Bendix ABS-10

mike gray wrote:

> Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
>
>>> Remember when a master cylinder rebuild kit cost $7.50?
>>>
>>> Technology sucks!
>>>
>>
>> Well, once you get the thing running and it saves your ass on a wet
>> street,
>> then come back and tell us how much better the 4-wheel drum brake
>> setups are. ;-)
>
>
> It has drums at the rear anyway, which is no big deal as the rears do
> nothing but go along for the ride.
>
> ABS will stop shorter than locked wheels, but longer than a properly
> modulated pedal. It is only handy for drivers that panic.

Except that only the best of professional race drivers can modulate
their brakes with sufficient competence to beat ABS. And then only on a
perfect surface. Put one side of the car on pavement and the other on
wet pavement, snow, ice, etc. and ABS will win every time.


>
>> $500 isn't bad if the purchase price of the Caravan wasn't that high,
>> and the body is straight.
>
>
> Yeah, other than the stoppers the van is in pretty good shape. It just
> grinds me that a system that should be - and can be - extremely simple
> and reliable is a monstrously complicated leaky unrepairable unreliable
> pos.
>
> F1 is the most sophisticated automotive technology on the planet. Take a
> look at the brakes. Other than 4 pot calipers and carbon rotors, it's
> the same system I was racing with in the early '60s.
>
> Technology sucks.

No, most technology is fine. Some isn't, but most is. What sucks is
the fact that most people don't understand it.


Matt