Snow?

[ns3425]

i have a 2001 es300 and was wondering if i turned traction control off and pushed the gas in the snow and my tires are spinning if that messes up my car at all. or should i spin the tires with traction control on.

[byf43]

i have a 2001 es300 and was wondering if i turned traction control off and pushed the gas in the snow and my tires are spinning if that messes up my car at all. or should i spin the tires with traction control on.

Maybe I'm missing something here. . . . .

The objective is to NOT spin the tires, while driving in snow.

Might just be me though. I am well over 50 and don't like to tear up my vehicles.

[wwest]

i have a 2001 es300 and was wondering if i turned traction control off and pushed the gas in the snow and my tires are spinning if that messes up my car at all. or should i spin the tires with traction control on.

Maybe I'm missing something here. . . . .

The objective is to NOT spin the tires, while driving in snow.

Might just be me though. I am well over 50 and don't like to tear up my vehicles.

For those that do now know, lack the experience of knowing how to "feather" the throttle in aderse conditions, or simply need to use wheelspin, say rocking the car back and forth to get unstuck, Toyota is working on a new feature, already installed in the Tundra as I understand.

Basically it will be, is, a two mode TC, Traction Control, system. Apparently you will be able to turn off the initial TC mode in favor of A-LSD, Automatic- Limited Slip Differential. A-LSD will allow some minor level of wheelspin in order to best simulate an actual mechanical LSD.

With the adverse safety issues involved it is not clear that A-LSD will ever be implemented for FWD or F/AWD TC systems.

But to get back to the original question...

Provided you don't over do it, abuse the car, turning off the TC and then using a bit of wheelspin to get unstuck is exactly the purpose of that ability.

[SW03ES]

Over-spinning is not good for the transmission. However, I've found sometimes in order to get moving you need to turn the trac off and let the wheels spin a little, this is fine.

[ns3425]

o ok but im talking about something else. im 16 and want to mess around in the snow with my car will that mess it up? i want to slide around in the snow. just push the gas and turn the wheel and maybe even pump the push break to get side ways.

[SW03ES]

You could conceivably hurt the car doing that yes.

[ns3425]

o ok thanks i was just curious. its cuz at school there was a whole lot of snow so i was pushing the gas then turned and put the push brake in alittle so my car slides around. what exactly can that mess up?

[Lexucan]

o ok thanks i was just curious. its cuz at school there was a whole lot of snow so i was pushing the gas then turned and put the push brake in alittle so my car slides around. what exactly can that mess up?

I have a great idea. How about if we trade cars - you can have my '93 ES which doesn't have traction control, and I'll drive the 2001 ES 'cause I'm not into spinning out of control. Problem solved.

[The Tall Guy]

o ok thanks i was just curious. its cuz at school there was a whole lot of snow so i was pushing the gas then turned and put the push brake in alittle so my car slides around. what exactly can that mess up?

tires.suspension.transmission. and EVERYTHING in between.

[VBdenny]

I would suspect that driving in the snow and getting the vehicle salted probably does a whole lot more damage that the tire spin. I'd move to a warmer climate.