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[Andy B]

I find the Omega TC quite good if you keep a little power on so you can hear the ABS pump start up and wait for it to brake the spinning wheel. Obviously nothing will help if neither rear wheel has traction.  ......

It don't help on our street. I had two goes at going up the slight hill the other day before I gave up & went the other way round. And it's snowed a LOT more since this photo

[TheBoy]

I find the Omega TC quite good if you keep a little power on so you can hear the ABS pump start up and wait for it to brake the spinning wheel. Obviously nothing will help if neither rear wheel has traction.  ......

It don't help on our street. I had two goes at going up the slight hill the other day before I gave up & went the other way round. And it's snowed a LOT more since this photo

Yours must be bust.  Mine rarely struggles on snow and ice, and I have friggin great wide tyres on.

[Andy B]

I find the Omega TC quite good if you keep a little power on so you can hear the ABS pump start up and wait for it to brake the spinning wheel. Obviously nothing will help if neither rear wheel has traction.  ......

It don't help on our street. I had two goes at going up the slight hill the other day before I gave up & went the other way round. And it's snowed a LOT more since this photo

Yours must be bust.  Mine rarely struggles on snow and ice, and I have friggin great wide tyres on.

Light still flashes ..... my tyres are 235's

I'll be perfect too one day ........

[TheBoy]

I find the Omega TC quite good if you keep a little power on so you can hear the ABS pump start up and wait for it to brake the spinning wheel. Obviously nothing will help if neither rear wheel has traction.  ......

It don't help on our street. I had two goes at going up the slight hill the other day before I gave up & went the other way round. And it's snowed a LOT more since this photo

Yours must be bust.  Mine rarely struggles on snow and ice, and I have friggin great wide tyres on.

Light still flashes ..... my tyres are 235's

I'll be perfect too one day ........

Yeah, occasionally the light flashes, but it never makes a meal of things.

From previous posts you've made about yours, I can only conclude yours is not working right.  Rear brakes fully effective?  Decent quality rubber on back?

 :-/

[Andy B]

.....  Rear brakes fully effective? 

Both up to MOT standard .....

..... Decent quality rubber on back?

 :-/

Relatively new branded rubber ..... but not your favourite     

Irrelevant though at the moment ........     

[Del Boy]

I find the Omega TC quite good if you keep a little power on so you can hear the ABS pump start up and wait for it to brake the spinning wheel. Obviously nothing will help if neither rear wheel has traction.

On some cars (notably Volvo, oddly) it's a total pain on snow and you don't get anywhere without turning it off.

Likewise ABS. Some systems work OK, some are a pain. Probably down to how much they spent getting it calibrated for the car.

In this extreme weather, I sometimes get the feeling I would be better off without electronic aids but it must be a boon for the average "bounce it off the rev limiter and wait for it to move" level of driving skill that seems to be prevalent these days - sadly normally demonstrated in poverty spec Ford Focuses that don't have TC. 

Kevin

Beemers also seem to have hopeless TC in the snow.

I reckon on ice, many ABS implementations aren't great - people are taught to jam the tinkers on hard with ABS, and on zero traction, that will never, ever end in anything but tears...

And in the wet was due to tyres but the DSC (included TC) was naff never stopped a slide once or never stopped it spinning and it was only a 2.0 diesel.

[TheBoy]

.....  Rear brakes fully effective? 

Both up to MOT standard .....

..... Decent quality rubber on back?

 :-/

Relatively new branded rubber ..... but not your favourite     

Brakes - do you have the figures?  My handbrake frequently passes an MOT, doesn't mean its any good!

Tyres - I tend to have SP9000s or SC2/3s on. Currently SP9000s.


Just trying to think why yours gives your so much grief, and mine does what its supposed to.

[hotel21]

Agree with Beemers being crap in the snow.  The 'company' cars I have previously driven generally had a boot full of kit as well as 3/4 or more in the tanl- always fuelled at the end of the shift so full for the start of the next.  Absobloodylootley crap in snow on the slightest of slopes.  Mind you, they were manuals...

Have to say that the Elite with autobox has behaved impeccably on the snow up here.  Use the snow button when needed but, generally, works fine without as long as you do not give it a bootfull of throttle expecting miracles!  the manual MV6, on lesser snow quantities but equally slippy, was hard work to get going from a standstill sometimes....

[Andy B]

.....
Brakes - do you have the figures?  My handbrake frequently passes an MOT, doesn't mean its any good!

Tyres - I tend to have SP9000s or SC2/3s on. Currently SP9000s.


Just trying to think why yours gives your so much grief, and mine does what its supposed to.

Really can't remember, MOT was last July & i have problems remembering what day it is!
It's not on a print out  .... is it?

My tyres are Michelin Pilot

My main gripe with TC ...... and it doesn't step in that often with reasonable tyres on, is that it's ON or OFF there's nothing in between.  You'd struggle getting anything UP the street at the moment that's not FWD. 

[TheBoy]

.....
Brakes - do you have the figures?  My handbrake frequently passes an MOT, doesn't mean its any good!

Tyres - I tend to have SP9000s or SC2/3s on. Currently SP9000s.


Just trying to think why yours gives your so much grief, and mine does what its supposed to.

Really can't remember, MOT was last July & i have problems remembering what day it is!
It's not on a print out  .... is it?

My tyres are Michelin Pilot

My main gripe with TC ...... and it doesn't step in that often with reasonable tyres on, is that it's ON or OFF there's nothing in between.  You'd struggle getting anything UP the street at the moment that's not FWD. 

Thats why I think there is something amiss with yours.  I have really played silly beggars with mine, driving like an utter ass, with revs oscillating between 4k and 5.5k, and it never really 'bogged' down - it just accelerated up to speed, though obviously when the tyres did eventually get some bite into the greasy, wet road, it really did then take off.


Naturally, if you're trying to lay 200bhp from a standing start with poor traction, what can it do? Its job is to minimise wheelspin. The rear brakes won't stop it, so it has to keep cutting an increasing number of cylinders until power <= traction - which may be a lot of cylinders if, even at this late stage in the process, you are still trying to lay 200bhp

[Andy B]

......
Naturally, if you're trying to lay 200bhp from a standing start with poor traction, what can it do? Its job is to minimise wheelspin. The rear brakes won't stop it, so it has to keep cutting an increasing number of cylinders until power <= traction - which may be a lot of cylinders if, even at this late stage in the process, you are still trying to lay 200bhp

C'mon Jamie! I've had a licence for over 30 yrs, TC failed me at the top of the hill, not the bottom! I gave it a run up, bearing mind there are cars either side of the road ....

[MaxV6]

I just had to go over to watlington to get my son, then up to sainsbury's for provisions....   enorrmous fun...    TC and snow mode working well.....  then, in order to demonstrate the difference, turned them off....  and showed my idiot son what a 4 wheel drift was...  and then how to drive sideways in both a straight line, and round roundabouts 

then turned them back on and drove rather more sensibly.


(very very empty car park....   and very very empty ring road....  anyone not used to driving in snow. should avoid travelling around oxford... the  main roads are 6 inches deep in places  side roads are as bad but underlayed with ice. )

[MaxV6]

(snow experience from 15 years living in the wilds of North Wales.....   and the heavy snow falls in the cotswolds in the 80's   )

[cem_devecioglu]

I discovered that a brand new "good quality" snow/ice tires (not usual -gay- all season tires)  are more effective under those circumstances..

and also discovered that in mud and sand the TC is a headache and must be closed in some occasions..

must add though, agreed Kevin, ESP is totally a different system..

few years ago had a bad braking experience on ice with normal summer tires.. the friction coefficient was definitely 0.0.. and no ABS on earth could stop my speed

my only luck was the front driver see me from mirror

[cruisetopoland]

.....
For example, an ABS-equipped car must be braked differently to a non-ABS car in an emergency situation-many drivers do not realise this. .......

Don't you mean the other way round?  :-/  :-/  :-/
Emergency brake assist was dreamt up because Merc? was aware that drivers wouldn't just stand on the brakes & trust ABS to sort it out for them, instead they braked more hesitantly as though they were in a NON ABS car .......  :-/

The difference is that in an ABS equipped car, you stand on the brakes and can steer at any stage in the braking time, whereas in a non-ABS car you brake firmly until you feel the traction being lost and then release slightly or cadence brake to lose as much speed as possible and then take evasive directional action right at the very end when most of the speed is lost.

EBA/brake assist was developed to sense when a driver was in an emergency braking situation and was not applying enough pressure for maximum braking, so increased the braking electronically.

Each one of the 87 cars and 16 motorbikes I have had plus endless company cars and coaches and buses I have driven have all had different braking characteristics, but the main difference in braking is the fitment or not of ABS.

Early ABS systems were clumsy and the main issue is with them being over-sensitive; my 2004 Berlingo used to activate ABS all the time, leaving you heading towards the back of the car in front alarmingly, even in traffic!

The main failing of ABS is the fact that it will not recognise snow, gravel and other surfaces where locking the wheels and digging in would be better than ABS taking off the brakes.