly this eve, and depsite going slow enough to get out and walk, I too had the slide straight on with abs banging away for a few metres.

It is quite scary the first time it happens. I think half the problem is that the cars nowadays are so damn heavy that they just plough on.

Luckily I stopped quickly and wasn't in danger of hitting anything or anybody but to say 'always drive to conditions' etc etc sometimes is not quite that black and white.

I noticed the road was all iced up, was going at 5mph or so and still slid. Sometimes there is nothing you can do.

Although F1's are absoloutely horrendous in the snow, so maybe my car will be staying at home tomorrow.

I've had no ABS in my car for a couple of months now as it stopped woring and I've never got around to taking it to the garage yet. My car has good brake 350mm front discs with 4 pot calipers and I have found it excellant on snow as I can really control the braking (almost limit braking) without the car thinking it knows best. Must say I will miss it when the car gets fixed.

Any tips for driving in the snow?

I found when things started going sideways, putting the clutch in seems to straighten things up a bit.

Yes drive to the conditions, when approaching a junction change down useing the engine breaking, and about 60 yards from the junction you should be in 1st, put your ballet shoes on when breaking, when going down a steep hill use 1st and don't put the clutch in,unless you need to stop, if you start to slide very gently press the accelerator to pull you out of it

For going up hill keep in as higher gear as possible and only change down if it absolutely necessary

on the flat pull away in 2nd

Yes you should have slowed down earlier before applying the brakes. At the moment I'm slowing down as much as I can in the gears meaning i'm only braking a short distance and at low speed.

Although F1's are absoloutely horrendous in the snow

I'll second that :(

Slow down well before the junction.

Sounds like you were going too fast... just slow down, be slower with your actions, and look well ahead and you'll be fine!

theres a fuse you can pull to disable the ABS

but i know with ESP cars, if you turn the ESP off you still have ABS. I don't know if this is the case for ASR cars too

I try not to use the brakes when in really slippy conditions. That means leaving huge gaps between cars and slowing down using gears a long way from where you need to stop.

Normally I'll manage not to stop completely at junctions because I've had a while to plan and it stops you getting stuck because you maintain some momentum.

Smooth inputs on all controls nothing sudden in any direction. high gears etc etc.

I've had no ABS in my car for a couple of months now as it stopped woring and I've never got around to taking it to the garage yet. My car has good brake 350mm front discs with 4 pot calipers and I have found it excellant on snow as I can really control the braking (almost limit braking) without the car thinking it knows best. Must say I will miss it when the car gets fixed.

Why should you miss it when the ABS is fixed. If you can sense the brakes you can continue as you did when they where broken. The thing is the ABS will brake individual wheels when it senses wheel slip. The best that we can do when we feel a wheel slipping is to release the brake which affects all 4 wheels so the car is not getting maximum braking. The other thing that one can do is to allow a single wheel to continue slipping so only 3 are doing the job instead of 4. ABS is better than we are no matter what brakes you have fitted it allows maximum braking effort from all 4 wheels even if this is an uneven match. Man can not as far as I know do 4 channel independent cadence braking simultaneously.

Threshold braking is considered the quickest braking in the dry (provided you can exceute it), perhaps not in the wet.

It may be with my car that the brake assist is also disabled without the ABS, however, whatever the braking feels nicer and more progressive hence I can start to feel the partial lock of the wheel without ABS imeedietly correcting it.