IceDigger Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 I have a 1998 STS and went to the track in Englishtown NJ just to see what it would get in the 1/4. As I was about to race I went to turn the traction control off and pressed the button and nothing happened, no display or anything. So I raced it and my best time was a 15.4 stock with traction control stuck on I'm guessing. Any suggestions on getting this turned off or the button working again? Kinda frustrating and embarasing at the track and you can't spin your tires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted April 27, 2006 Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 Turning the T/C off will disable 1st gear. Not condusive to good ET's and would probably prevent tire spin anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadillac Posted April 27, 2006 Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 You should do better than 15.4. I took my SLS to Englishtown last November, and got a best of 15.2. That was with the traction control on, spare tire in the trunk, heat cranking (was 35* out), and tunes playing. The STS should be at the very least about 14.8. Don "Modern warriors saddle iron horses of chrome." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceDigger Posted April 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 Maybe the car needs a tune up, it has 73k miles and I bought it at 60k miles about half a year ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyG Posted April 27, 2006 Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 It's working the way it's supposed to. Traction control (and the button) was not designed with racers in mind. It was installed to avoid wearing out brake pads if you were ever in an unavoidable slippery situation. When traction control is ON, the antilock brake function works in reverse, in other words it APPLIES the brakes to the spinning wheel in order to supply power to the wheel that MIGHT have traction. This way, you won't get stuck if one wheel is on ice. If you are on completely glare ice, somplace where you should NEVER try to drive anyway, the system would keep switching back and forth between drive wheels, trying to find one with some traction. Eventually, this process would cause undue wear on several systems in the car, including overheating brake pads and stressing the tranny. The button allows you to turn the traction control OFF, but locks out first gear, most starts on slippery surfaces can be tamed by using a second gear start, so you start out in SECOND GEAR! Really bad for ET's, and one more proof that we should all read our owners manual first. Never underestimate the amount of a persons greed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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