Thread: Traction Control Disable

The ETC is excellent and performs very well!, on rocks and rutted tracks it is fantastic, Toyota drivers look bemused by the fact that we can't turn it off, but we don't need to.

The only issue I have had with it was climbing a very steep soft dunes, I could feel it biting and slowed me down enough to loose momentum, this was overcome by reducing tyre pressures
As it works on wheel slip, lower pressures equalled more traction meaning no slippage.

Get used to the system and adjust techniques and tyres accordingly and it will repay you no end

I too took a while to get used to all the driver aids when I moved on from a bare bones disco 1

Originally Posted by schuy1

1 word regarding disabling T/C..................WHY????????

Well yes there is a good reason but one would need to live where you get the cold white stuff on the ground

It isn't the TC that one needs to disable, rather the ABS.

At slow speeds with snow the ABS allows the wheel/s to rotate and vehicle not stop,"crunch"; whereas locking the wheels in/on snow will build up a ramp/wedge and stop the vehicle.

One of my daughter's past cars (german build vectra) had a disable switch in the centre console. (thinks the "disable" over ridden by speed input) Would think that most Oz importers normally have such switches deleted from their build spec.

Cheers

RF

Not only snow, Defender pulls up considerably quicker on gravel roads with T/C - ABS disabled, you might argue that you can still steer with ABS but you know you don't have to fully lock the brakes to get a gravel wheel chock in front of the wheels. Quite un-nerving doing a Gravel panic stop with ABS - you dont even seem to slow down at all. I disengage ABS when touring on gravel.

check this out, its a bike but the same proportionate difference in a 4x4

first run is ABS , 2nd & 3rd run is ABS off

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JhenlQlWuA]ABS on Dirt - YouTube[/ame]

Yes, braking suddenly on gravel with ABS means your stopping distance will be longer than without.

IIRC the Amarok has a feature that keeps TC on but disables ABS when you switch to 4x4 mode.

Isn't this one of the features of the D2a, turning off ABS to allow the gravel to build up in front of the wheels.
Can't say I've noticed it as an issue in either snow or gravel, never found TC and ABS causing problems in either situation.

Originally Posted by Disco Muppet

And the whole "some times it's better not having ETC" argument is a load of bollocks IMHO, it's a fantastic system.

Oh there are times.... In snow, for instance, there are times you need to maintain momentum and the TC kills so much power, it is impossible to get through. I've witnessed this a few time where the TC was preventing the Disco from getting through an obstacle that other vehicle simple drove through without any drama.

Originally Posted by Red90

Oh there are times.... In snow, for instance, there are times you need to maintain momentum and the TC kills so much power, it is impossible to get through. I've witnessed this a few time where the TC was preventing the Disco from getting through an obstacle that other vehicle simple drove through without any drama.

It's not the first time that I have heard stories like this. This was the reason for my original post, but most seem to think it a stupid idea to be able to disable TC.

Ahh, The white stuff!! Sorry yes I get so much of it here that it slipped my mind!
Thats as maybe but I think if the situation has got to that stage its time for the Chain Gang!! And stopping in gravel? Well I do a helluva lot of gravel driving and although it MAY increase distances I have not noticed . Drive to conditions is the buzzword. If I find your disco with 1 of my cows imbedded in the grill and 100meters of skid marks the bent disco is gonna be the least of your worries!
Cheers Scott