I think you're confusing some things here.
First, the numbers I posted above (originally posted by Tools R Us) had nothing to do with stopping on ice/snow, or ABS. They would have been carefully structured tests that rely on repeatability, which means clean dry pavement.
Tools mentions that the numbers aren't directly comparable, what he means is that due to the difference in time of day, temperature, humidity, and about a hundred other factors a vehicle might stop in 128 feet one day and 132 feet the next. Unless you do the tests back to back, you can't directly compare them. But you can get a very good general idea of the difference. 128 is very comparable to 132, but 128 is not comparable to 145.
If you look at how the braking tests are done, you'll find they're quite exacting. There are even standard federal procedures outlined for these.
An example would be:
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/avta/pdfs/afv/braking.pdf
To the original point, you claimed that the 100 series stops better than the 80 series, based solely on the way it felt to you. That's fine, and that may even have been true
for your trucks. But that doesn't make it universally true, and it's very misleading to suggest that it is universally true.
The
fact is that multiple tests based on the federal standards show that the stopping distance of the 80 and 100 series is very similar. This is not based on "feel" or "experience" but actual scientific testing.
In comparing how things
feel, my experience was that the 100 series style braking (in my folks F150, which is very similar to the 100 series) was
worse at stopping than the 80 series style braking. I would have put cash down that my folks F150 did not stop anywhere near as well as my 80. Actual
testing of such quickly showed me that wasn't true. So I know first hand how "feel" and "experience" can be wrong.
If you still want to assert that the 100 series stops better than the 80 series, feel free to do so, that's your right. But I'll side with knowledgeable folks like Tools R Us, and even better the folks who actually go out, run the tests, and measure the results (all governed by federal standards). They have no reason to lie or cover up the data.
So I guess I'm a bit confused as to why you'd so firmly insist what scientific data shows not to be true.
Now as to the sub (sub-sub?) point of ABS and stopping on ice/snow, that's a much more nuanced discussion that has as much to do with individual driver control as it does a vehicles stopping ability. I've seen people in vehicles with all the safety features (anti-lock brakes, anti skid control, etc etc etc) not be able to control their vehicle in snow and ice at all....and I've seen people driving around in 20-30 year old vehicles with none of those "safety" features quite literally running circles around the newer vehicles. It's not much different than how one driver with a triple locked built 80 can fail miserably on a line when wheeling, but the older grizzled vet can walk up the same line with open diffs.
Perhaps that discussion should be moved to it's own thread.
. OK, the latter a slight exaggeration but they are that much more sensitive/better brakes.
