Traction Control?

[kent0464]

So I was driving home from work today. I was at a stop sign waiting to turn left. I had an opening so I took it. Decided to goose it around the corner and the rear tires lit up and I started drifting out. I controlled the outcome. Never felt any traction control kick in. Traction control was active. What gives? Does the Mustang have a very loose traction control? Does my car have an issue? I have never driven a carf that would allow this much spin without taking over.

Don

My 17 F150 3.5 eco is the same way, also I can mash it at 70mph and spin the tires easily, all with the nanny systems active. In my 17 GT I have all the TC etc turned off via tune so I know how the car behaves.

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[FruityJudy]

My 17 F150 3.5 eco is the same way, also I can mash it at 70mph and spin the tires easily, all with the nanny systems active. In my 17 GT I have all the TC etc turned off via tune so I know how the car behaves.

On wet pavement right?

 

[kent0464]

On wet pavement right?

Nope, dry....it is “slightly”(lol) modded, twin turbo.

 

[mustang123]

Also went around the corner with a slide just the other day. Car was in Race mode so traction control is “kind of off”. Came around the turn after the slide, gave it more gas but car would not accelerate for a tiny moment, not sure what it was doing... I have a 10 AT. Didn’t think traction control also messes with transmission?

 

[RIBS]

How to make a u-turn...get in left/center turn lane, turn wheel to full left lock, nail the gas.
You will be 180’d going the other direction real quick. Just make sure to have at least 2 lanes width to rotate the car, you don’t want to whack the curb...(do this on a closed course, legal mumbo jumbo, don’t do it....etc...)

Also going about 40-50 on a moist on-ramp in a straight merge I nailed the gas and the downshift was so strong it broke loose but at that speed the nAnnie’s kept it straight and regained traction pretty quick....

 

[ice445]

It kept you from spinning out, you just didn't realize it. The weight distribution of these cars makes them very snappy if you aren't early with your steering input, assuming you're trying to get it to skid. Smooth inputs is everything with these if you want to mess around with TC off.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Smooth inputs is everything with these if you want to mess around with TC off.

IOW, the way you should be driving all of the time (smooth inputs).

Just to clarify, that does not mean you only get to drive in a low-performance manner. Smooth is your friend when taking a 100 mph corner on a road course at 1.2g. Your best friend at a rainy track day.


(hint: the smoother you drive all the time, the more you can get away with before you get your passengers all upset . . . trust me on this)


Norm

 

[Norm Peterson]

I've also found that it's hard braking is what gets me into the most trouble with passengers.

Even there it's worth squeezing your way up to max braking instead of stomping on the brake pedal like you were trying to kill it.


Norm

 

[Sivi70980]

Definitely, still doesn't stop people from freaking out because I'm not braking where their econoboxes would need to.

Reminds me of my first car (no abs) when I would lock up the front tires and turn the wheel while sliding through a corner. Would let off the brakes, tires would hook and pull us around the corner at the last second. Never had many passengers in my young driving life due to scaring them all away. Even had one guy take a bus home instead of riding with me once. To be fair, I almost killed us on the way there.

 

[Sivi70980]

Sounds about right. Fortunately the fastest car I had in my teens/early 20's was a CVPI. Fast for a couch, but not exactly a rocket.

Yeah, my first car was a 83 honda accord hatchback. 0-60 if you're lucky. But in the rain I could lock up the front tires all the time. I did a ton of stupid driving in that car.

 

[15flounder]

Does it matter which diff you have? Does the Torsen lock up more? Quicker? I ask because I swapped diffs in my old BMW and it has really changed the stability/traction control. The system looks for differences in wheel speeds and would step in quickly with one tire spinning. With a 4-clutch LSD, it takes it much longer to compare the fronts to rears and intervene. Maybe this is true for all systems when used with a LSD?

 

[ice445]

Does it matter which diff you have? Does the Torsen lock up more? Quicker? I ask because I swapped diffs in my old BMW and it has really changed the stability/traction control. The system looks for differences in wheel speeds and would step in quickly with one tire spinning. With a 4-clutch LSD, it takes it much longer to compare the fronts to rears and intervene. Maybe this is true for all systems when used with a LSD?

Did the BMW use brake based stability control? A lot of newer cars do, and the computer will basically apply specific brakes to keep wheel speeds in line. With an LSD this is less necessary since it's always doing that work automatically. The Torsen diff in particular since it's mechanical is the most effective. The clutch based TrakLok is likely slower to bring the speed difference in line but not by a huge amount. The main disadvantage of the clutch based setups is that they wear out eventually, usually by 100K or so, maybe sooner if you hit the track often.

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