Traction control on or off?
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 410
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From: West Hills, CA
Used to drive E55
Traction control on or off?
To all you racers. I haven't had a automatic muscle car since my 1969 Dodge Charger back in high school. So when drive my E55 (modern day muscle car) I like to take off with the wheels spinning from a dead stop by just punching it. So my question is If you were racing someone would you turn off the traction control and do it the old fashion way or would you keep it on? I am not sure but I think my car is faster out of the hole with it off. Anybody have similar thoughts?
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 299
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From: Boston, MA
2002 E320 4matic 92K (bought 12/20/06). 2000 E430 4matic (RIP 12/9/06) :(
for racers it's probably best to turn it off. traction control can slow you out of the gate since power to the wheels is cut when slippage is detected. punching it on dry ground, in that example, is similar to tryiing to get over a wall of snow with the traction control on; the car won't budge if the system detects slippage (ok, it's a stretch I know but I experienced this during the winter). i was able to get OUT of bad snow by turning the traction control off; it's a useful feature for when you actually get the car moving of course.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2002
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From: Arizona, USA
W205 C300
The traction control never shuts totally off even with the switch pressed. If you want to drag race, you can pull the fuse on the traction module but you may also be shutting off the ABS at the same time.
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From: The city that never sleeps
ML320, Looking for my S4
I think it might depend on the car and driver, ie horsepower and tq. If you have loads of both and dont know how to properly feather your throttel then leave it on, if you know how then keep it off.
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From: Santa Clarita, CA
1987 E300 TD
