typhoon Posted December 14, 2004 Report Share Posted December 14, 2004 I have a 2001 STS with the stock RSA tires. I just cannot get a good launch with traction on or off. I just get lots of wheel spin even at part throttle and often times just normal driving and the tires spin off the line. Does anyone have a great technique for a good launch? Thanks Typhoon 2001 STS with NAV 1994 BMW 850Ci 1993 GMC Typhoon 1988 Fiero waiting for a Northstar 1988 Toyota Supra Turbo "slightly" modified Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
growe3 Posted December 14, 2004 Report Share Posted December 14, 2004 Sounds like the Traction Control is not working. A little spin/chirpping is normal, more is controlled by the computer. The Traction Control will start by applying the front brakes, then if that is not enough it will start cutting fuel to cylinders to reduce tire spin. If you can just rip the tires, the Traction Control is not working. If the ABS is not working, I believe the Traction Control will not work. Do you have any error codes? -George Drive'em like you own 'em. - ....................04 DTS............................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bc6t Posted December 15, 2004 Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 Quick note: if you turn off your traction control the car will start in 2nd gear. Some wheel spin is normal and for good measure replace the Badyears with Michelins. Tom R. 1998 Cadillac STS with 102K Miles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickster Posted December 15, 2004 Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 I have a 2001 STS with the stock RSA tires. I just cannot get a good launch with traction on or off. I just get lots of wheel spin even at part throttle and often times just normal driving and the tires spin off the line. Does anyone have a great technique for a good launch? Thanks New tires. Had the Badyears. Had the bad launch. New Michelin Sports A/S. Much better launch in wet and colder weather. Unbeleivable launch on hot days. Stick like crap. The RSA's wern't too bad on hot days, but nothin like the Michees. 2001 STS Mettalic Otter Grey, Black Leather, 213,000 kilometers - miles - ? Still running strong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an01sts Posted December 15, 2004 Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 The problem is that it's an 01 http://www.albeedigital.com/supercoupe/art.../0-60times.html If you take a look, you'll see that they are one of the fastest STS's in production. It only takes just a crack of the throttle to break traction off the line. Because I have never tried it, I can only imagine the results of half throttle off the line. I have tried mine w/w/o traction control. It starts in first either way, and it makes no difference in the launch. The downside of hard launches with traction control on, is that if you break on the launch, traction controll sometimes--not always--engages. When this happens, it seems to cut back on the power, further killing you on the launch. I keep traction control engaged and have learned how to launch. Ever since I started driving in 1974, I have driven only race-car-type cars. With any race-car-type car, all of them will burn the snot out of the tires off the line if you give it too much gas, so you have to find the sweet spot. The same thing happens at the drag strip and professionals--a little too much gas and you're sol. Basically, the trick is to learn how much gas you can give it to get a solid launch, yet not enough gas to brake traction. Also, you have to lean the time gradient between launch and wot. Some peopel don't realise it, but it's a skill, and it's one that I have developed well in the almost 31 years of such driving habits--one of the reasons why it's hard to take me off the line. I know that some of the cars I have beaten are the reslut of my knowing how to launch, and if I were in that car, with a few practice launches, I could beat my car with driving it with the same amount of practice time. I can isolate the sweet spot on most cars with just a couple of launches. Even so, pratcice makes perfect. It's not like I do a drag race launch every time I take off, but I vary my launches enough so that I seldom miss the sweet spot. (I won't lie: Sometimes I miss the sweet spot, and I bet it's a hell of a lot more times than the professionals miss it.) Leave traction control engaged. Once you have the sweet spot down pat, you won't have to worry about traction control interfering because you won't be breaking traction. If you break traction, you're screwed anyway, so "Traction Engaged" doesn't make a difference at this point. You're not going to get the launch with a fwd as with a rwd car, making the STS a most impressive car because I toast lots of V8 rwd cars. With a rwd car, what happens is that the front of the car lifts up; as a reslut, the center of gravity changes, shifting the weight of the car toward the back. This shift of weight, loads the rear of the car, pushing down on the back tires, giving them more bite. The beter the weight transfer, the harder the launch. My daughter's 00 WS6 R/A T/A has exceptional weight transfer, giving the car a whiplashing launch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
typhoon Posted December 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 Quick note: if you turn off your traction control the car will start in 2nd gear. Some wheel spin is normal and for good measure replace the Badyears with Michelins. My '01 STS still starts in first gear with the traction off. With the traction on I get the traction enabled message if I really lay into it. I did an all out launch with the traction off and I think I laid rubber for a hundred feet or so. Lots of smoke and squeal, it was cool...... Typhoon 2001 STS with NAV 1994 BMW 850Ci 1993 GMC Typhoon 1988 Fiero waiting for a Northstar 1988 Toyota Supra Turbo "slightly" modified Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARK 99STS Posted December 15, 2004 Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 I always thought that you would start in 2nd gear with traction control off. When did that change? MARK 99STS TURBOCHARGED Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadillacjeff7777 Posted December 15, 2004 Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 How do you turn the traction off on a 95 SLS? I imagine that there has to be a way to modify the car to be able to turn it off and on. 2008 DTS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chazglenn3 Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 They didn't add the switch to disable the traction control until the 1996 model year. Charles Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbuc Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 My 1998 STS starts in second with traction control off......WTF. I wonder if there is a way to reflash the PCM to remove that feature......hmmmm. Maybe yours doesn't because of the way the newer style engines are controled or something. I'll have to investigate into that further. My Toyo Proxes hook up really well, but traction control really does a number on my launches the second I get any torque steer. I have found that as long as I get both to spin at the same speed, it seems to fool the computer into thinking that they aren't spinning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95concours Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 My 1995 Concours has a traction control disable button in the glove box. I wonder why the seville of that year didn't have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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