How to drive a 06 STS AWD in the snow

[Dewayne4608]

The manual says that driving with traction control off is bad for the car. Is that possible?
Driving in the winter on my cars in the past I always turned it off and with it on the car always got stuck.

Why would they say it can harm the car?

[next2pool]

Originally Posted by Dewayne4608

The manual says that driving with traction control off is bad for the car. Is that possible?
Driving in the winter on my cars in the past I always turned it off and with it on the car always got stuck.

Why would they say it can harm the car?

Since the center and front diffs are open, you could get excessive speed difference inside the differentials with one or more wheels spinning wildly, however, on an AWD you can't turn it off anyway (even though you think it may be off).

[EChas3]

The STS won't let you hurt it.

[Dewayne4608]

Really so if I hit the tc button it really won't be off?

[EChas3]

Originally Posted by Dewayne4608

Really so if I hit the tc button it really won't be off?

Next2pool (and others) observe that the AWD cars still employ some traction control/stabilitrac logic when the system is supposedly turned-off. When off, I don't notice it at all.

[next2pool]

Originally Posted by Dewayne4608

Really so if I hit the tc button it really won't be off?

IIRC, turning traction control off (on AWD) will diminish the agressiveness of the logic, but it will still intervene during extreme wheel speed conditions in order to protect the diffs.

[dkozloski]

I've driven my '06 AWD V8 STS thousands of miles through snow. I just got back from a 700 mile day trip to Anchorage yesterday where it was snowing like hell for over 100 miles. I've never turned the T/C off and I've never been stuck or needed help of any kind. The car will push snow so deep that the front bumper catches it and it sluices up and over the windshield. I can't imagine road conditions that would give me trouble. The only road trip I have ever had to delay was because a blizzard had dumped sixteen feet of snow on the Parks Highway near Cantwell and I had to wait a day for it to get plowed.

[tlac]

I agree, i've never noticed any traction advantage in any car with the t/c off. It usually only does its job when you loose control, and I try not to get to that point.

[next2pool]

There are a few situations in which the car will progress better with the TC off--however, it's hardly worth the trouble. The dynamics are almost the same as ABS. When pushing through deep sand or gravel, ABS or TC are slightly worse. The traction control overide is for burn outs and agressive driving when wheel spin may be desired. Also, TC can be very intrusive when turning corners or accelerating on varying friction surfaces. The TC takes too long to recover if you want to fool around a bit. In 90% of the situations it does just fine.

[D&Ds_STS]

We had a '95 Aurora (N* lite, FWD). If the trans was put in sport or manual shift mode, and TC disabled, the upshift algorithm was altered to make the upshift faster and firmer. In that mode, a WOT 1-2 upshift would produce about a 1/3 second squawk from the front tires. I remarked on that to an Olds engineer who was riding with me to confirm my complaint about "chuggle" (misfiring at light loads due to fuel mix too lean). He laughed, said they figured anyone running the car in sport/manual mode with TC off was looking for a bit edgier upshift, and put that in the software. I may be dreaming, but seems to me the STS upshifts are faster/firmer when TC is off. Next time I have the car (rare, the wife loves it), I will make back to back runs with TC on and TC off to compare the upshift feel.

[mrchipster]

I think the biggest advantage may be on the RWD STS's. Turning the TC off would allow you to spin the rear wheels just enough to keep up your momentum or get you up a hill. Of course if you give it too much throttle you're asking for trouble.