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Losing traction? Clutch Slipping? Pls help identify!

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 7:35 pm
by dslick2025
Hey guys, how do you know if you are losing traction or not?
My car is rear wheel drive, and this is the problem I'm having:

When the road is wet and I try to accelerate fast, it feels that my tires are slipping or something (rear tires). The rev goes up but I'm not accelerating. It even happens when I'm trying to accelerate at a moderate speed (or it even happens when I launch with about 1.3 to 1.5K RPMS). This 'slipping' sound stops when I ease off on the throttle. Also, when this happens, I see the traction control symbol light up. The tires do not screetch! This is annoying me and because of this, I cannot keep up with most cars on wet roads! I have to start off crawling and accelerate very slowly for this not to happen.

I have tried deflating my tires a bit to gain more traction on wet roads, but I don't think it helped a whole lot. Could this be my clutch slipping?

If you're gonna ask me to try accelerating fast on dry roads, I will do that as soon as I get a chance. But if I can recall, last time I tried accelerating fast, I think it slipped or something in 1st gear at around 4K RPMs or so for a very miniscule fraction of a second:(

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 7:44 pm
by VTECaddict
its a traction problem. try going to all weather or winter tires. performance/summer tires usually have subpar wet traction. you can also try to start in second gear. that would reduce the torque being put to the ground so you wont lose traction as easily compared to 1st.

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 7:59 pm
by dslick2025
Alright hmm.. I have winter tires on at the moment. Is it really a big problem? because it seems like I'm the only car this happens to :( Btw, tires look healthy.

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 8:00 pm
by LS1Leader
That most definitely does not sound like a clutch slip issue. The traction control light coming on and most of the symptoms suggest it being a pure traction problem. Can you feel the tires getting loose? If you lose traction make sure not to get off the throttle too fast, or you're going to jerk badly and risk spinning.

Either your tires are shot, cheap, or are dry weather tires. Remedies for this include getting all-season tires, adding weight to the back of the car, or learning to drive more smoothly. :)

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 8:36 pm
by dslick2025
Alright, I think switching tires is my only hope. But they're TOYO tires :( Those arent too bad no? Tires look healthy too. I drive smoothly, shifting at 2.5K RPMS eveytime and slowly launching. It certainly does feel like I'm losing traction, but its weird. I don't wiggly or jerk or spin or anything. This usually happens during the duration of 1st gear, and 2nd gear if I am agressive on the throttle.

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 10:32 am
by Johnf514
It's very possible that you have a faulty traction control sensor. If you don't *feel* the car doing anything wrong, monitor it and either ignore it once you know you are driving properly or get it fixed (if its affordable).