02 ish ABS question

[SoyKraut]

Ok, so it's a well known fact that the older WRX ABS system sucks...(02/03)ish. Many people have either upgraded or disabled the sucky ABS. What have you done to get around this, or fix this problem? Have you had a problem with the ABS in another model year? If so, what year so I don't purchase that year ABS brain!

I pulled the fuse for the ABS long ago and dealt with it with my foot. This seemed to be the best answer at the time. Oddly enough, since I grew up driving cars without ABS, this was a welcome change. Is a newer model year for the ABS worth changing and upgrading my ABS and running the system again?

How many people here are actually still running ABS? How many people believe that their foot is the best ABS system?

Let's hear it! ABS? Or FTS!

[sperry]

The problem with the ABS in the WRX, IMO, is mostly that once it triggers, just backing off the pedal pressure doesn't stop the abs intervention. You basically have to completely take your foot off the brake for it to stop pulsing. Other than that, apparently the ABS is a little aggressive on dirt/ice, but I've only noticed it a few times on ice and I'm not sure it's really much worse than other systems. Frankly, removing the ABS on any street car is a recipe for insurance issues. If you were to rear end someone after intentionally disabling the ABS, you may very well end up getting denied coverage.

I left the shitty ABS alone in my WRX. I just learned to brake above the ABS threshold. While its not street driven, I decided the ABS is extremely useful on the track for preventing flat spots if/when I blow a braking marker and have to just brake like crazy to stay on track. At the track, you certainly can't use the ABS as an advantage due to the inability to untrigger the ABS by modulating the pedal. But the tiny bit of potential performance gain in lap times isn't worth ruining a $1,200 set of tires in an instant because you went in too deep. So I just learned to live with it.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

With older systems it was debatable whether a skilled driver could manage shorter braking distances than the ABS. With newer systems it's not debatable anymore, the ABS is better than any human. The computer can ride the threshold of tire lock without actually slowing a wheel to zero rotational speed, continuously modulating brake line pressure, and it can do it ridiculously fast.

[SoyKraut]

Alright, so for insurance purposes....my ABS is fully functional. Good call Scott.

Moving on, so if I am looking to update my ABS system with a system from a newer model year I'm ASSuming that what I would need to do is replace the ABS control module and hydraulic control unit. This might pose a problem since the 02/03 WRX's are a 3 channel system. Are the newer WRX ABS systems still 3 channel? Or have they gone to a 4 channel system similar to the STI?

Maybe I will wire up a switch so that I can disable the ABS system when not driving on public roads. But I could definitely see an insurance company giving me a hard time for that as well.

Perhaps for now I will just do like Scott did and deal with it on the street. But I'll definitely be pulling the fuse for track and autocross events. Getting wider and sticker tires will help to keep me out of ABS anyway so that will be my temporary fix. No wonder Cory told me that he never has a problem staying out of ABS in his car!

[sperry]

Honestly, with good tires the ABS should be a non-issue. Like Austin said, ABS does work faster than any human can. And even though the early WRX ABS has problems, overall it's likely safer to have than not.

I know how much it sucks on ice... where you just know as the car is pulsing the ABS and not slowing down at all that just locking up the tires would stop the car better. But those shitty situations occur at like 2 mph in a parking lot where you're not going to get yourself killed. And those situations are super rare... much more rare that the number of lock-ups you'll have at the track or autocross. Meanwhile, in a panic stop on the highway in the dry, the ABS will likely save your life.

Personally, I wouldn't bother messing with it at all. Maybe if you were rally racing, then pull the fuse. But otherwise, on the street, autocross, or track, you're probably better off leaving it alone. Use the ABS as a fail-safe for when you totally blow a corner... you know you can just point the car straight and press the brake as hard as possible and the car will slow down as quickly as possible. The ABS works great for panic stops on dry tarmac. You just won't be able to let off and salvage the corner if the ABS triggers, so staying out of the ABS will be critical for fast laps, but if you're already needing to slow down that much that the ABS triggers you probably already blew the corner anyway.

[cody]

My ABS almost never kicks in on dry pavement, even when racing (and I brake very hard). I think you just have to learn to threshold brake well and it never kicks in (and if it does, it's not that noticeable). But as Sperry said, it's awful on ice since it will kick in and fail to slow the vehicle until you let off completely or just wait a (very long) second.

I took advantage of the "customer satisfaction program" that replaced the ABS ECM, which helped keeping it from engaging on dry and wet pavement, but on snow and ice, it still kicks in and feels like you have no brakes for a second during a panic stop, which is crazy.