Question about traction control

[an01sts]

If you trun off the traction control, does it make the car launch harder? In other words, does traction control slow down the car in hard acceleration applications?

[yhman]

From my understading of traction control is that the onboard computure measures the speed of each wheel and the angle of the steering wheel, then it applies the brakes such that all the wheels are running with relatively same speed. When the turning angle is high the inner wheels runs at a lower speed than the outer wheels thats why I said relatively the same speed @ the sentence above.

In other words, the function of traction control is to limit wheel slipage in normal driving.

You are right the traction control does limit the wheel slippage in hard acceleration by applying front brakes and you may get less acceleration.

In rear wheel drive vehicles, you will notice the difference between traction control when applied segnificantly. Try the Lincoln LS-8 and you will feel the diffence.

[danbuc]

If you turn off traction control, you can only start in second gear. It a built in failsafe to limit wheelspin in bad weather such as snow. I have found that the best way to launch my 1998 STS is to line up on the road perfectly straight, hold the wheel firmly with both hands, and just floor it. As long as both wheels spin, or hook up, traction control will not engage. I'm planning to fix this however with a new Positraction differential. As long as your on smooth ground and you don't get any bad torque steer, you should be fine. In some cases, if you put your foot to the floor hard and fast enough, you can get both wheels to spin which will usually fool the traction control into thinking that they not spinning. Whatever you do, try not to floor it from a dead stop when making a turn. I try not to do this because it is really hard on the differential but sometimes I get caught up in the moment seeing how long I can keep my inside wheel spinning . I think my record so far is about 800ft all the way into 3rd gear (it was in an empty parking lot on Sunday). Good Luck with your launches. I hope they all go succesfully.

[JasonA]

You'll get the best launch by learning how to drive it, and practice with it. For example, you could give it a quick stab of the gas and severely break the tires loose...no good. Even if traction control doesn't come on, spinning tires = slower acceleration. I've learned to take off at about 1/2 throttle, then go immediately to WOT and I get no tire spin. Remember, if the tires aren't spinning, traction control doesn't engage. If you "feather" the gas to launch the car to keep the tires from spinning, which is what you'd have to do anyway without traction control, the tires will grab and you'll be outta there.