Parts not fitting because of ABS?

[SpeedKreature]

Hello to all! This is the obligatory first post message! Weee!. Enough of that, on to the meat.

I'll admit the title is not the greatest in the world so I'll elaborate.

I formerly owned a '96 Altima and an '04 SE-R Spec V. I learned from both that my reflexes aren't fast enough to keep up with the weight of my foot. Neither had ABS. Enter the 05 GTI. ABS, ESP...Conditions had to be severely unfavorable to get it to slip. However, at 17mpg, it had to go and I thought something more utilitarian would be great. I now have an '07 Honda CR-V, also with traction control and ABS.

I haven't test driven a Versa yet so I cannot determine if the ABS will have enough of an impact on stability to warrant it's presence in the car so that leaves me with my question:

Are there any issues with performance mods needing to be tweaked, modified or simply not fitting as a result of ABS? I ask because this was a problem with both the Altima and even more so with the Spec-V I owned.

My reaction times are not so slow that a fantastic set of brakes, pads, lines etc coupled with adequately modified suspension and great tires wouldn't compensate at moderate speed. However, I have experienced that brakes on the sub 25k segment are more prone to locking up than I would consider acceptable and I'm not looking forward to dropping 5k right off the bat.

[Ever Victorious]

First, welcome to NICO!

I'm not entirely sure how to answer this, because it's kind of all over the place.

I can't speak to fitment of mods with ABS as I haven't done any mods, however if it tells you how buried the system is, I can't even FIND the ABS controller when I look under the hood. Most bolt on mods probably won't be anywhere in the vicinity.

As far as braking power goes, the ABS equipped Versa, with decent tires, is like your GTI in that it takes a lot of pushing to get it to actually "lock". However, the Versa's brakes are adequate... not mind-blowing, so if you're looking to stop on a dime, it may not be the car for you.

[jfanaselle]

Although I do not have ABS on my V, I have yet to see a thread on this forum where someone wasn't able to complete a mod or install a part because of the ABS on their Versa. I have heard of this on other cars where the part was engineered and tested on a car that was not equipped with ABS and will not fit on ABS equipped models, but this is usually due to the placement of the ABS control module and appearant with parts such as strut tower bars or cold air intake systems. I'm 99.99% confident that at least a few people on this forum with intakes, strut tower braces and virtually every other bolt-on performance mod available for the V have installed them with ABS equipped models.

[fjwagner]

With abs brakes, you can put your foot to the floor and continue to steer. Cant do that with conventional brakes.

[nissantech06]

First of all, welcome.

Second of all, having ABS should NEVER allow you to make modifications. All it does is modulate the brakes so that you can steer and brake at the same time.

Third, the ABS module is separate from the brake booster, unlike in Acura/Honda, meaning there are lines running from the booster to the ABS unit, then to the wheels. The ABS unit on the Versa should be buried behind the engine on the passenger side of the bulkhead (firewall) if I remember correctly.