General Traction Control

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General Traction Control

Joined
May 8, 2006
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70
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Location
Near Edinburgh
was wondering if anyone here could help me with my problem.

since i bought my new alloy wheels the traction control is coming on excessively around corners that it did not normally come on with the old wheels but now for example im driving quite slow going round a bend and the traction control light will start flashing and apply the brakes quite heavy and slowing my car down when there is no need! is there a way i can turn the traction control off completely? i have tried turning the asr button on and off but it does nothing to help. my old wheels tires where 215/45/17 my new wheels are i think 205/35/17! i did not want the width to be changed from 215 to 205 only wanted the profile lower but the place i bought my alloys from sent me the wrong tyres on the alloys and would not change my wheels unless i payed for postage!

i bought the wheels from powellsgarage in cornwall which im sure a few other members on this forum have used before, i could not fault the garage on service but the problem is they sent me alloys with the wrong tyre width and wheels which should of been balanced were unbalanced as when i took them to the garage to get my tracking done they checked them and noticed this!

anyone shed some light on why my traction control is doing this? is it just plainly because of the new tyre width?

Thanks
 
was wondering if anyone here could help me with my problem.

since i bought my new alloy wheels the traction control is coming on excessively around corners that it did not normally come on with the old wheels but now for example im driving quite slow going round a bend and the traction control light will start flashing and apply the brakes quite heavy and slowing my car down when there is no need! is there a way i can turn the traction control off completely? i have tried turning the asr button on and off but it does nothing to help. my old wheels tires where 215/45/17 my new wheels are i think 205/35/17! i did not want the width to be changed from 215 to 205 only wanted the profile lower but the place i bought my alloys from sent me the wrong tyres on the alloys and would not change my wheels unless i payed for postage!

i bought the wheels from powellsgarage in cornwall which im sure a few other members on this forum have used before, i could not fault the garage on service but the problem is they sent me alloys with the wrong tyre width and wheels which should of been balanced were unbalanced as when i took them to the garage to get my tracking done they checked them and noticed this!

anyone shed some light on why my traction control is doing this? is it just plainly because of the new tyre width?

Thanks

I get the feeling that moving from the cars mormal tyre configuration of 215/45/17 to 205/35/17 is too big a change for the car. What you've done is essentially take about 2.5cm off your tyre height but not increase the diameter of your wheel to compensate.

The car expects your wheels to rotate at similar speeds +/- a bit to account for turning around corners. Now because you've adjusted the diameter of your wheel/tyre, you're now falling outside of the expected difference and the car thinks it's losing traction and compensating accordingly byapplying braking to a wheel.

My reccommendation would be to either get 18's with the correct tyre, or get the proper tyres for your 17's. (y)
 
I get the feeling that moving from the cars mormal tyre configuration of 215/45/17 to 205/35/17 is too big a change for the car. What you've done is essentially take about 2.5cm off your tyre height but not increase the diameter of your wheel to compensate.

The car expects your wheels to rotate at similar speeds +/- a bit to account for turning around corners. Now because you've adjusted the diameter of your wheel/tyre, you're now falling outside of the expected difference and the car thinks it's losing traction and compensating accordingly byapplying braking to a wheel.

My reccommendation would be to either get 18's with the correct tyre, or get the proper tyres for your 17's. (y)
This does not matter. As long as all tyres are the same, the car will never know. A car never knows how fast it is going, only how quickly the wheels are turning and everything is based on this.
I would first suggest cleaning all 4 wheel sensor connectors, then the big connector on the ABS pump.
 
This does not matter. As long as all tyres are the same, the car will never know. A car never knows how fast it is going, only how quickly the wheels are turning and everything is based on this.
I would first suggest cleaning all 4 wheel sensor connectors, then the big connector on the ABS pump.

I didn't say that the car knows how quick its going. I said that the car expects the wheels to rotate at similar speeds. When he's turning a corner his outside wheel turns faster than the inside wheel (as we'd expect) but this is now being accentuated but by the smaller diameter of his 17's with the low profile tyres and the car could then be misinterpreting this as a loss of traction and interfering.

As you say though, John55. The best starting point would be to clean your wheel sensors as it costs nothing, but if nothing has been done to cause the problem with them in the first place and the traction control issue coincided with the new wheels being fitted... well, personnaly, I feel that's where your issue is. :D
 
I'm not clear here if ESP or ASR is activating as ASR can be turned off?

ESP equipped Stilos will almost certainly know the speed of the car (and possibly ASR too). Since this is based on tyre size then, in this case, the speed will be false and the ESP system will think the car's traveling faster than it really is (as will the driver when looking at the speedo).

Also, as Gregger's points out, the relative change in wheel rotation whilst cornering will be increased.

ESP therefore thinks you're cornering both tight and fast :devil:

The problem now is that both the steering sensor and inertia sensor will be providing contradictory information. (you can only guess at what conclusions it comes to - constant oversteer and drifting might be one :eek:)

Changing tyre size on a sophisticated car like the Stilo is, I think, a big mistake :(

It's also worth bearing in mind that with a narrower lower profile tyre you may well be losing grip anyway :chin:
 
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