pocket_rocket

I purchased my 86 951 a few weeks back and like a ~insert expletive here~ I did not check to make sure it had ABS. Well come to find out, it does not. Unlike LSD which can be added but at a cost and is fairly straight forward.. ABS is a whole different world.

Did I make a mistake by not ensuring an ABS purchase if I am going to modify the car for more performance?

Are there problems with the non ABS cars locking up easily or are the brakes pretty easy to modulate? I have not driven the car that hard yet and it is in storage now for the winter. This has me a little worried.

Car Purchase Info

Answers and additional input appreciated.

ilikemy944

Only one of my 951s has had ABS and I don't miss it...
Personally I think they are easy to modulate and pretty well balanced.

I wouldn't worry

J Berk

My car has ABS but for the first year that I tracked it, the ABS did not work.

I don't remember ever locking up the breaks prior to fixing it.

If anything, I would upgrade to frozen or slotted/vented rotors and a good stout set of pads.....I think you can even swap in some 928 brakes if you want to.

ZW 944

I bought my '87 with the ABS not working. However, I cleaned all the sensors, and diagnosed the problem as coming from the relay. Just today actually The new relay came in, and I put it in, the ABS works now. to test out my new brakes with ABS, I went to a huge empty parking lot, and compared the car with the ABS to the car without ABS. (The front tires are worn, so the ABS does engage.) I can say that the car stopped much quicker, and had much greater stopping force than with the relay out. Granted that I am not the best at modulating the brake pedal, but The difference was night and day. I can't imagine how much it will help in the rain, let alone when snow starts to come.

Reimu

You'll be alright

Just man up and get a feel for them

Spidey944

Yeah, no airbags, no ABS is all the rage!

pocket_rocket

Kind of my thoughts on it.. Just wanted to get a feel for what peoples experience has been without ABS.. I think with a good combination of rotors and pads and new lines I should be ok and be able to get a good feel for it..

Appreciate everyones input..

JohnKoaWood

Neither of my 944s have ABS, and I have yet to lock up the tires in over 2 years of daily driving... approx 40000 miles worth of seat time, no problems!

Shut up and drive already!

Tom R.

abs was not available on 86 turbos and was an option on 87 88 turbos.
it was standard on the 89 turbo 88 turbo s and S2s and 89 NAs.

you got the best car you could find so i wouldnt worry. i rarely got my abs to engage on the track. yours isnt a lousy weather car so the chances.... you dont need better brakes - the stock ones are more than adequate for the stock motor.

Oddjob

Depends on what you mean by "performance"? In all but the most extreme cases, I would not worry or think twice about not having ABS on a car.

With that said, I am a big proponent of ABS for hard track use. And by hard track use, I am talking about racing or competition. Not that big of a deal to not have ABS for a DE, and probably not so much for auto-x either. But ABS (even the obsolete Bosch system on 944s) is a godsend when trying to keep a 911 from divebombing you into turn 5 at Road America.... Avoiding lockup at those kind of speeds and with that kind of close proximity to both moving and stationary targets (other cars and trackside obstacles) is a significant safety issue. Also saves flat spotting a lot of expensive tires.

pocket_rocket

Trust me.. I will be driving the hell out of it.. Just having it gone over first and making sure everything is in good order.

Appreciate the feedback..

Bri Bro

If you start to feel the fronts lock up, curl your toes and that will release just enough pressure to stop the lockup. That does assume you just didn't slam the brake pad, you have to be able to feel the brakes work.

Arominus

I've had a few lockups, mostly due to uneven surfaces and driver stupidity. I haven't done it in a while.

the abs on dads s2 is kick *** though, could be those 4 pistons helping too....

krystar

only time i've ever locked up the tires is when i was doing PCA DE and it was pouring rain. i was still going at 70% speed.

as long as you're smooth on your brake engagement, u can feel when the tires are no longer gripping and then just shift your weight on your foot. i'll remember that curling toes trick and try it next time.

lovemyp-car

yeah no kidding...

no airbags, no abs, no lsd, no power steering, no power brakes, no a/c...

i've locked up on purpose a couple of times to test the braking capabilities, especially after i went to manual brakes with the v8 conversion...every time i've done it i've been able to modulate very easily and stop the car very fast. the best thing you can do to decrease wheel slip in the front is get sticky/wider front tires, you'll stop faster and you'll lose traction much less under hard braking...