Okay, all you experienced techies, the owners manual only tells you how to turn them on and off and boasts a few CYA disclaimers about losing control of your Sling when they're disabled, but nothing is really quite clear about what they do, so please, in layman's terms, what is the difference between depressing the switch once and disabling the TC and depressing the switch for a few seconds and disabling the ESP? Why would the option exist? When would you consider one or the other? When would you consider disabling one over the other? What would each of those options do on a wet road or in the chance of hydroplaning? Thanks in advance for educating me.
Difference between TC and ESP
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TC is just the traction control. If the rear wheel starts to lose traction, the ecu reduces the power of the engine to reduce the tire spin.
The ESC is the Electronic Stability Control. It uses the antilock brake feature to apply as needed in the event the vehicle is "out of control" in a lateral slide. When used in conjunction with the traction control, it is SUPPOSED to provide better control since it operates faster than the driver could input the same measures by themselves. Where it gets you into trouble is when these controls try to do their job in heavy rain/wet roads. The hydroplaning and rapid corrections have caused many situations where the driver was not able to regain control of the slingshot on their own and had less than favorable results
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For legal reasons, I would NEVER instruct anyone to disable any factory safety controls. But it sounds like you have a full understanding of how they work vs how they were designed to work.
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For legal reasons, I would NEVER instruct anyone to disable any factory safety controls. But it sounds like you have a full understanding of how they work vs how they were designed to work.
"For legal reasons?" I'm never going to ask you anything again... 🤫 lol
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For legal reasons, I would NEVER instruct anyone to disable any factory safety controls. But it sounds like you have a full understanding of how they work vs how they were designed to work.
But thanks. 😄
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If you want to do doughnuts turn off the traction control. Otherwise the engine will cut out at the most inopportune time.
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Imagine you are on a wet road with standing water When the one wheel starts to hydro plane the wheel slows down the nannies apply the brakes to the other wheel or wheels to slow the others down. This happens so fast it can spin you out with you having no control. I do not know which does what TC or ESP. But on wet pavement I turn both off. If any one wheel hits standing water with the nannies on it will get your attention REAL QUICK
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Imagine you are on a wet road with standing water When the one wheel starts to hydro plane the wheel slows down the nannies apply the brakes to the other wheel or wheels to slow the others down. This happens so fast it can spin you out with you having no control. I do not know which does what TC or ESP. But on wet pavement I turn both off. If any one wheel hits standing water with the nannies on it will get your attention REAL QUICK
That's what I was able to discern from everything I've read and that's what I plan to do as well. Drive safe, brother. The monsoons are coming... 😉
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To elaborate on BryanL 's response, if you want to smoke your back tire, turn off traction control (short push), if you want to live in a rainstorm, turn off both (long push).
Thanks for the clarification.
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Thanks for the clarification.
I have to keep it simple. This wisdom is from FunCycle .
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I have to keep it simple. This wisdom is from FunCycle .
He was the 'mastermind' behind some parts that I had made for the fenders we have. I took his design and gave it to a talented metal worker who did a super job.
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To elaborate on BryanL 's response, if you want to smoke your back tire, turn off traction control (short push), if you want to live in a rainstorm, turn off both (long push).
I've only owned my Sling for a minute and everyone knows it never rains in Arizona, so I can honestly say that if I hadn't asked the question about this thing everyone calls "the nannies" I never would have learned from all of you about what to expect, should I get caught in one of our famous summer monsoons, and only God knows what may have happened. My sincere thanks to all of you...
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I've only owned my Sling for a minute and everyone knows it never rains in Arizona, so I can honestly say that if I hadn't asked the question about this thing everyone calls "the nannies" I never would have learned from all of you about what to expect, should I get caught in one of our famous summer monsoons, and only God knows what may have happened. My sincere thanks to all of you...
The year of the rains in Maggie, Ghost and his bride and I put something like 300 miles on our Slings in the pouring rain on Monday of that week. We left the pancake house at 8 AM that morning and got back to the motel at 6 PM, the only stops were for gas. It never stopped raining all day.
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"For legal reasons?" I'm never going to ask you anything again... 🤫 lol
In a 50 words or less. Turning off the TC lets you hit the guardrails with the ass end first. Turning off the ESP lets you hit the guardrails with all parts of the slingshot in succession
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Reiterating here. T/C (one push turns this off) controls the rear wheel. This is "burn out control" and allows you to spin the rear like crazy. This system allows about 20% slippage to make driving more fun.
Stability Control (5-sec push to disable) controls front wheels. Its designed for dry road driving. On wet roads, it does the worst thing possible, braking only one wheel in very wet conditions. This can put you in a spin without warning, cause a crash, even result in death or injury.
Best recommendation, if it rains hard enough that water begins to collect on the road surface, pull off the road safely and wait for safer conditions.
If you MUST drive in rainy conditions, slow down and turn BOTH nannies off for your safety. Ask yourself, "Do I know how to handle a hydroplaning vehicle?" If you don't, get off the road.
In driving this week, I experienced both of these situations. I grew up in snow country, I didn't find the Slingshot terribly ill mannered in the wet. Yes, we did a fair amount of "puddle jumping", but I never felt unsafe or anywhere near being out of control. 5-hour drive through rain, hail, was okay. Not fun, but I was easily able to get home safe.
Hope that helps...
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Display MoreReiterating here. T/C (one push turns this off) controls the rear wheel. This is "burn out control" and allows you to spin the rear like crazy. This system allows about 20% slippage to make driving more fun.
Stability Control (5-sec push to disable) controls front wheels. Its designed for dry road driving. On wet roads, it does the worst thing possible, braking only one wheel in very wet conditions. This can put you in a spin without warning, cause a crash, even result in death or injury.
Best recommendation, if it rains hard enough that water begins to collect on the road surface, pull off the road safely and wait for safer conditions.
If you MUST drive in rainy conditions, slow down and turn BOTH nannies off for your safety. Ask yourself, "Do I know how to handle a hydroplaning vehicle?" If you don't, get off the road.
In driving this week, I experienced both of these situations. I grew up in snow country, I didn't find the Slingshot terribly ill mannered in the wet. Yes, we did a fair amount of "puddle jumping", but I never felt unsafe or anywhere near being out of control. 5-hour drive through rain, hail, was okay. Not fun, but I was easily able to get home safe.
Hope that helps...
Thank you, Doc. That was extremely helpful. I'm very skilled at driving on wet, snowy, and even icy roads, but having never owned a three-wheeled vehicle with ESP, I was a little anxious about the impending rains that are coming down here. Every bit of advice I've received, including from you, have given me a great deal of confidence and I'm not nearly as worried now. Thanks.
