Traction Control Quirks?

[Lelandjt]

I've never used traction control. My last sports car ('04 STi) didn't have it but its rear biased AWD made controlling powerslides stupid easy. Any other cars haven't had it or I turned it off. I may want to use the traction control in this car but before I'd feel comfortable doing so I want to know what it's going to do (cut spark/fuel, close throttle, brake a wheel or two) and if it does anything weird that you need to adjust for.
There's two levels of TC or "off", correct?
How often do you guys use traction control?

[misterfly]

Originally Posted by Lelandjt

I've never used traction control. My last sports car ('04 STi) didn't have it but its rear biased AWD made controlling powerslides stupid easy. Any other cars haven't had it or I turned it off. I may want to use the traction control in this car but before I'd feel comfortable doing so I want to know what it's going to do (cut spark/fuel, close throttle, brake a wheel or two) and if it does anything weird that you need to adjust for.
There's two levels of TC or "off", correct?
How often do you guys use traction control?

I start the car, i put it in track mode , that it , never use that in summer

[humdizzle]

https://practicalmotoring.com.au/car...baru-brz-work/

here's an article from 2016 outlining some basics. i'd imagine the new car an improvement on this in terms of software.

off or on just depends on the scenario. I do remember turning off my 2014's system alot because it was very intrusive... like it made it unsafe trying to merge into traffic because it would cut in so early.

[mike2100]

Originally Posted by humdizzle

https://practicalmotoring.com.au/car...baru-brz-work/

here's an article from 2016 outlining some basics. i'd imagine the new car an improvement on this in terms of software.

off or on just depends on the scenario. I do remember turning off my 2014's system alot because it was very intrusive... like it made it unsafe trying to merge into traffic because it would cut in so early.

I just got an image of a Mario Kart style powerslide traffic merge in my head.

How do you manage to activate traction control while merging? Not sure it's the traction control system that is causing this situation to be unsafe.

[RZNT4R]

In my 17 I just leave everything on 99.9 % of the time. I've got studded tires so I don't *want* wheel spin most of the time. The only exceptions are a handful of times during winter where the depth and thickness of a snowfall makes wheel spin mandatory to keep moving. Yesterday was one of those days, stopping in place meant staying there, and a stupid pedestrian was standing behind me when I was backing out of an impracticable street and had to stop. It took my recovery boards to get out and once out, traction control was keeping me from gathering momentum driving out, so I had to turn it off.

That's about it for needing to turn it off. Your needs might differ, like if you want to merge on the highway doing a drift, then yeah, it'll be "intrusive"

[alex87f]

Originally Posted by Lelandjt

I've never used traction control. My last sports car ('04 STi) didn't have it but its rear biased AWD made controlling powerslides stupid easy. Any other cars haven't had it or I turned it off. I may want to use the traction control in this car but before I'd feel comfortable doing so I want to know what it's going to do (cut spark/fuel, close throttle, brake a wheel or two) and if it does anything weird that you need to adjust for.
There's two levels of TC or "off", correct?
How often do you guys use traction control?

If it's like the gen 1s, there should be four levels:
-all on - default mode which leaves a little room for play but not much
-short press on TC - TC is momentarily deactivated but stability control still on. Won't work above +/- 40mph, and is typically used in situations where you need wheelspin to pull yourself out
-sport / track mode (short press on said button) - a slightly more lenient version of the default mode which lets you play around
-all off (long press on TC button) - should have more or less everything off (except EBD & the brake-based LSD)
-bonus: the pedal dance mode, which would turn everything off

[Spuds]

Traction Control System (TCS) will specifically reduce throttle in the event rear wheel slip is detected when on-throttle, which will in turn cause the engine to adjust fueling and timing to match. In general, gasoline engines use airflow as the primary control, and other responses occur after detecting changes in airflow. In the early gen1, full on was a quite intrusive cut and sport mode not much better. Later gen1 both were adjusted to give some more wiggle room, and I imagine the gene is similar to this.

Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) which is also on in regular and sport/track modes will apply pressure to individual brakes if the sensors in the car detect that the driver has degraded control of the vehicle. Mostly this means it wants to keep the car moving forward instead of sideways or spinning.

Electronic differential (E-Diff) applies pressure to a single rear wheel if it detects one spinning faster than the other. This is on in all three normal, sport/track, and off modes.

Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBFD) adjusts the brake bias when you are braking in an attempt to keep individual wheels from locking. This is on in all three normal, sport/track, and off modes.

Antilock Brake System (ABS) detects wheel slippage under braking and modulates the brakes in an attempt to prevent full lock up. This is on in all three selectable modes as well as pedal dance mode.


My normal driving mode is long press off on a dry day, and sport mode on a wet day. If it's snow/ice, I adjust for conditions and what kind of driving I am doing.

[Lelandjt]

The peddle dance from Gen 1 works on Gen 2? What scenario would you want to do this? To reduce rear brake wear/heat at the track? So the mechanical LSD is working in conjunction with the brake-based "LSD" to achieve the same result? With the brake part turned off how different does it feel? The EBD seems like it would always be beneficial.

[soundman98]

i'm usually always a long-press-off, as long as i can remember. most of the time, i'm better at getting myself out of the situation by myself and don't need the extra layer of the car trying to fix the situation i intended to get myself into that i'm already applying a correction for that now i need to apply another correction to correct for the computers correction that corrected what i was already correcting for.

yeah, t/c is like having a car with 2 steering wheels...

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Lelandjt

The peddle dance from Gen 1 works on Gen 2? What scenario would you want to do this? To reduce rear brake wear/heat at the track? So the mechanical LSD is working in conjunction with the brake-based "LSD" to achieve the same result? With the brake part turned off how different does it feel? The EBD seems like it would always be beneficial.

I do not know if PD works on gen2.

The only time I've had Ediff kick in is in the snow or when a rear wheel is lifted. It feels and sounds like ABS but when you are attempting to accelerate. It is a backup in the edge cases where the mechanical Torsen diff doesn't work.

EBD notionally adjusts steering feel and response under braking, but I've never noticed a difference on any road.

Someone may want these off if they are intentionally drifting or racing on a loose surface like gravel/dirt. The brake inputs from the computer make it more difficult to predict the cars reactions and the computer can get confused because "Why would anyone actually intend to be going sideways on gravel at full throttle?".

[WNDSRFR]

I used to automatically do the long press off as soon as I started the car. But then I got some really bad tires that had no grip at all in the wet. So if the road was wet, I would leave everything on. It's amazing how well the TC works. If you can keep the car straight while the tires are spinning then the car is happy and allows the wheels to spin. But as soon as you start to go sideways it applies the appropriate brakes to keep going straight.
It really is alot of fun to try to keep the car straight while you merrily spin your tires down the road. The big problem with TC is when you pull into traffic expecting to accelerate and the engine cuts out because you're starting to slide sideways.
Scary as hell.
Since I got new tires it's long press time again.