HI, i'm new to this forum. I am planning on buying a TL-S this summer. I plan to lower the car but i've been told that it will mess up the TCS. is that true? Thanks in Advance.

 

Hmmm....best thing I could do is use logic. How would springs affect it? I guess the springs can lower your car soo much that you have a high degree of negative camber creating less traction and it'll probably activate the traction control more often. Other than that, they have nothing to do with one another.

 

Most people that have lowered their cars haven't reported any problems with the TCS, so that is a good indication that there isn't any problem...

 

The TCS on the TL sucks anyway. No fuel cutoff. Still a great car though.

 

Why would you want a fuel cutoff? If everytime my tires started to spin and the TCS kicked in, then the fuel pump would cut off and I would have to manually reset it. That would suck.

 

I didn't mean complete fuel cutoff. A good TCS system will retard fuel to the motor if enough wheel spin is detected.

Example (I like to use my old Saturn for example)

In the winter I took the Saturn to an empty icy parking lot and floored the accelerator. The car detects will spin, uses ABS and retards fuel to gain traction. The car slowly speeds up without wheel spin.

Did the same thing with the TL. The wheels spin and spin because the ABS cannot stop the wheels because too much power is coming from the engine.

In case you think this is a stupid test, Motor Trend had me do the same thing to all the cars during the Motor Trend/Cadillac competitive test drive I attended.

 

seems like the bimmer's traction control jabs the brakes real quick every time a slide is detected or any wheelspin. cause in my friend's m3 every time he hits second hard without clickin the little button it almost jerks your head forward.

 

Ok, I see what you mean now. Very good point. I guess the engine still generates too much power from the time the accelerator pedal is released until the RPM's return to idle level, and maybe at that level of idle, there is too much power. I guess I never really thought of wheel spin being too much of a problem because I live in VA, but it does snow here occassionaly, so that would be a good feature to have.

I agree with you doopstr, our TCS does suck

 

is the vsa any better? havent heard quite as many bad things about it.

 

VSA incorporates a secondary throttle body that does pulls back power (a lot, at times). Having owned a 2000 TL (with TCS) and currently owning a 2002 TL-S (with VSA) I can attest to the fact that TCS isn't as effective as VSA. Also, VSA adds lateral stability features as well, though I've never been in a severe understeer/oversteer condition so I've yet to see it function in that capacity.

 

VSA saved me once...I was driving home angry when a freeway onramp suddenly turned from a 65mph zone to a 35 and I was cruizing 70 at the time. At first I ignored it thinking that just letting go of the accelerator was good enough, next thing you know the turn was so sharp my car hicuped and started doing a mini 4 wheel powerslide. Let's just say that the VSA light was flashing all over.

 

thanks everyone for your input. I guess another reason to buy the TLS sooner =)