Traction control on ZTW

Hi,

Having driven my 2003 ZTW with a 5 speed manual and 4 snow tires on Canadian winter roads, the traction control system seems to kick in often. I switched it off to try to see what the difference is, and I haven't really been able to appreciate any benifit.

What do other Focus drivers think of traction control?

Thanks,

Mike

DO you mean traction control or advance trak?

Advance trak works great here on the East coast. Espically when climbing slick inclines. I turned it off and started fish tailing right away, turned it on and the problem was corrected.

There are two kinds of traction control over here, ASR and ESP. My 2.0l has ASR out of the box, recently there was some snow, so I could test it in addition to the Continental Winter Contact (195/60 R15) tires. Have to admit I was impressed the Focus easily drove increases with nearly 15%.;)

It's a big plus, that you can actually turn off the ASR system if you like, hate systems I can't turn off. On a snow-free highway, accidentally came with the left tires on the remaining snow (left edge) with about 140 Km/h (~87 mph). One would have expect some serious problems, but the ASR just kicked in.;)

AFAIK, how often the system kicks in, depends on the underground, how you accelerate and of course on the traction of your snow tires.

Hi,

Advance trak was a very expensive option. What I have is traction control. I am not sure how it works, but I guess when a wheel start to spin on snow, the brakes are applied only to the spinning wheel.

regards,