Traction Control/Diff Stranded Me

AntneeUK

2 Wheels 2 Many
Mar 8, 2009
1,491
0
Nottinghamshire
I can assure you, had I the money then I'd have a whole winter car, I certainly wouldn't take the LCR out in these conditions. Having just paid for new tyres that I hope will last a couple of years, new brake pads, a full service and an MOT, I'm not exactly "flush" at the moment. Otherwise at the very least I would've put winter tyres on a couple of months back
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
That's fair enough.

My thought has always been proactive.
I'd rather stick these on a CC and pay them up on 0% interest than crash and have either an insurance claim or need a new bumper at £400
 

splitpin

Active Member
Nov 22, 2009
78
1
He just popped them on when he got stuck on a hill.

Better than leaving the car and walking I'm guessing.

They just pull over the tyre, then you move the car a little so the last bit goes on and your away!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

OFI

Active Member
Sep 5, 2007
350
0
Salisbury
Why cant you get your summer tyres removed in December and put them back on in March/April like I and many others do?
For my Leon I picked up a set of alloys for £100, now I have the winter tyres on these so easy to fit and remove without using a tyre shop.

The tyre fitters I have spoken to said removing and refitting used tyres is not a good idea due to the stresses of pulling them off etc :shrug:

£100 sounds cheap for the right fit 18" wheels!
 

Wilko

Badge snob
An ATB LSD wouldn't help you in this situation.
All a ATB (Automatic Torque Baised differential) does is magnify the grip one wheel has and switch it to the other wheel.
With zero grip on the spinning side 0 x say 2 is still 0.

This is where the new generation of ATB diffs come into their own like the Autotec Wavetrac.
If trying to climb this same hill again don't accelerate, just slowly feed in the clutch and slowly get going then get into second gear ASAP.
Also winter tyres would have got you up that hill.
But winter tyres and a differential and you would have been all the way home.

WHY DO PEOPLE NOT USE WINTER TYRES??????????

Odd that, because it's almost impossible to get zero torque on a wheel, even on ice. Even with a wheel off the floor and spinning, you still get some torque transfer.
I've got a quaife in mine, and on sheet ice that I couldn't stand up on that a coleagues tt was strugling to move across, I had no problem.

Slow progress admittedly, but clutch out, kept wheels slipping slightly, and made reasonable progress. This is on track tryes.

Had to take short run ups on some gradients, but i've seen Ranges struggle today.

TBD deffinately helps.
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
Odd that, because it's almost impossible to get zero torque on a wheel, even on ice. Even with a wheel off the floor and spinning, you still get some torque transfer.
I've got a quaife in mine, and on sheet ice that I couldn't stand up on that a coleagues tt was strugling to move across, I had no problem.

Slow progress admittedly, but clutch out, kept wheels slipping slightly, and made reasonable progress. This is on track tryes.

Had to take short run ups on some gradients, but i've seen Ranges struggle today.

TBD deffinately helps.
Sounds fair, I'll see in the next few weeks how the new Wavetrac diff compares to open diff and Quaife diff
 

AntneeUK

2 Wheels 2 Many
Mar 8, 2009
1,491
0
Nottinghamshire
That's probably the least daft idea I've heard so far actually Jon, but thankfully I've got the car back up the road this evening (about an hour ago). I was still sliding all over but at least it's parked where I can see it now. Won't be using it again until the snow clears.

Annoyingly, all of the roads around here are clear, it's just my road itself :(
 

adon30

Active Member
Apr 18, 2008
156
2
Brummm Brummm
Why cant you get your summer tyres removed in December and put them back on in March/April like I and many others do?
For my Leon I picked up a set of alloys for £100, now I have the winter tyres on these so easy to fit and remove without using a tyre shop.

What winter tyres do you use?

I have nearly brand new conti sport contact 3's (summer tyres!!) and they are absolutely useless in the snow/ ice. struggle to get any momentum and hills are a no no unless you have a run up and it gets you to the top.
Was looking at those Vredstein ones as they seem fairly good.
 

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
I think an atb diff would have helped ant.

"The Quaife Differential powers both drive wheels under nearly all conditions, instead of just one. With an ordinary open differential, standard on most cars, a lot of precious power is wasted during wheelspin under acceleration. This happens because the open differential shifts power to the wheel with less grip (along the path of least resistance). The Quaife, however, does just the opposite. It senses which wheel has the better grip, and biases the power to that wheel. It does this smoothly and constantly, and without ever completely removing power from the other wheel."

"The Quaife also controls loss of traction when the front wheels are on slippery surfaces such as ice and snow or mud, providing the appropriate biased traction needed to overcome these adverse conditions. The Quaife Differential provides constant and infinitely variable drive. Power is transferred automatically without the use of normal friction pads or plates seen in other limited-slip designs."


I been in several situations where the diff has got me down roads other cars couldn't. Not say it's the solution just that it helps in snow/ice sometimes.
 
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Muttley

Catch that diesel!
Mar 17, 2006
4,987
31
North Kent
You have an LCR, so wide tyres with probably poor snow grip. With ESP off you still have EDL, which will apply brakes to the unloaded front wheel so that the one with grip can get some traction. Unless you've disconnected the ABS somehow.

On SNOW, narrow tyres with big tread gaps will be better than near-slick tarmac tyres. On ICE, nothing helps other than spikes. Even snow chains or studs aren't much good on ice, nothing to bite in to.

On ice, then, you must do everything very very gently, Very gentle application of power, braking and steering. Moving off in second gear can help. But low speeds and low accelerations are the keys to progress - grip has been reduced, but there is still a bit there. If your wheels start to spin, take your foot off and try again - spinning them will just create more ice.

I have to ask, though, how you can tell that one wheel was spinning while the other had grip *WHILE YOU WERE DRIVING?* I know I can't see any of my wheels from the driving seat . . . . . . .
 

OFI

Active Member
Sep 5, 2007
350
0
Salisbury
Out of interest...

When I have TCS on and the wheels spin and the TCS flashes it makes an odd noise.

However with TCS off it still makes the same noise just doesn't do anything about it.

Hard to describe the noise other than a sort of scratch sound. Is that normal?
 

OFI

Active Member
Sep 5, 2007
350
0
Salisbury
I have to ask, though, how you can tell that one wheel was spinning while the other had grip *WHILE YOU WERE DRIVING?* I know I can't see any of my wheels from the driving seat . . . . . . .


You'd feel the power switch sides :confused:

I know when mine was spinning up a hill the other day I could tell once i'd hit tarmac under the snow. It gripped and then span the other wheel and went nowhere :bleh:
 

AntneeUK

2 Wheels 2 Many
Mar 8, 2009
1,491
0
Nottinghamshire
I have to ask, though, how you can tell that one wheel was spinning while the other had grip *WHILE YOU WERE DRIVING?* I know I can't see any of my wheels from the driving seat . . . . . . .
Ha ha. I'd managed to get the car over to the side of the road and one of the locals had cleared all of the snow around the driver side front wheel. I reversed it back on to the exposed tarmac and tried to drive. When I couldn't go anywhere I wound the window down and stuck my head out. I could see that it wasn't turning at all, whereas I could hear and feel that something was, so it must've been the other wheel that was on the snow still.

Thanks for all the pointers anyway guys. If I ever have the money to spare, then winter tyres and spare wheels will be the first thing to consider, and some kind of LSD will be considered too. Big cost mind you
 

AntneeUK

2 Wheels 2 Many
Mar 8, 2009
1,491
0
Nottinghamshire
I must admit that I'm inclined to agree based on what I've heard in the past, but even so, I only paid £4700 for the car, so £1200 is a quarter again. I think so far, barring the cost of petrol, I've paid for 4 new tyres (F1 GSD3), new front brake pads (DS2500), Brembo strip and refurb, a couple of front splitters, an eBay Climatronic control unit and a partially worn LCR steering wheel. MOT/service etc of course. Doesn't add up to anywhere near the cost of that one LSD!
 

Hollow

Guest
the best solution, IMHO, is winter tyres. Here, in Lithuania, we have to use them in winter and we havo much less problems in traction than drivers from UK or IRL. Keep in mind, that lsd will help in traction, but won't help in stopping he car on snow! Winter tyres do.


Hollow
FR+ TDI '06
 
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