it does make a cleaner apperance and less cluttered. hell, even this AWD i just got has the ABS fuse ripped out, so someone along the line thought ABS sucked. and Yes, ABS will degrade your braking performance on every surface, not just wet or dry..

the only benefit of ABS is to allow the driver to maintain control throughout a panic stop and avoid lock-up and loss of control... thats it. it doesnt make you stop shorter or better... its just safer, thats all.

but faulty equipment is far from safe. if you feel your ABS is compromising your braking performance, i would suggest removing it... it wont stop any worse than the NON-abs cars on the road.