Disabled the driving aids. Here are my impressions.
 

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psd5c4c6ff.jpg

Yes, I pulled the ABS fuse. Why?

I'm no longer in fear of the car deciding to do somethig on my behalf that I don't want it to do.

I've never owned a car with so many driving aids, and this would be one of the least powerful cars with with the most mechanical grip I've owned.

I used to always feel my car do weird things. After reading up on all the querks it has; namely ebd, auto lsd, ice mode. It's assumed pedal dance turns most of these off but no one seems to know for sure. It's all bullshit in the most part. I have traction control, the accelerator. I have ABS/EBD/stability, the brakes and the steering wheel.

My car brakes much harder now. I have bigger brakes and good street tyres or semi slicks. Where as before it would engage abs, now I can break much harder. Obvioulsy it will get to a point now where it will lock up, but let me tell you it's well beyond the point where abs used to jump in.

When I have skidders on, and go drifting, the car is better. Where as before with the aids off/pedal dance, it would still get involved if you reached big angle or did a quick switch, it doesn't now.

On canyon/hills, it's also much better. Coming out of corners, where one wheel might unload, it used to apply the brake to the inside rear tyre. I believe this is its auto LSD. I don't need this, I have a 2way. Car seems to fire out of corners in these situations now.

Commuting to and from work, this is where I'd like to have the aids on. This is when I'm probably paying the least attention, on the phone, kid might run out etc. what id like to do is get a switch made up that just activates or deactivates this abs fuse.

In short I feel much safer driving the car aggressively without any aids. It now reacts how you would expect it to.

If you've owned a turbo silvia or another lightweight rwd car that didn't have aids, you'll enjoy your 86 much more with this fuse pulled.

If you're reading this thinking I'm a mad ****; and you feel you need the aids to enjoy the car, that's fine. I feel a little bad for you though.

I'm actually all for these types of aids if its what they need to put in a good car to make it safe for some. As long as they're easily disabled, which in this case I am only certain of when pulling the fuse.

The aids are there for saftey, pull the fuse at the track not on the road.

u have never owned a car with so many aids? all these "aids" are standard on pretty much all the cars on the road today to keep u and other ppl safe. how old were ur other cars? carved rock running on wooden wheels? please keep ur care road safe for other drivers' sake.

Good luck with that. (Blasted airbag keeping you from seeing that last 0.1 sec of life? get rid of it and enjoy the view) JK... enjoy it, its your life.

Lol totally agree with you here, sounds like your car is awesome now.

I remember back in the day I had a 96 civic turbo. I got some wilwood front brakes and I felt way safer driving with bigger brakes. Then I had an sti with brembos and those felt good too. It feels funny to go back to driving regular rental cars or something and feel the shitty brakes and it feels more dangerous.

Lol at people who say "these aids are for safety." True, but I guess you want the car to drive itself? OTOH, people might get careless since they think their "aids" are gonna save them. Lol aids.

Maybe any car in the 90's?

A lot of people rely on ABS when they live in cold-weather climates that produce snow and ice. It also helps in the rain. If you want to risk it, more power to you. I think I would only feel comfortable doing it myself at the track.

I think its funny how people offer their opinions on the internet on what other people shouldn't be doing. That's good advice from the OP on his experience. I'm not gonna do this on the road, but maybe I'll try it out on a track sometime. Also if you do pull the fuse and get into an accident the fault could be placed on you if they find the abs fuse missing. Be safe out there.

Waits for the inevitable "parting out my car" thread when your insurance company won't pay for your inevitable crash.

ABS interferes 99% of the time when you don't need it, but it is the 1% time in an accident avoidance situation that you will NEED it.

That's the reaction I expected.

Reason I haven't owned a modern sports car, as nothing decent (and affordable) has come out of Japan in 10 years. So instead I spent the last 10 years owning late 90's Japanese cars and modifying them.

It actually scares me that so many people here think driving aids are needed on a 150whp 1200kg car.

I've owned 40+ cars, written off 1. That was my fault. I was 17 with a turbo Toyota Starlet FWD (ep82) boost induced understeer off the road. It was my second car.

If I crash the car, I doubt it'll be because I didn't have the aids are on. The aids are there in a modern car to make up the short comings of a typical driver. It doesn't make the car more safe to a capable driver.

I have two other cars with twice the power and less weight than the 86. They have no aids. Heck, one doesn't even have PS or a brake booster. So, yes I feel confident enough to remove the aids.

My post was not intended to brag about being a badass. Rather, it was to give others with a similar level of confidence in their own driving that there is a quick fix, and I provide feedback on the improvements I have experienced.

Too many ignoramuses that have grown up believing marketing spin about driving aids.

Here's a tip, go to the track and learn how to drive, that's the best driving aid and safety feature you can get.

I guess you guys would shit a brick if I told you that I'll quite often go for a drive at night if it's raining, and I swap my directional rear tyres around, so they're installed backwards. The tyre then can't get rid of any water. It's rather comical. Best thing is the tyre doesn't wear, and you get super sideways with naff all speed.

I wouldn't recommend trying that if you currently place so much reliance on your driving aids.

Driving aids are like training wheels on a BMX. You'll only learn how to use the thing properly without them.

Just glad that you are in NZ and not here.