Well, it's snowing again, with a good coating of ice on my driveway. I've got a good long driveway with a large enough area at the end, the best (and most fun way) I've found to park in it is head down the driveway and do a handbrake turn on the ice. Turns the car right around, can back up right into my "spot".

I've stopped doing that now since I heard the ABS pump engage while I was doing a turn - will the ABS pump running without pressure in the system cause any problems? I'm not actually on the brakes when I do the turn, usually just push in the clutch, turn the wheel, yank the handle.

 

I don't know about the ABS, but if you do that too much, your parking brake won't work right when you really need it to.

 

I had a '92 civic with 315k miles before my Fit and let me tell you that it does wear it down more but not too bad, the only thing that gets worn is the actual braided steel cable inside the spiraled steel sleeve and it's not that big of a hassle to fix every 100k or so you just swap the actual braided wire out by attaching the new one and fishing it, I retained the same clip mechanism at the e-brake and at the other end where it diverts to the brakes. (this made replacement under a half hour with a lift)

My advice is to use it as needed but note that a) the ABS does seem to engage uselessly when using the e-brake, this may or may not cause more wear than with a non-abs car and b) dont ever EVER fully engage the cable, it's total overkill unless your car is fully loaded on a steep incline. I use it even though I have an AT to eliminate transmission "bounce" when parked, and I just pull it up a few inches. Just familiarize yourself with the position where it locks the brakes and don't exceed that too much.

 

You'll see one brake shoe on each side wear a little more than the other too

Related question... When I do the same thing as the OP in the parking lot at work, not only does the ABS do something but the red theft light starts flashing and I get a warning beeper. What the heck is that I don't have VSS or anything, it's just a stock GD

 

That tone and light come on to let you know that the parking brake is engaged while you're moving. My guess is that Honda put it there because too many idiots drive around with the parking brake on, never wondering why the car is so slow to accelerate until it catches fire...

I'm confused. VSS? To mean: Vehicle Speed Sensor?

I've not noticed the ABS kicking on when grabbing the park brake, but I have noticed it a bit in normal driving with all this snow and ice we've gotten recently. Me likes! It's noisy as hell when you really get on to it, but the car stops without having to modulate pedal pressure and without all the sphincter pinching usually associated with stopping on ice/snow.

 

I am interested in this, because the abs should not be activated unless you are touching the brake,and wheel speeds are not matching
i cant imagine that the abs would count the use of the parking brake

 

I'm not sure if this thread elsewhere will help with your question or not...
Brake pad feels weird when i drive over bumps - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum

And there's a big area here on the brake system, but it's not the helpful:
Brakes

On the NHTSA there is some general info:
Antilock Brake Systems (ABS)

It says:
" Stop and get to know your ABS.
After you consult your owner's manual for more details, give your ABS a mini-road test. In an unobstructed parking lot, drive your vehicle at a speed above which the antilock brake system activates (usually above 10 mph) and apply the brakes firmly. The antilock brake system is speed-sensitive and will not activate at very slow speeds. Also, it's easier to activate ABS on a wet and slippery surface. The antilock system should prevent the wheels from skidding. Practice NOT pumping the brake. "

The key part of that I think is " drive your vehicle at a speed above which the antilock brake system activates "...which would/could imply that when the vehicle is going a certain speed, whether or not you are on your brakes, the ABS is doing it's wheel sensing thing, knowing that wheels are locking up???

Maybe it's sort of like revving your engine while in park? You can rev all you want, but until you put the car in a forward or reverse gear, you won't go anywhere. So that the ABS is sensing wheel lock-up, but it can't DO anything about the braking until you actually apply the brakes.

 

the abs on my FitS activates under 5mph...

not sure about the abs activating with just the e-brake. ive had to use the e-brake a few times to correct a turn in the snow at unexpected times and i dont remember feeling any abs noise. overall since swapping to endura-techs, i rarely get any abs noise now vs lowering springs. car is very well neutral handling and has improved braking 'hold' quite a bit as well.

 

I think the reason the ABS gets all noisy when you use the emergency brake is simple: the system detects lockup and the ABS is making all that noise because its trying to modulate brakes that aren't engaged (since the e-brake is just a short-cut directly to the rear brakes, of course) so why would Honda not spend the couple minutes (ok maybe longer than that) it takes to have a switch on the ebrake that turns off ABS while it's up?

 

oops i meant whatever honda's rendition of vsc is, I don't know why I put vss, that's what I'd remove on the civic to change tranny oil.

 

Or you can hold your brakes down and put it in 2nd gear, the ABS will actually work like traction control, especially in AUTO's which should actually improve your steering and control. Plus you can still steer. Only use the e-brake if you aren't getting enough roatation going into the turn. I used to drive my old FWD to the snow, and throttle on almost all the time even in deep stuff, and when I wasn't turning I would pull the ebrake and turn a lil harder and blip the gas, rotates perfectly. With drum E-brake they last forever, hardly ever need adjustment or replacement.