All,

just a quick one as I'm still getting used to my new car (so don't shout at me if I'm being daft or unrealistic). A very vague question to start and then I'll fill in some details. At what point, and under what circumstances should the TC kick in on my TDI vRS? The reason that I ask is that it's caught me out a couple of times in the 2 weeks that I've had the car. Latest time was this evening. Was at a set of lights. Dropped the DSG into Sport and put my foot down (admittedly fairly hard). TC kicked in as I was pulling away. Perhaps not unusual you say. The reasons that it caught me out were:

1) it was dry

2) I was on a piece of road that has had the high grip surface coating applied to it

Prior to driving the vRS I wouldn't of expected the car to do this as I thought the TC was more for when the car was being thrown into corners and the wheels started to lose grip. I've also seen the TC light flash on on a dual carriageway when the car was in D4 gear and I accelerated to pull out and overtake. Road was wet but still didn't expect that much torque going through the wheels in 4th. As I say I might be being daft about it (and probably need to tame my driving down a bit!!) but thought I'd ask the question anyway!

Thanks

Edited 28 September, 201213 yr by smigg

Basically your engine has more torque than you have traction. This is why my turbo diesels are all 4wd.

If the wheels slip, the TC will kick in... Unless you turn if off, of course.

My TDI is prone to making the wheels let go.

There is a lot of torque there from that diesel lump.

Even the petrol can spin the wheels pretty easily. I've spun them in 3rd in the wet.

You'll get used to it. I'll sometime turn off the TC if I know I'm going to have to go fast from a junction. I'd rather spin them a little than get stuck in the middle of the road with the bleedin computer banging the brakes off and on.

I seem to recall reading that a tyre will slip if more than 50bhp is applied.

This is true in my driving experience in that anything with more than 100 bhp and a spirited start will result in spin.

When I towed a caravan with my 140bph I got wheel spin in 3rd gear with michelin tyres if I floored it.

I don't tow with my octy any more for this and poor rear suspension reasons.

TC is short for traction control, this is what controls wheel spin if you floor the throttle by backing off the throttle and in more extreme cases braking the offending wheel.

What you are thinking about when it comes to corners is ESP, electronic stability protection, that is what tries to control the car if you go into a corner too fast, usually by braking one of the wheels individually to bring the car back into the line it is expecting.

Ian