Max,
Two misconceptions here. First having the brakes on 100% does not give the
shortest possible stopping distance. Locked brakes take longer to stop that
brakes that are not quite locked. Secondly, ABS does not "release" the
brakes in the sense of turning them off and then back on again. What ABS
does is when a wheel starts to lock to reduce, slightly I might add, the
pressure going to the caliper thus allowing the wheel to keep turning. By
keeping the wheel right on the verge of lockup the shortest stooping distance
is achieved, and control is maintained.
In the web page that Eric supplied was an interesting fact. From 140 Km/h on
wet pavement a test car W/O. ABS took 181 meters to stop, the same car with
ABS took 112 meters a difference of 69 meters. At the point where the ABS
car stopped, the non-ABS car was still traveling something like 86 Km/h!
Now comparing two different cars one with ABS and one without is a dicey
proposition, a great ABS system on a lousy brake system will not be optimal
nor will a lousy ABS system on great hydraulic brakes.
The web page Eric supplied is
<http://www.mercedes-benz.com/e/innovation/rd/forschung_nov96.htm>
Go to planning and trials.
Rick Ewald
In a message dated 01/09/2000 4:41:51 PM Pacific Standard Time,
mvheim@studiolimage.com writes:
> I believe that is the case, due to the fact that cycling the brake on and
> off means that it is actually applied less than 100% of the time, which
> would, of course, result in the minimum distance.
>
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