Well, it is finally a mess here in Boston area. A good amount of snow yesterday now sleet and freezing rain. I had been looking forward to the snow. Th go! portion of the quattro is amazing. Drive right through the pile of snow from the plow and up unplowed roads no problem. So yesterday in the snow as I was loving the go! I decided to check out the ABS. I have read the talk of ABS not being that great in the snow as you would stop faster if your wheels locked and accumulated snow. Well, as I was coming down a very steep hill to turn onto Massachusetts Ave I decided I would give the brakes a try. I am at the top of this hill that is maybe 100 yards long. There is a car stopped at the bottom waiting to turn. I am going about 5 mph and I depress the brake pedal hard. I can feel the ABS pulsing away and am thinking this is nifty. At least I was thinking that untill I wasn't slowing down any. Just kept rolling down the hill. I came to within 10 ft of the stopped car before I stopped with the brakes full on all the way down the hill. Yes, the beauty of ABS is you can steer under hard braking. So if I was not gonna stop I could have gone around the stopped car. Of course that would have put me in the middle of Mass Ave, also a bad option. And don't give me the snow tires lecture please, as I have got them. So as I understand it, the brakes worked as designed, though whether that is a good thing is debatable. Are there perhaps some techniques I am unaware of for braking in the snow with ABS. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened had I not been testing out the brakes and waited to stop till I was closer. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.<p>A4qms

I turn off the ABS in my 5KTQ because it doesn't stop for beans when the snow is really slick. Nice little button right on the dash.<p>

Not that I know of

Someone posted results of testing with ABS on and off a while back. From what I recall, it didn't make much difference either way.<p>As far as technique with ABS, just stomp and hold. Any modulation you try and do yourself, will probably just lengthen the stopping distance.<p>CraigB

Newer Audis do not have the option to turn off ABS.<br>Did you also downshift to help slow your car?<br>I've never done a head to head test with ABS vs. non-ABS in these conditions so I can't say for sure that you'd have been better off without it. I can tell you even in my GTI, Civics and other cars that were non ABS.....when I ended up locking up the wheels, it didn't help much on an icy, snowy downhill run from what I recall. I do remember one bad night on campus in my '86 GTI in a blizzard. Too long to tell...but quite comical now.<br>The only thing I always use is downshifting plus braking. I try to 'beat' ABS as best I can but that's not always possible, especially with a slippery road and an emergency stop.<br>I know there are people who say engine braking is not good, but I do it smoothly and have done it on all my cars. My cars have never had any problems and I keep them for many, many miles. <br>-Cathleen<p>

What gear were you in? I have generally had far better success when using engine braking in combination with light application of brakes than just allowing for the "magics" of ABS to save me. Combination of both is great. at 5 MPH, prob. should have be in 1st.<p>I think you just were going too fast for conditions. Still need some coefficient of friction between tires and road in order to stop; if it is zero, NOTHING will stop you except clobbering something on the hill. Unless it is very heavy snow, don't think turning off the ABS would have helped. I had an old Coupe Quattro that had a manual ABS defeat switch. During winter driving from '91 to '97 in hilly Western PA, I hardly ever found a case where I felt turning off the ABS would have been the way to go.<p>Something else I have found useful is pulling over to the right so that the right-side wheels are in the unplowed snow on the side; acts as a good brake. On a city street with curbing and parked cars this might not be an option, though.<br>

My 1991 Coupe Quattro had a switch for the anti-locks that allowed you top turn them off -- I usedd to scoff at A4s before I bought one as the cupholder replaced the diff lock on the Coupe -- the "Acurization" of Audi. Sure would be nice if someone came up with a retrofit ABS switch for the A4.

It will not *create* traction if there is none. There's no special techniques really to braking on snow, just keep your distance and always be aware of the amount of traction you have handy. However, I don't believe that there are any situations other than very deep snow and loose gravel where it's a good idea to turn off ABS. That's why cars don't come with a defeat switch...