Aftermarket traction control system?

[Bobfish]

FD traction control - right foot.
FD stability control - arms.

Dont mean to sound like an ass - but IMHO if your worried about wheel spinning in the wet with your FD, you shouldnt have one. I bought my FD because its the last of its kind - a pure drivers car, one that requires skill to drive.  MY favourite game is driving my car in the wet.  If you want something that drives itself, get an evo or a scooby.

I wouldnt recommend a traction control system either - there are two ways that it can work, either cutting fuel or cutting /retarding ignition. Cutting fuel is BAD, period. Cutting/retarding ignition is not so bad but with motors as sensitive as rotaries i wouldnt go spending 600 nicker on an unproven product when you can do the same job with your foot.

[Tim Oldland]

Don\'t mean to sound like an ass? Well you do i\'m afraid, with this phrase:

"IMHO if your worried about wheel spinning in the wet with your FD, you shouldnt have one"

I bought an FD for the same reasons as you - its a pure drivers car, and yes, because its not easy to drive, it takes skill. Which is why most of the time the traction control system would be off. I would use it when its torrential rain, icy, snowy or the like, where no amount of skill or restraint or self control can stop the inevitable happening sometimes.

And if the £600 system saves me from one crash alone, its worth it IMHO.

Frankly i don\'t care whether you think i\'m a pansy by fitting it, the only thing i\'m worried about it whether it will damage the car.

If there\'s even a chance it will, i won\'t fit it, its that simple.

So lets keep it to the technical comments please, not a \'my cock\'s bigger than yours\' type discussion...

[Fish]

Traction control wont stop you crashing, it just helps for quick getaways.

Fish

[Bobfish]

i second what fish says, and if you look at the second part of my post tim, i expressed my technical opinion as well.

Im not one to bitch and not offer advice, if i feel i dont have anything valuable to add i dont post.

TCS does not stop you crashing, it stops you wheelspinning. If you want to use it when its torrential rain, icy, snowy or the like, then traction control is NOT going to help you. The only thing it will do is stop you wheel spinning, and its easy to keep the car going in a straight line even when you are wheel spinning.  The thing that is going to make you spin out in those conditions is the ice and snow, not wheelspin. If your worried about wheelspin, use your right foot less!

Im sorry, what i meant by you shouldnt have an FD is if your worried about wheelspin, why not get a 350z or something else that comes with it as standard?

the ONLY reason i didnt get something newer over the FD is because is DOESNT Have traction control, newer cars are superior in almost every aspect (Reliability, fuel consumption, running and maintainance costs)

Your telling me you bought an FD for this reason but now you want to fit traction control? riiiiigght.

IMO if you have an RX7 and you want to drive it in the ICE, you need to get yourself a second car. I would drive my RX7 in snow and ice, but ONLY to have some fun on the slippery surface. You couldnt do that with TCS. Is your RX7 your only car?

[james01uk]

Please note

TRACTION CONTROL DOES NOT WORK IN ICE OR SNOW.

IT USES THE BRAKING SYSTEM THEREFORE ONLY MAKES THINGS WORSE

BELIEVE IT OR NOT THIS IS TRUE!

[GeckoGareth]

James, this system has a setting for ice, it take response from the brake system but at no point does it activate the brakes, it only decreases power from the engine to the wheels to stop the spin.

Some fair points raised, I know for a fact that I wouldn\'t have binned my first rex had it has this system installed, yes it was my fault that I crashed that day but that aside the TC system would have prevented it.

From the research I did, it seemed to be all down to the fitting of the system and being setup for the rotary that made the difference between it working with no engine trouble and it being attributed to an engine going bang. In the end I made the informed decision that I would be confident in it not causing problems so long as it was set up correctly. I can\'t remember what the important setting on the system was that needs to be set for a rotary but the information is about if you look.

The Racelogic system has been fitted to a few FD\'s as far as I was aware. In fact when I was speaking to Racelogic last year they informed me that one of their directors had it on an FD during the development and saw no problems.

Best of luck Gareth.

[james01uk]

ok fair enough
i stand corrected.  I think.

i have never used a traction system which coped in icy conditions yet but doesnt mean to say they arent out there.

Why would anyone want to risk engine failure for such a device (especially a modded engine)

I think 600 quid would be better off spent on a skid pan course teaching you to control your car better.

hope that doesnt sound rude!

[iaint]

ok fair enough
i stand corrected.  I think.

i have never used a traction system which coped in icy conditions yet but doesnt mean to say they arent out there.

Confusion between ABS and TC I think - ABS is a liability on very low-grip surfaces, TC is very useful to a point.

Also, it\'s stability control (DSC/ASR devices) that use the breaks to help a car round bends when entering too quickly!


I think that a safe (engine wise) TC system for the FD would be a great thing - it means you can relax in damp conditions rather than clutching the wheel like it\'s a live snake!  Many of the accidents we hear about are from \'application of power = sideways into scenery\' events where TC would lessen or prevent the accident.

We\'re not all super-skilled racing drivers and we all make mistakes.  I\'ve had 2 moments where TC would have prevented mishaps but am lucky in that on ewas a low-speed spin on a roundabout and I caught the other (70mph step out on a DC) - that was mostly luck and a bit of skill.

TC has it\'s place and as long as you can turn it off for the drag strip and track-days then it\'s great.

Wish the Jeep had it too!

[DreXeL]

FD traction control - right foot.
FD stability control - arms.

Dont mean to sound like an ass - but IMHO if your worried about wheel spinning in the wet with your FD, you shouldnt have one. I bought my FD because its the last of its kind - a pure drivers car, one that requires skill to drive.  MY favourite game is driving my car in the wet.  If you want something that drives itself, get an evo or a scooby.

Amen to that   :yes

[sdminus]

Im just gonna sit back and watch this thread coz i think its funny :rollin

carry on boys

Scott :spank

[Bobfish]

thread over i think

I will say that i did have some fun last night.  Driving along a damp straight road from pullaway, changed into second...clutch all the way up, floor it. 2.5k rpm then the revs shot straight up to 8k...kept it planted and controlled it with the steering all the way up to 80 odd where the car regained grip.

IMO thats what these cars are all about

[rx7veilside]

cant blve there are some people still saying they can do this and they can do that like the way the back flips out/controlled it with the steering etc dont want to offend but driving with excessive speed kills..what if there had been a bit of diesel on that damp road flooring it to rev limit wld have seen u doing the wild thing.if someone wants traction control good luck to them if it stops them ending up in a ditch.sorry for sounding an old fart.the scrap yard is full of fd,s whos drivers thought thay were a bit handy in the driving dept

[Bobfish]

RX7Veilside...what are you saying about doing the wild thing if there was diesel on the road? i WAS doing the wild thing! I was wheelspinning and snaking up the road at 30mph.  It was a STRAIGHT road, and the car spins in a straight line - the only thing that moves the back end is the road camber which can be accounted for by steering.

There is nothing that you can do, short of someone pulling out on you that is going to make a rwd car difficult to control when wheelspinning going in a straight line. Either you correct the snaking with the steering or you let off the gas and the back end snaps straight back in.

I dont do this sort of stuff all the time. Last night it was 11:30PM and there were no other cars on the road and it was in the middle of a deserted industrial estate.

Sorry if you dont like it, but im gonna do it anyway :oP If the car wasnt made to have fun like this, they would have made them 4wd.

Oh, and traction control will never end up saving anyone from a ditch! There has to be SOME amount of wheelspin for the TCS system to notice it, so the back end would have already snapped by the time the TCS notices, this is bad in some cases - would cause the back end to snap back so violently that it would send it flying the other way. The worst thing you can do in a drift (which i do alot of, but not on the road) is let off the throttle totally when your sideways.

[DreXeL]

But letting the arse get a bit jiggy when going straight is different to trying to floor it round a bend. It\'s the latter that puts you in a ditch.

[Bobfish]

and i dont mean to sound like an ass, but if you dont agree with what i say above about car control, you\'ve obviously never driven a rwd car in that way; so please don\'t tell me how to drive and whats dangerous and what isnt. Granted, pootling around at 30mph is going to be "safer" but there is a difference between driving fast and driving dangerously.  I am a very experienced driver and do this sort of thing on a daily basis pretty much, i know how to control my car, where the limit is and where not to push it!