When Does Traction Control Kick in?

[My 5th]

Driving home from work in my SS during our most recent snowstorm tonight. Rush hour traffic, stop and go most of the way. No problems until I get to some hills where everybody is stopped while lesser cars spin out of control, several buses sideways blocking 3 of 4 lanes, idiots driving pickups with bald rear tires, people in FWD cars thinking they're immune to problems--in general a real mess. Took me 2 1/2 hours for a 30 minute commute.

There wasn't a lot of snow, but it was packed down to about 1/4" and turned to ice--the roads didn't look slick, but there were REALLY slick. Here's my problem....because of the slow going I'm doing a lot of starting from a stop and for the first few yards I notice my M6 SS starting to spin and go sideways--even with a light touch on the throttle. Just mounted new Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow tires, which up to now seemed to provide decent traction. I noticed that the spinning and sideways boogie only lasted until the clutch was fully disengaged, when the car would straighten out and go up the hills without a problem. That is until I hit a little steeper hill that had about 10 cars sideways, against the curb, and just plain stopped. On this last hill I thought I was going to be there all night as I just spun both tires and didn't move more than 1 or 2 inches--clutch slipping or no clutch slipping. Thankfully somehow the tires got bite, and once I got rolling, I passed BMW's, Subarus, and a bunch of 4WD and AWD vehicles. So there were plenty of cars doing worse than me.

My question: Does the traction control only engage when you are no longer slipping the clutch?

It seemed that was the case. The only time I saw the T/C light flashing was on that last hill where I tried lugging at idle speed, light throttle application, and more aggressive throttle application, as nothing seemed to work for a while. The light flashed when I gave it more throttle and spun the tires more.

[Sword5]

Man I wish I could lend some info on this matter. I have been driving my 93 Z28 for almost 18 years and the TC light has only came on maybe once or twice since I bought it. I have driven it in everything you could think of too, 8 inches of snow, ice, rain.

[jhyland87]

Edmund's describes traction control as the opposite of, or reverse of, an anti-lock braking system (ABS). As the driver presses the accelerator down, a sensor converts the position of the accelerator pedal into an electrical signal which then goes to a control unit. If your tires begin to spin as you accelerate, the control unit sends a signal to individual brakes of the spinning tires and the throttle unit. The control unit adjusts spinning through a series of brake pulses applied to stop the spinning tires which, in turn, maintains maximum traction.

[jtzako]

I've never noticed a light come on in my SS, but I can tell when TC is doing its job just based on how the car reacts.

[binlow84]

I think the problem you were experiencing is with the concept behind traction control. No traction control system can CREATE traction, simply compensate for a partial reduction in traction. If neither tire can grip the road traction control can't help you.

My understanding of traction control is that it's really effective for situations which cause the drive wheels to experience different amounts of traction, such as if you were to hit a patch of ice on the driver side but still have grip on the passenger side, but maybe I've always understood it wrong. Regardless, there are situations in which traction control isn't infallible, and my guess is 1/4" of solid ice is one of those situations.

[danhr]

when does traction control kick in?

when you start having fun

[vinman]

Haha, but when I'm having fun I turn off the traction control.

[f5journal]

I have noticed that the back tires can spin some without any message or light coming on. I find that a bit odd since my CTS-V would tell me if they barely slipped

[jtzako]

This weekend I spun the tires for a second or 2 on wet road but it stopped on its own without me having to adjust the accelerator. That has to be the computer since on that road they will just spin for a long time with TC off. I didnt notice a light but I also was not looking to see if one turned on.

[cab2g]

Originally Posted by jtzako

This weekend I spun the tires for a second or 2 on wet road but it stopped on its own without me having to adjust the accelerator. That has to be the computer since on that road they will just spin for a long time with TC off. I didnt notice a light but I also was not looking to see if one turned on.

I certainly hope TC turns on in less than 2 seconds! That sounds pretty bad!

[jtzako]

Originally Posted by cab2g

I certainly hope TC turns on in less than 2 seconds! That sounds pretty bad!

Yeah, but this was intentional. They dont spin during normal driving even on the wet road. TC is good but it can be overpowered somewhat.

[Maverickhpr]

Haven't tested it on the camaro yet but on my Infiniti the traction controll would turn on when a tire would loose grip with the road and slow down the affected tire untill grip has been achieved to keep you from sliding. As of the clutch I can't tell ya because I have an automatic but I bet it felt good passing all the other cars lol

[ComayroLouver]

It tends to come on when your taking a corner faster than 40 mph. personal experience

makes your tires "chirp" instead of a smooth, ear damaging shriek

[My 5th]

Originally Posted by binlow84

I think the problem you were experiencing is with the concept behind traction control. No traction control system can CREATE traction, simply compensate for a partial reduction in traction. If neither tire can grip the road traction control can't help you.

My understanding of traction control is that it's really effective for situations which cause the drive wheels to experience different amounts of traction, such as if you were to hit a patch of ice on the driver side but still have grip on the passenger side, but maybe I've always understood it wrong. Regardless, there are situations in which traction control isn't infallible, and my guess is 1/4" of solid ice is one of those situations.

I think you're right about that. What I experienced was pretty noticeable--that when the clutch pedal was fully out the car stopped spinning, straightened out and hooked up. But when you have ZERO traction under both tires I guess there's no other option than spin both tires until something changes.

Today I put 4 bags of water softener salt in the trunk and that seemed to help, as I hardly lost traction at all today.