two of which are more practical, the other just because i'm curious.

the car i just bought doesn't have anti-lock brakes. i've never driven a non ABS car before, what am i supposed to do differently? when i tried googling this, i found instructions telling you to squeeze the brakes, and not to pump them. i can gather what pumping means, but what is the difference between "squeezing" and just pushing as hard as you can on the brakes? does all this only apply in an emergency stop situation, or is it something i should always do? i try to apply the brakes as slow as i can as i see a red light in the distance, but sometimes you just get behind that one asshole as you're coming up to a yellow light you'd both make it through, he taps his brakes, then changes his mind and goes through and you've already had to stop quickly and be left behind. (this has happened to me twice in the past week )

second question is about cleaning a white vinyl top (not a convertable). the previous owner said i could use non foaming shower soap. the internet has recommended at least two products, RaggTopp and 303. what do you guys think?

and the final question is one of the "what the heck is that for?" category. on every car i've always noticed there's a lot of cords under the front seats, and it looks like there's an open end on at least one of them with a little place to plug something in, though it's obviously not like a normal electrical outlet. what's that about? my car also has this cord laying on the floor under where the radio and ashtray are, thick and round, metallic, kinda like a cigarette lighter thing, but not.

You're asking how to brake? Jesus christ. If you're using the ABS regularly then there's something really very wrong with your driving. Just apply the brakes like you would in any other car - if the brakes *do* lock up, then take the pressure off the pedal and then reapply. If you knew anything about the limits of your car though, you would never get into this situation, and would never exceed the braking capabilities.

You only really need to pump the brakes if you've got drums on the front and there isn't a servo equipped.

To question 1)

Only difference ABS has when compared to non-ABS brakes is that while non ABS brakes will skid if you brake too hard, causing a loss of control and a decrease in braking force, ABS brakes will in effect automatically stop you just before you apply too much force.

When driving a car without ABS, you can

a) The 'fuck this' technique. Slam down on the brakes as hard as possible and hope you don't skid into a tree.

b) Cadence braking: Pulse the brake pedal (might be called pumping) very rapidly around where you want it to be. I have my doubts that joe bloggs can get anywhere close to a decent result from this

c) Threshold braking: squeeze on the brakes slowly... you should feel (and hear, if you go too far) the braking force diminish at the point when the tyres start slipping. back away from this point. Try to get as close to it as possible without going too far. You will probably get about 90% of what is optimal.

Note: I have never tried any of these techniques. Use at your own risk, they could be completely wrong.

To question 2)

Don't know.

To question 3)

That is cost cutting in action. All, or at least most, of the wires in your car are part of something called a wiring harness. The wiring harness is basically all the wires. Pretty simple really. Every option on your car may need more or less wires, e.g. if you don't have a 6 stack CD player in the boot you may not need that wire running to the boot.

However, it would be expensive to design and buy the machines for every individual possible wiring harness for each combination of options. Instead, they have a single wiring harness which assumes every option is ticked, and then in the event that an option isn't ticked, its place on the harness simply is left unplugged.

i was asking about what i had to do differently, if anything, in a car that does not have ABS, since i've only ever driven cars that have ABS. there's nothing wrong with my driving, it's not like i've been skidding all over the road in my non-ABS car. if you read my post, i said i tend to brake gradually whenever i can anyway, in any car. i just wondered if you're supposed to treat the brakes differently. nereth answered my question fine.

try taking the car out on a deserted road and experimenting with braking too hard (locking up the wheels).
Get used to how that feels or rather, why , when, and how that happens.
That way you can deal with it when it happens in a real hard braking situation.
Don't let the tires skid too long though, as you'll scrub off the tread, and need to replace them miles ahead of their proper replacement time.

p.s. race cars never use ABS (at least that was true a few years ago and I assume still is).
ABS is slower than non-ABS in the right hands.
ABS on gravel can cause you to wreck.
The fastest way to stop means learning how to do it without ABS.

The difference between a car with ABS and without is negligible. Skin pan tests show that ABS is a lifesaver, but real world statistics do not back this claim up at all. If you haven't been activating the ABS in the first place, you need not change your driving style.

Winter driving will feel a lot different. For me in the winter, hearing the ABS system at work lets me know that I am not going to stop where I want to.

http://www.hama.de/bilder/00043/abb/00043622abb.jpg

Your mystery radio cable look anything like that? It's an antenna lead.

And like Nereth said, the under-seat wiring is just a vestigial connection. Maybe the Canadian version has heated seats.

yeah, it does look like that. the previous owner said she had a new power antenna put in that goes up when you turn the car on. the old one was power too, but was operated by a switch on the dashboard. so that cord is leftover from the old antenna?

Firsthand experience has told me that this is not a very good technique. Even with 2 wheel ABS, I would not recommend it. Your vehicle will continue to follow the current path, and will not stop very quickly.

At least one thing is for certain when following this technique:

Ford Ranger > Ford Focus

I don't even want to think about the $$ it cost to get his car repaired from a 5mph wreck. Had to be in the thousands.