ESP & Mud/Snow

[riph72]

Hello all,

I used to know the answer to this but... can someone remind me why ESP is generally better turned off in snow/mud?

Cheers,

Richard.

[sharkrider]

Hello all,

I used to know the answer to this but... can someone remind me why ESP is generally better turned off in snow/mud?

Cheers,

Richard.

certainly ESP is definately better left turned on in mud/snow,(

) and as proved by my own extensive experimetation however, what I think you have heard is traction control better turned off, being able to control the wheelspin maybe helpful, also ABS really sucks in snow, as the tyre stays on the top and doesn't grip. where as locking the front wheels creates a "wedge" and stops the car faster................. Edited 22 July, 2010 by sharkrider

[The_Cab_Driver]

As a taxi driver I have probably driven in 1000% more snow and ice than the average driver and from experience ESP is definitely better left ON. In all of this year's snow I managed to get stuck only once. Even then I backed up about one metre and then pulled away without a problem. Fair enough it might mean using 3rd gear to get moving sometimes but ESP is fitted for a reason. Turning it off is of no benefit unless you just want to play in the snow

[rossm]

My experience is the same as above.

Last winter, I found myself struggling up a snow and ice covered hill, going at a snails pace with ESP switched on. It kept activating, despite my best efforts to control the wheelspin manually.

I took the decision of turning it off to try and get up the hill quicker, but it only made things worse. Couldn't get any traction, lost momentum entirely and ended up turning around (unvoluntarily) before making my way back down the hill.

That was at a very slow speed though.

On the other hand, if it were a situation where you wanted to get a bit of speed over the snow / mud (not recommended....but for whatever reason) and had tyres that were suitable for the environment, I'd reckon ESP would be better turned off. Its very sensitive and will cut power for a comparitively long period compared to manually adjusting the power with your right foot.

For example, a heavily snow covered incline up a country road - a good run up with ESP turned off would probably give you a better chance of keeping the momentum going (albeit increaing the chance of ending up in a ditch).

[pueseso]

The only rare occasion when the TRACTION Control has to be turned off is when you are stopped in sand/snow/mud/whatever. In this occasions it is better because it will allow you to spin the wheels at will, of course this is not for the average driver because it may worsen the problem, but may be helpful if used properly.

The rest of the gadgets is better to have them on all the time (unless u r Michael Schumaquer)

[rob_e]

ditto the comments above - i'd previously read that if stuck in snow it may be better to switch the ESP off (stop it cutting the power as the wheels spin) so when i got stuck in snow at christmas time last year i tried it with the ESP off. It was MUCH WORSE!

Eventually got the car moving again with some side-to-side see-sawing motings with the ESP on, and 2nd gear..

[London Les]

I was pretty impressed with my Elegance in the snow. We have a 1 in 5 hill in our street which rises about 75m in elevation, and I had a go at it with 3ins of fresh snow on more compacted snow one morning, fully expecting to fail, and the combination of the Electronic Diff Lock, and low revs in 2nd was excellent and worked very well. The front brakes were hot at the top, but I was surprised to get there at all. The tyres were new Michelin Primacy HP, so hardly special for snow.

I also had some fun on the compacted snow with the steering with very low grip. The ESP is uncannily good at pulling the car around corners, when the front end breaks away, or just has no grip, and you can feel/hear the brakes being applied to individual wheels at the back.

So I agree with the other posters - leave it on, unless you are really stuck and need another option.

[Constant]

You only have to turn ESP off when you are on very loose sole, otherwise the ESP will stop all wheels from spinning and you will not move. I never had to turn in off in snow, not even in a snow storm when vans and trucks could not move forward anymore due to slippery snow.

[Raglits]

You can't turn the ESP off in the newer Octys anyway, only the traction control. Not sure when the change happened but my December 2009 build is like this

[Rab-k]

My experience this winter differs somewhat. Both our Passat and Polo have ESP and for the majority of the time they were left with ESP turned on. However, on a few occassions, going uphill relatively slowly on snow, the ESP did exactly what it said on the tin and cut the power to the drive wheels to stop them spinning; eventually leading us to come to a complete stop, followed by a tricky backwards descent to the foot of the hill.

On the subsequent attempts with the ESP turned off the wheels did indeed spin, which coupled with an off-road technique of putting one hand on the steering wheel at 12 o'clock then rapidly turning the wheel to place the hand at 9 o'clock then back through 12 o'clock to the 3 o'clock position, then back to 9 o'clock, back to 3, etc. resulted in the car being able to progress successfully up the hill.

This is the only circumstance which I have encountered where I was required to turn off the ESP.

[riph72]

My experience this winter differs somewhat. Both our Passat and Polo have ESP and for the majority of the time they were left with ESP turned on. However, on a few occassions, going uphill relatively slowly on snow, the ESP did exactly what it said on the tin and cut the power to the drive wheels to stop them spinning; eventually leading us to come to a complete stop, followed by a tricky backwards descent to the foot of the hill.

On the subsequent attempts with the ESP turned off the wheels did indeed spin, which coupled with an off-road technique of putting one hand on the steering wheel at 12 o'clock then rapidly turning the wheel to place the hand at 9 o'clock then back through 12 o'clock to the 3 o'clock position, then back to 9 o'clock, back to 3, etc. resulted in the car being able to progress successfully up the hill.

This is the only circumstance which I have encountered where I was required to turn off the ESP.

This is basically what I was getting at, in the user guide(s) they do say that in extreme conditions, you might well make better progress with ESP off! I think snow chains are one scenario mentioned...

[pueseso]

The confusion comes becouse usually VAG cars have the ESP and Traction Control linked and they (sometimes) can be de/activated with the same button with reads "ESP".

In reality what we all are talking about is the Traction Control.

I don´t know in the Octy but in my old A4 (B5) the TC only works below 80 km/h since it is Quattro, otherwise with only front wheel drive it would work only below 40 km/h.

When I push the "ESP" button it will deactivate the ESP and the TC, and this TC deactivation is what may be interesting when you are stopped in a sand/snow/mud situation.

My Octy also has a ESP button and it should work in the same way but I really have no idea even if it has TC (I guess it should), may be I should read one manual for a change....

May be VAG should change the button reading or just spare it.

Edited 27 July, 2010 by pueseso

[riph72]

The confusion comes becouse usually VAG cars have the ESP and Traction Control linked and they (sometimes) can be de/activated with the same button with reads "ESP".

In reality what we all are talking about is the Traction Control.

I don´t know in the Octy but in my old A4 (B5) the TC only works below 80 km/h since it is Quattro, otherwise with only front wheel drive it would work only below 40 km/h.

When I push the "ESP" button it will deactivate the ESP and the TC, and this TC deactivation is what may be interesting when you are stopped in a sand/snow/mud situation.

My Octy also has a ESP button and it should work in the same way but I really have no idea even if it has TC (I guess it should), may be I should read one manual for a change....

May be VAG should change the button reading or just spare it.

I can only speak for mk2 Octys, but there is no such thing as TC for this car. Most mk2 Octys have ASR which just limits engine power, but cars with ESP also have something called EDL. Now, ASR + EDL is equivalent to what some other manufacturers call TC... clear?!

I'm reasonably sure that turning off ESP also turns off EDL, since they are really the same system.