bob m

Here's a question regarding traction control in snow. Now I know that when you are stuck in snow, you turn it off so you don't spin the wheels. But what about driving in snow/ice - ya know, where the roads have a an inch or so of packed, icy snow? Better control with it on or off?

jyang7788

Actually, I believe that you turn it off when you are stuck to enable MORE wheel spin as the engine won't cut power, so its easier to power yourself out and get you moving. I usually keep everything in its default ON position in most situations in the snow/ice as I don't want a lot of wheel spin and I want the computer nannies to keep me in control. For situations where you want to have more fun in the snow/ice, then I think you can set traction control to sport or off.

cuke2u

I thought you couldn't actually fully turn off TC on the b9...

jyang7788

My assumption was 1 click and its in sports mode, click and hold and it claims the ESP programs are off but not sure if its just telling you that...My bet is there are still some electrics in the background just in case.

cuke2u

Yes it tells you that, but from what I have seen the TC is still kicking in...

cuke2u

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a4-...5-off-2936309/ it seems that it is ESP that cannot be fully turned off..

jyang7788

Fair enough, I generally don't find myself in situations where I need to turn ESP fully off so I don't have a lot of experience one way or the other

IMYM

Like the above said, it is the other way around. When you stuck in the snow, the car wont move if the wheels aren't allowed to spin, so you have to turn it off. Whether you can turn it "completely/fully" off or not is a moot point since you only need a bit of wheel spin to get the car moving.

When you are moving you don't want the wheels to spin because static friction is always larger than kinetic friction. Basically you have more traction if the wheels don't spin. This is of course assuming you are talking about normal driving. If you are talking about driving in WRC rally then you are on the wrong forum. :-P

bob m

Ok, so what I gather here is that in driving with snow/ice you keep TC engaged,if you get stuck disengage. Rally racing, disengage.

Wires

I've driven 4 different vehicles over the past 10 years with traction control, and not once did I ever have to disengage it. I can see the need if you get stupid stuck, but that is some serious stuckage (total made up word there)....

It would be smart to just leave it on 99.9% of the time. Sure, cars didn't have it before and people were "fine", but with it on, it helps a lot. Best example is come out of a parking lot onto a city street on a slippery surface, and do a right hand turn rather aggressively. You'll find the car wants to drift into the second lane, but the TC will kick in and pull it back into the first. Sure you could just pulled out slower, but the tech works, so why not use it.