Thread: Traction Control

Just a brief note to say thanks for the helpful threads about TC. We had our first serious snowfall here in years and I had no choice but to drive in it with my new Baby Soul. Well that sucked! I grew up driving in the snow, so I was quite worried about how she was going to handle, and I was right to be worried. She did horrible starting up at stoplights, and in one case, on a left hand turn, slip-sliding all over. It was when I got home and searched it on here. Went out at 6am, turned off TC and had NO problems.. even though my whole route was ice and packed snow. So, thanks!

Just another example of technology backfiring, and causing more trouble than it's worth. I am lucky to now live where there is no snow, but grew up in it. As anyone with experience in slick situations knows, there is a learning curve. Anti-lock brakes, and traction control don't just make instant snow pilots out of people....
Don't get me wrong, I love technology. Just don't think it is always a good replacement for experience/training.

Sometimes I miss the snow.....

May be straying a little off topic but I find these posts on TC and winter tires interesting. I don't drive my soul in winter due to the de-icing chemicals/sand they put on the roads so no experience there. I've only owned two other FWD cars back in the 80's, a Pontiac Sunbird and a Buick Somerset Regal. No TC back then and whatever tires they came with. Those two cars were animals on snow or ice, as long as you didn't get them hung up they would go anywhere and were very stable. Just find it curious that so many people have winter driving issues with the soul.

that's the reason they have an OFF button for ESC, it does not help in all cases.

No button on the dash is going to make up for the lack of common sense.
Perhaps there should be an on/off button for that?
I got the opportunity last nite to try the traction control as we had a light dusting of snow here in NY.
It seemed to do it's job, keeping the car straight and under control when I purposely stepped into it on a a snow covered road from a stand still.
I don't feel the need to test our souls capabilities though and will just try and exercise as much common sense as possible given the situation, at least untill the car comes equipped with that common sense button.

I've only owned two other FWD cars back in the 80's, a Pontiac Sunbird and a Buick Somerset Regal. No TC back then and whatever tires they came with. Those two cars were animals on snow or ice, as long as you didn't get them hung up they would go anywhere and were very stable.

Back in the late 1960's, no one in the Fox Cities area in central Wisconsin had ever seen a front-wheel drive car. The local Fiat dealer got his first shipment of Fiat 128's, which were front-wheelers, in December. By February, half of them had been rear-ended.

Originally Posted by conwelpic

that's the reason they have an OFF button for ESC, it does not help in all cases.

The Soul is the second car that I've owned, that's had that ESP OFF switch. I find it quite useful.
There are just times, when I know darn well that the tires are going to spin and I'd just as soon let them, without the traction Genie getting involved.
Sometimes, it's easier to just steer the car, without electronics getting involved. Sometimes............

If you really want to have some fun..... drive a 400+ bhp, front wheel drive car, with NO electronics at all.
It's all just BF&I (brute force and ignorance), but one hell of a lot of fun!

TM

Originally Posted by mostlyclassics

Back in the late 1960's, no one in the Fox Cities area in central Wisconsin had ever seen a front-wheel drive car. The local Fiat dealer got his first shipment of Fiat 128's, which were front-wheelers, in December. By February, half of them had been rear-ended.

I had a 1972 Fiat 128, as a teenager in about 1979-80....and it was pure awesome fun in the snow because of its traction. Loved hitting big parking lots at night (when they were mostly empty) after a fresh snow and blasting through the snow then grabbing the e-brake for a nice slide or spin. Worst car I ever owned for reliability, but I can think of no other 72 model car that got around any better in snow. Thanks for reminding me of the ol Fiat roach!

^^^

Those Fiat 128s were a hoot on ice and snow. When I was in college in the late 1960's, us college gearheads plus some townies used to gymkhana on Lake Winnebago in the winter. I had a Fiat 124 sedan with Konis, mags and great big gumball Semperit 401 tires, so I wasn't very competitive, but one of the townies had a Fiat 128. He blew everyone away, even a Lincoln with studded snow tires, on the ice.

To bring this thread back on track, I'd love to take our 2012 Soul+ with the SSD strut-tower bar and 15-inch steelies with Michelin X-ice3 snow tires out on Lake Winnebago! I wonder if they still gymkhana on the ice . . .

Originally Posted by RETIREDOLDSOUL

May be straying a little off topic but I find these posts on TC and winter tires interesting. I don't drive my soul in winter due to the de-icing chemicals/sand they put on the roads so no experience there. I've only owned two other FWD cars back in the 80's, a Pontiac Sunbird and a Buick Somerset Regal. No TC back then and whatever tires they came with. Those two cars were animals on snow or ice, as long as you didn't get them hung up they would go anywhere and were very stable. Just find it curious that so many people have winter driving issues with the soul.

I have quite a few FWD cars under my belt over the years, the Soul is easily the worst one of them for winter driving when the roads are not clear. From what I can tell, it's because of pour winter performing tires mostly.

I have also noticed along with the poor snow traction, that the rubber that the tires are constructed out of is considerably harder at around 40F and below. I drive the same 35 miles twice a day, and I have gotten quite used to the feel of the road. On cold days, my Soul feels and sounds like it's driving over washboards (figure of speech) in regards to the tining on the continuously reinforced concrete paving on I-29. When it warms up, smooth as butter, its like a totally different car.

Also, our cars are pretty darn light at 2,700lbs and they tend to ride over the slush instead of cutting through it. Having wider tires also lends to this.

My Soul's tires have around 31,000 miles on them and will have to be replaced by next winter. I will hit up my Michelin corporate tire rep up for some advice on this, he's been great in the past on recommending tires for my car. My last set on my Chrysler were Kelly Navigators. They were great on that car in the winter, but that car was very heavy on the front axle.