Traction Control On/Off?

MetzgerMeister

What do you do when driving in these weather conditions? Do you turn your traction control off or leave it on?

cormac_byrne

Wish I could turn mine off and get rid of the scary symbols that keep flashing on the dashboard when it gets slippy

I prefer it off (RWD). I find the cars behavior more predictable. With the TC on you can still lose the back end but its harder to know when its going to happen. Its also makes for more fun .

On the other hand for a person driving rwd and no experience of controlling a car going sideways they would be better off with the TC turned on.

Biglad

I would say on when driving along and off when you're stuck and need a bit of wheel spin to get going again, just be gentle with the right foot...

Owen

It's entirely dependent on the car - don't take anyone's advice on here without reading your owners manual.

The reason is, on some cars, there's only one button for disabling driver aids, a short press might disable traction control, but holding it even for a second more might disable the other driver aids you need like DSC/ESP (Whatever your manufacturer calls it), and the other additioinal ones like CBC, etc.

However, in icy conditions, traction control on its own should be off IMHO - I couldn't get into my estate if I had it on, there's a slight uphill climb with ice.

Viper_JB

I'd generally leave mine on and if I come to a situation where I'm getting stuck I'd turn it off, it's good if you start to lose the backend when you're not expecting it, it's terrible for moving off from a stand still or moving up hill, as soon as your wheels start to spin on a hill it'll cut power to them meaning you're not going anywhere untill it's off. This is from driving a RX8 in the snow, in saying that with the balance of the car being so spot on it's very easy to get the rear end back even on the snow that you could probably forgo the DSC fully but you'd want to be expecting the unexpected all the time in this case.

Stevie Dakota

I've also taken to leaving mine on except for the climb to the hill where I live where the last thing I want is the power cut off to the front wheels.

stevenmu

I think 'on' when moving freely and 'off' when you starting off on ice or uphill etc. (Actually I must check the manual, I'm assuming that pressing the DSC OFF button a second time actually turns it back on)

I don't think it's a huge help having it on, mostly it's just cutting power when you accelerate too hard, so it mainly only solves slides caused by applying too much power, not ones caused by too much lateral force on ice. For e.g. I got a little sideways on a roundabout this morning, it was just due to ice and the lateral forces of turning the roundabout, it wasn't due to me accelerating too hard so the traction control never kicked in and correcting it was down to me. (though I know it can apply the brakes independently as well to help regain control in a slide, so it may have done this without me being aware, I don't think so though)

The traction control in the 8 is kind of relaxed anyway, you might have noticed in the wet that if you floor it it'll let you spin the wheels and get the back out a little before it kicks in (if not you should do your best to notice this when the weather improves ).

But I think it's better to have on just in case you do accidentally apply a little too much power, and just turn it off as needed. It's not going to be a massive help on ice, but every little helps.

keithclancy

I don't think on most cars you can even fully turn it off.

To disable it fully you'd need to pull the fuse for it, however this would more than likely disable the ABS as well.

Rodin

So would turning the traction control off, in a turbodiesel FWD help me climb an icy hill that I am having trouble with otherwise??

MetzgerMeister

stevenmu wrote: »

I think 'on' when moving freely and 'off' when you starting off on ice or uphill etc. (Actually I must check the manual, I'm assuming that pressing the DSC OFF button a second time actually turns it back on)

Pressing the DSC button once turns it off, then once to put it back on. If you hold the button in for 8 seconds it turns everything off. You have to restart the car in order for it all to go back to normal.

stevenmu

Rodin wrote: »

So would turning the traction control off, in a turbodiesel FWD help me climb an icy hill that I am having trouble with otherwise??

It depends on exactly what's happening, and how good your traction control is. The traction control will cut power to the wheels to try and stop them spinning.

If you're making progress and the wheels are only slipping slightly or occasionally, then traction control can be a good thing, it'll stop you overcooking it and getting to a point where you're just spinning the wheels and losing momentum.

If you're not making progress and the wheels are spinning freely then you're better off without it, all it's doing is making your wheels spin more slowly and if they're spinning freely then they might as well be spinning quickly.

But, different systems will work slightly differently, some might kick in at the slightest hint of spin and not give you power back very quickly which would be very counter productive. Other systems will allow a certain amount of slippage and give power back straight away when there's traction, this would be very helpfull up a hill where there's patchy ice and you're only occasionally losing traction.

So really it's about knowing your own car and how it'll behave in different situations.

keithclancy

stevenmu wrote: »

It depends on exactly what's happening, and how good your traction control is. The traction control will cut power to the wheels to try and stop them spinning.

If you're making progress and the wheels are only slipping slightly or occasionally, then traction control can be a good thing, it'll stop you overcooking it and getting to a point where you're just spinning the wheels and losing momentum.

If you're not making progress and the wheels are spinning freely then you're better off without it, all it's doing is making your wheels spin more slowly and if they're spinning freely then they might as well be spinning quickly.

But, different systems will work slightly differently, some might kick in at the slightest hint of spin and not give you power back very quickly which would be very counter productive. Other systems will allow a certain amount of slippage and give power back straight away when there's traction, this would be very helpfull up a hill where there's patchy ice and you're only occasionally losing traction.

So really it's about knowing your own car and how it'll behave in different situations.

Yup, had this experience in a BMW 5 series, you could just mash the pedal and the car would crawl forward cutting power until it could get traction.

Drove an older Golf and it was rubbish, could cut in fast enough and wheel would just start to spin.

stevenmu

einheisserschre wrote: »

Pressing the DSC button once turns it off, then once to put it back on. If you hold the button in for 8 seconds it turns everything off. You have to restart the car in order for it all to go back to normal.

Thanks, wasn't sure if the second press turned it back on or not. Apparently (though I haven't tested this yet) if the ABS engages this turns it back on too (if turned off by a short press, not the long one).

Rodin

stevenmu wrote: »

It depends on exactly what's happening, and how good your traction control is. The traction control will cut power to the wheels to try and stop them spinning.

If you're making progress and the wheels are only slipping slightly or occasionally, then traction control can be a good thing, it'll stop you overcooking it and getting to a point where you're just spinning the wheels and losing momentum.

If you're not making progress and the wheels are spinning freely then you're better off without it, all it's doing is making your wheels spin more slowly and if they're spinning freely then they might as well be spinning quickly.

But, different systems will work slightly differently, some might kick in at the slightest hint of spin and not give you power back very quickly which would be very counter productive. Other systems will allow a certain amount of slippage and give power back straight away when there's traction, this would be very helpfull up a hill where there's patchy ice and you're only occasionally losing traction.

So really it's about knowing your own car and how it'll behave in different situations.

Was spinning a lot. Getting nowhere. Had to leave car safely a mile from house and collect yesterday after road was clear

ednwireland

i think it depends on your traction control

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3m24bjkfg0

i know the car we have is almost undriveable without it (407 estate)

Henry Ford III

It's a driver aid designed to help in bad conditions. Leave it on!