This is the perfect time of year to test your antilock braking system. Wet all the time and packed leaves can be nearly as bad as snow (not ice; and yes that’s an opinion and not something I’ve researched) Test ’em before you need them!!
Just find an empty area, preferably one with nothing whatsoever in it, get up to about 25mph and slam on the brakes. When I’d read about ABS I heard it was kind of a gentle clicking. Which is crap. In my car it feels like an odd conglomeration of rapid popping and harsh grinding, the pedal even moves side to side a tiny bit. The effect is a damned quick stop in a straight line.
As long as you check your interior for objects that may fly around and truly are in a huge vacant space, I cannot imagine anything bad happening. Personally, I’ve picked opportune moments for seeing how ABS works in a variety of conditions, but I understand if that’s beyond most people’s comfort zones.
Chances are if you’re reading this you mean something to me, so please make time to try this out.
You know, I haven’t played with my brakes in a while. . might be a good idea. thanks for the tip. . 🙂
I used to work at a driving school in CO. You don’t even need to hit 25. 15 will do it and any open parking lot will work great. This is a GREAT thing for people to do and yeah- the first time you do it, you may think your car is broken, not braking.
ba-dum CHING