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90 244 w/ABS brake feel[ALL/1998] posted by Bill McDowell on
Tuesday, 1 April 1997, at 11:24 a.m.
My most recent qaddition to my stable is a 1990 244 with ABS. The owner just had new pads all around, rotors turned, and the system bled. The feel of the breaks is rather soft, though. A good amount of travel, and no hard grab, like I am used to on the Volvos. The owner said the brakes have been soft since he bought the car new. The only suggstion is that the quality of the pads gives the soft feel. I know that Volvo brand breaks are very soft and have a short life span. can any other owners comment? The car has 45K. Bill McDowell
Re: 90 244 w/ABS brake feel[ALL/1998] posted by Stoney on
Tuesday, 1 April 1997, at 1:44 p.m.
John, That's how they feel. I've driven my 90 244DL w/out ABS brakes and my friends 90 244GL with ABS brakes, and feel as you and the previous owner felt that the ABS brakes felt mushy. Both cars had the same setup, with Volvo dealer brake pads, even tires were same and yet my car has more bite and I found myself brakeing earlier and putting a lot more foot to the pedal to get the feedback I am used to from my 90 244DL. I did have the opportunity to test the ABS at 55-60 on the Jersey pike when I had to do a slalom (sp?) thru a 4 car spinout. It's nice but the 90% of the time you don't need ABS it's still mushy.
This is just my opinion so don't everybody get their knickers in a twist over it. ABS systems are very different in feeling/feedback for a lot of drivers. It's kinda like when power brakes became standard equipment, I could tell if someone had never driven a car with power assisted brakes, cause they would lock 'em up in a normal redlight stop. It takes time for people to get used to a new thing and some folks never get used to a new standard.
FWIW: In New York City the standard taxi is a Chevy Caprice/Ford Crown Victoria and almost all the original units were delivered with ABS and most of the Chevy cabs had reverted to the old brake system within 6-9 months. The Ford taxis were the Police Option models and the HD braking system and Ford ABS seemed to have a better time of it than the GM product. Most of the cabs were fleet units and are driven by different guys every day. Most of the private owner/drivers buy the Ford.