ABS: What can be done to improve

[Elekta]

5-15 mph panic stops? The only fender benders I have been in my car have been due to abs keeping the wheels from locking up, when if they had locked up my stopping distance would have been short enough to prevent a rear ender.

I almost whacked my new front bumper yesterday on a right turn from a green light when the car in front of me stopped suddenly to give way to a pedestrian. My heart just sunk as I kept creeping up on this idgit's rear bumper with the thought of all that new gear getting trashed. It was a miracle I didn't tap.

Is it the weight of my wagon with no caliper upgrade? I have newish rotors and pads, but this is presenting an issue for me.. My 57 chevy with drum brakes and 5100 pounds stops in shorter distances.

Frankly I'd rather eliminate the whole thing and pump the brakes myself to safety. Should I invest in an M5 braking system, or will the 5-15 mph panic stopping be no different?

TIA for info, and I'll check back later today.

[DaveVoorhis]

E34 brakes in stock form are superb. I believe the 1990 E34 had the best brakes of any regular production vehicle in that year. If your stopping distances are unusually poor, a check of the braking system is in order. They should *not* be worse than a '57 Chevy! You may have seized caliper pistons, glazed pads or fluid flow problems that are causing some wheels to under-brake, which causes the remaining wheels to take up the entire braking load. That will activate the ABS, and braking will be poor.

With ABS, unless you're driving on gravel or snow, your stopping distance is shorter or the same as without ABS. A skidding tire which is lubricated by a layer of molten rubber is not an effective braking mechanism.

[winfred]

not much can be done for stopping distances going that slow not much energy to be dissapated, bigger brakes would likely lock faster they usually come in to play when theres lots of heat to absorb/dissapate, you could figure out how to play with the bias to get a little more rear brakes but that could unballence the car and when the rear end wants to steer it's hard to ignore, my best advice is run good pads and tires, and don't follow so damn close :D

[emw525E34]

Try to leave some distance from the car ahead. Give you more time and distance to really stop. But if you are the first car in the line, then floor it and fly......
The touring has hefty weight, nothing much we can do about it.

[Paul in NZ]

There something else wrong with your brakes then E 34 brakes are GOOD.

[Elekta]

not much can be done for stopping distances going that slow not much energy to be dissapated, bigger brakes would likely lock faster they usually come in to play when theres lots of heat to absorb/dissapate, you could figure out how to play with the bias to get a little more rear brakes but that could unballence the car and when the rear end wants to steer it's hard to ignore, my best advice is run good pads and tires, and don't follow so damn close :D

that's just too bad really. I wasn't on the car in front's bumper, but I was following traffic thru a green light and the car in front panic stopped and thus so did I and I was pissed that I just didn't stop. One would think that at 5mph the car would completely jerk to a halt. I find it troubling that it doesn't. I had all the fluid changed last year and don't drive the car hard enough to do it again so soon.

last question: will a complete M5 braking system have this same issue?

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=27298&d=1160243980

anyone seen an e39 M5 engine stuffed into a e34? Now that interests me for my tourer...

Here; 3rd page has the MP4 file of the engine revving (http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=78605)

what do you think the price tag was on this transplant....any guesses

[Denton]

anyone seen an e39 M5 engine stuffed into a e34? Now that interests me for my tourer...

Here; 3rd page has the MP4 file of the engine revving (http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=78605)

what do you think the price tag was on this transplant....any guesses

More than you can afford, pal! :p

I don't know, but those engines are VERY expensive. Then you have to convert to OBD-I, then a ton of other PITA things I can't even think of.

I'll throw out $30k.

[Martin in Bellevue]

Switch to the Hawk HPStreet pads. They have a very good initial cold bite. This is a tradeoff with ceramic pads from Hawk & Akebono, that are very quiet & put little residue on the wheels.

[Elekta]

thanks for the information I can use