When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Traction light after two tires replaced…doesn’t make sense
Ok so I have a 2017 c63s, just replaced both my rears tires. Factory wheels, factory sizes. Replaced both rear 265/35R19 tires and now when cornering while driving the traction is want to kick in. Never happened before, I feel really stupid for even asking this question, any ideas?
Probably need to give a bit more detail. Under what circumstances does this happen? Hard acceleration out of a corner or just moderately cornering? FWIW, new tires need about 500 miles to wear off the lubricants from the mold, so they will be somewhat slippery initially. Take it easy for the first 500 miles.
Last edited by superswiss; Jun 22, 2023 at 08:04 PM.
It’s not necessarily spirited driving but quicker cornering it seems like when I’m moderately cornering around 50-65mph. Maybe alittle quicker than I should but there not really a rhyme or reason to it but doesn’t happen when going straight. Front tires are newer Michelin pilot sport 4s(about 70%) left and I put a accelera rear tires on it. I wanted to experiment with some different tires(cheaper…I know I know). My next choice was the kumho ps91s but decided for these. I know there not as wide of a track as Michelin but does feel just because it’s a different brand it should be triggering abs, if I was actually loosing traction id be ok with that lol
Honestly, my guess would be cheap ****ty tire in this case. Had to look up Accelera, never heard of them. The only one that comes up on their site in this size is the PHI, which is a UHP all-season tire. The sedan is under-tired as it is, so downgrading to a UHP all-season is not exactly what you want with 500+ HP/TQ sent to only the rear wheels. The PS4S is a UUHP (or Max Performance) summer tire. That's a higher up category. Much more grip than a UHP all-season tire now that it is warm/hot. The tires is the only thing between the car and the road. Not the place to cheapen out, especially not on the rear wheels on car like this.
Technically a 10.5" wheel can accommodate 265 to 295 tires. The coupe uses 285 on the same wheel width, however, the issue is rubbing. The coupe has a wider track in the rear as well as flared wheel arches. The sedan does not. There are folks that have put wider tires on the sedan and if you do some searches you'll probably find what's the widest possible w/o things starting to rub.
However, just throwing wider tires on it isn't necessarily the fix. Tires need to reach a certain temperature before they develop their grip potential. All-season tires do reach it at lower temps, but also have lower peak grip and start losing grip again before summer tires even reach their peak grip. Summer tires are still building up grip as the temperatures rise, while the all-season tires are already declining.
Below is a graph from Michelin that gives you some idea, and the TPMS display in the car tells you how hot the tires are so that way you can gauge where your grip levels are. Wider tires also add more mass to the wheel, because the wider tires are heavier, and the mass is on the outside, making it harder to rotate and slow down the wheel, so it affects acceleration and braking. Whether noticeable or not is another question.
Last edited by superswiss; Jun 22, 2023 at 10:01 PM.
Same thing happens to be me, cornering on a swooping highway around 50-60mph, the traction control kicks in. Never got a solid answer but one poster mentioned it could be the ratio being thrown off. Speed + rotation is slowed down so the car thinks the wheels are sliding.
I have Indy firehawk 500, 285/35/19, happened on the last 2 different new tires, same size.
Figured I would update this situation……replaced my just replaced cheap tires with Michelin pilots sport 4s and have resolved my issue for the most part lol. Still had slight issue when they were newly mounted. Lower air pressure in tires, factory recommended psi is kinda ridiculous in my opinion. Put my rears at 38psi and fronts at 42 psi and pretty much took care of it. Thank you superswiss for all the recommendations 👍
Glad it worked out. I don't know for sure what the recommended pressures are for the sedan, but that seems high for normal driving <= 155 mph by yourself and no cargo. You may be running on the center of the tires mostly. FWIW, I run at 33f/32r with my coupe. Excellent contact patch that way and good ride quality. 44f/39r would be for prolonged speeds > 155 mph, but that makes for a rough ride, too.
Heck I may lower even more then, the door sticker for recommended pressure is 47psi on front and 45 psi in rear which is kinda ridiculous to me
That is only the so-called max load recommended pressure for a fully loaded car and driving near the top speed. For the full list of pressures based on different load and speed scenarios, you have to look at the sticker inside of the fuel door.
Last edited by superswiss; Jun 27, 2023 at 03:30 PM.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
