All hail VSA, who helped out greatly tonight.

no, i did not crash the car due to the snow or anything like that, but i did see first hand what slippery snow can do to your driving. MAN was it slipperty Saturday night in Chicago. VSA was working HARD during 0-15 MPH acceleration. Hell, I wasn't even pushing it! Of course I did use this to my advantage, and did some very light drifts (1 or 2) in the school parking lot. Nothing huge/dangerous, but when i turned the car into a parking lot while meeting a friend, I noticed how the car lost traction, so I decided to go with the flow and let it spin some more. I also decided to try a little something else..

with VSA off, I floored it while the tires were on tractionless pavement. the needle naturally sky-rocketed up to 7000 without shifting, and i let go at 7200. would it not shift if i didn't let it go? i mean i never do this, i just did this to see if the tranny WOULD shift in stand-still, no traction conditions. i was scared i would hit the rev-limiter, so i let off at just inside redline (i think 7200). was it too much acceleration at 1 time? just curious/ wanted to let everyone know how great VSA is in trecherous conditions.

 

 

Anyway, I don't think it was a problem that you shot the revs up the way you did, especially that you didn't hold them there.

 

Pushing a car to 7000 RPM's without traction is something that I would not recommend. It is similar to reving an engine to redline without any load on the engine. But, there is another consideration. What speed was showing on the speedometer?

I don't know how the TC works on the TSX. But, on a car that will allow one tire to spin while the other is stationary, the speed of the tire is double the indicated speed. In other words, if the speedometer shoots up to 70 MPH, the tire that is spinning is spinning at 140 MPH. The experience can be stressful on the engine, the transmission, the drivetrain (CVJ's), and the tires. If you were in second gear at 7,000 RPM's and only one tire was spinning, what would be the speed of the tire? Would it be fast enough to sling the tire apart?

I do recommend that drivers take their cars to a large, flat, clear area where it is safe to push the car into intentional skids and get to know how the car handles in uncontrolled situations -- and how to recover from skids. But, such maneuvers should simulate situations one might encounter on roads.

Such posts remind me of why I would not want to buy a used TSX.

 

exactly, just don't want to take the chance with used.

at least simulating what i did last night with MY car, I know what I did to it (which was nothing, really, just a test of the car's responses to certain things). but there are stupid people out there, and IMO (and my family's) it just is not worth taking the risk of used. I'm sure someone out there hits 3rd in tractionless conditions

by the way, just a quick piece of info.. I was in 1st the whole time, and I think the spedo did not pass 20. it wasn't like i was being stupid, it was nothing bad at all.

 

Traction control does not double the speed of the wheel that's spinning when only one wheel has traction. (or indicate half of the actual) Speed is still sensed by a speedo gear or a magnetic pickup on the drivetrain so what is indicated is the speed the tire is spinning at. Torque is doubled at the wheel with traction if the car allows the bias to shift that much but that's the only thing that doubles. Engine speed to tire speed is locked in stone by the transmission ratio unless of course you are in neutral.

 

I am not sure about the TSX. But, with RWD, and some FWD cars, when one wheel is stationary and one wheel is spinning, the speed indicated by the speedometer is 1/2 the speed at which the free wheel is spinning. It is a function of the gears in the differential with RWD and I presume the transaxle in FWD. TC, I presume, can work in different ways. But, a LSD will transfer the torque from the wheel that is spinning to the wheel that is not spinning and effectively reduce the wheel spin of the wheel that has little, if any, traction.

If other words, jack up the rearend of a RWD car without a LSD and turn the driveshaft at a fixed RPM (fixed speed). Then lock one of the rear wheels and run the driveshaft at the same RPM's. The wheel that is not locked will be turning at approximately twice the speed as it did with both wheels free. Thus, the free wheel will be spinning at 100 MPH when the speedometer is indicating 50 MPH.

I wonder, what speed would 7,000 RPM's give you in 1st gear with the AT? If I recall correctly, I get about 10-11 MPH at 1,000 RPM's. Would 70 MPH be about right then for 7,000 RPM's? Then, if the TSX does, in fact, double the speed of the free wheel when one wheel cannot rotate, the free wheel will be doing about 140 MPH? I don't know if this is the case, or not, with the TSX. I am just saying it is something to consider before pushing the RPM's towards the high end of the tach when a wheel is spinning.

 

i think its closer to 60ish. maybe a little les cuz i remmeber shifting trying to clock my 0 to 60 times. i think its correct, unless i didnt follow you and in that case disregard my post

 

I always abuse rentals. They are so much fun to slide and stuff... I can't believe people actually buy them from the rental companies!

 

VSA is dope

 

"Nothing goes faster in reverse gear than a rental car"

 

VSA rocks. We got a storm in NY last night. It kicked in exactly when it was needed. I was able to drive in complete control even when traction was lost. The car always ramained stable. It really is a great traction/stability control system.