achampagne

I am still learning on all the features of my new toy (2011 1LT C6) and now that it's stored for the winter I was left with a unanswered question.

Since I drove it a few miles on fairly cool conditions (no rain or snow don't worry ) I could feel that the tires where not as responsive and that I they seem to loose traction when cornering. Is there a light that indicates that traction control is "kicking in" like many other cars I have driven ? It looks like the TC settings are very permissive .. either that or I have an issue with my TC system and need to have it checked.

Thanks !

AC

Patsgarage

If the rear gets squirly you should get a "traction active" message on the DIC. The same light that goes on when you turn off the traction control should also illuminate.

achampagne

Humm I guess I will have to get this checked since I tried a hard starts and was able to spin the tires (TC in normal active mode) and the DIC and/or the light never indicated anything !!!!

Anybody else encountered this ? Since I bought this car with minimal information aside from visual inspection and road test, is it possible that prior mods or tunes caused this ? Is there a way to know for sure that the care has not beed tuned or reprogrammed aside from the dealer check ?

Thanks

Patsgarage

You might be able to spin the tires as long as you are in a straight line, the TC should only kick in if one tire spins faster than the other.

Knob Jockey

Summer tire performance is compromised in the winter, as you noticed, but you still have to get the car pretty far out of whack before TC/AH intervenes and gives you the DIC/dash light indications 'patsgarage' mentioned.

You can easily, and quickly exceed the parameters that TC/AH can 'save' you from in colder weather. Just exercise some restraint when the temps are low.

FortMorganAl

There is a light but I don't believe there is a message for traction control but I could be wrong. I do know there is one for active handling active. There is something that buzzes or vibrates when active handling kicks in. That may be the active handling modulating the individual brakes.

Cold weather means a lot less traction with performance tires and a lot more power from the engine. It is a lot easier to trigger TC and AH. Once either starts working there is only so much they can do to solve your sillyness with the gas pedal and steering wheel. TC will cut back engine power and eventually apply the brakes but the amount it can do needs to be limited so as not to cause an accident if it were to engage due to a component failure. It has plenty to keep you out of trouble if you just a little common sense but if you just stomp the pedal and leave it there the TC can not do enough to keep the tires from spinning. The same applies to AH. In other words, GM tried to make it foolproof but that is an impossible task because fools are so ingenious.

Landru

However with my Z06 the rear can step-out so fast I get no warning, whatsoever. Once it goes hang on, TC or not.

achampagne

I guess my best bet is to try and rip it on wet pavement and see if the DIC displays anything. Guess I have to push it further to notice TC kick in. Either way I don't really see a difference between the normal mode vs comptetitive mode that I use for Launch control