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garygttdi
21-12-2010, 09:23 AM
OK I realise its snow on the ground and a degree of ice underneath it but I have found my MK 6 appalling in the snow. I simply do not have any traction, it just spins well it will if the ESP allows it to.

Anyone any tips with the golf to cure this, apart from fitting winter tyres?
:1zhelp:

Gerryf
21-12-2010, 09:43 AM
Hi Gary, this may sound crazy....but I find my DSG car behaves a lot better in the snow when I turn the traction control off.

garygttdi
21-12-2010, 10:38 AM
Agreed its remembering to turn it off every time I get back in the car, going to try dropping the front pressures

Chris-h
21-12-2010, 12:06 PM
Yes I also think it's pretty bad - particularly trying to get it moving without spinning the wheels with DSG. Need to get winter tyres next year I think .... or walk!

DW58
21-12-2010, 03:29 PM
I drove my Mother's MkV 1.6FSI DSG the other day without any problems, and have found my own Mk6 6-speed copes very well with current conditions other than at low speeds in my own driveway - took me 20 minutes to get onto the http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b212/HighlandSniper58/Emoticons/censored-1.gif road this morning, and only got out with the assistance of a neighbour's two Chav sons.

Otherwise, with the std-issue Bridgestone Turanza 205/55 R16 tires, Helga is performing better than expected in the current utterly horrible and tedious conditions http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b212/HighlandSniper58/Emoticons/freezing.gif

percymon
21-12-2010, 03:50 PM
I collected me SE before the first dumping of snow last year, and was appalled at its lack of traction in an inch of snow - TC gave up after 10 minutes trying to get up one long uphill section. I blamed the tyres, and this year am wekll prepared with full winter Nokians. I've not seen the TC light once this year, even in 8" of fresh snow yesterday and several inches of broken snow/slush today.

I had a TSI (S model with 195/65/15 tyres) courtesy car last week, fitted with Conti EconContacts (more than half worn after 7.5k miles i might add) and even though i only drove it a short distance in wet and very cold conditions i was surprised how much grip it found (certainly better than i would have expected). I found it was a lot easier to keep the turbo inactive on the petrol model than my TDI, i had a bit more leeway before the torque overwhelmed the traction.

One problem of the DSG box is it always starts off in first (unless this has been modded out recently ?)

Killer
21-12-2010, 06:24 PM
My 1.6 105 TDi S was delivered in December 2009 and coped well in the snow before Christmas, in snowy January 2010, and when we drove through the snow-covered Auvergne and Alps in February. I have a set of chains but never needed them.

One year on and we have loads of snow again. Even with tyres that are 12 months old and have done 5000 miles the car handles superbly on ice and in snow.

Maybe it is because I have steel wheels and normal profile tyres?

Chris-h
21-12-2010, 06:33 PM
For me I think its a combination of wide tyres (225mm) and the fact that my DSG is much more difficult to move off from rest as smoothly as a traditional torque converter auto - and only in first gear. I was also in pretty heavy slush on a slight slope in a car park when I had problems. I don't particularly like the Bridgestone tyres anyway. On the other hand it could just be a heavy right foot!

TDI_Tim
21-12-2010, 07:03 PM
I had a new set of Goodyear Asymetrics front tyres fitted a few weeks back.

Went to drive out of our lane this morning and there was absolutely no grip whatsoever. Car wouldn't move forward and front wheels were slipping like mad. Tried everything and even put mats under the front wheels but after 20 mins I eventually parked the car and gave up. These tyres are keek in the snow :(

My partners Focus seemed to sail through it, no probs at all :mad:

percymon
22-12-2010, 11:11 AM
I had a new set of Goodyear Asymetrics front tyres fitted a few weeks back.




As you have discovered..

Summer sports tyre + snow = stay at home

percymon
22-12-2010, 11:13 AM
For me I think its a combination of wide tyres (225mm) and .... I don't particularly like the Bridgestone tyres anyway.

exactly my finding exactly one year ago - in 2" of snow.

This year, with 195/65 winter tyres on i'm driving in 8" of fresh snow without any flicker of the traction control light.

Keithuk
22-12-2010, 01:43 PM
This year, with 195/65 winter tyres on i'm driving in 8" of fresh snow without any flicker of the traction control light.
Do you have a traction control light Dave or are you talking about the ESP light?

I thought only the GTI and GTD have the electronic traction control?

Now this ESP takes a bit to get your head around. If it senses one of the wheels is spinning its supposed apply the brakes to that one wheel so you don't loose grip. Now when my ESP light comes on you can feel the wheel spinning and it doesn't appear to make a lot of difference. As for the electronic traction control I don't see a light for that whether it works or not I can still drive through snow and ice no problem with summer tyres. Perhaps its just me knowing how to drive in these conditions.

There are videos on YouTube showing the ESP operation but most are done in the dry, very confusing. http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a121/KStanier/Xmas.gif

Berisford
22-12-2010, 04:06 PM
I thought only the GTI and GTD have the electronic traction control?



According to the brochure it (ETC or ASR as VW prefer) is standard across the range. The more expensive versions have XDS also, electronic diff lock.

percymon
22-12-2010, 05:11 PM
I'll loosely term it traction control, on the basis it frantically tried to help me out last year, but then threw an error after 10 minutes of getting nowhere fast (ie about 20 yards in 15 minutes). I guess its the ESP light, but either way it did try (before it gave in) to reduce the wheel slippage through electronic intervention (whether by power or braking).


As i posted at the time one of the problems of the TDI engine, especially the 1.6, is its inability to provide torque at low revs, and its inability to move along at just idle revs without stalling. Touch the throtlle slightly and the turbo starts to kick in and all of a sudden you have too much torque for the available grip. Trying to control the TDI engine at 1000-1300rpm for a second gear start needs the footwork of Walter Rohl.

garygttdi
22-12-2010, 05:48 PM
I totally 100% agree with Percymon comments, alkthough the same is true of the 2.0.TDI. This persuit of BHP numbers from Diesel engines is nuts. Bring back PD with low pressure Turbos. My old MK 4 with 1.9 PD 110BHP was way more drivable than this

Keithuk
22-12-2010, 06:23 PM
The more expensive versions have XDS also, electronic diff lock.
Sorry I was getting confused with terminology its the Electronic Differential Lock (EDL) and Traction Control (ASR) that are on the GTI/GTD. ;)

johnloaderuk
22-12-2010, 10:10 PM
Sorry I was getting confused with terminology its the Electronic Differential Lock (EDL) and Traction Control (ASR) that are on the GTI/GTD. ;)


Which is also on all the other Golf models, all part of the ESP system according to the VW web site. The first link covers the safety page, move cursor over the ESP and it clearly shows what the ESP includes.

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/#/new/golf-vi/which-model/compare/safety/

The next link explains everything it includes and how/when it works

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new/golf-vi/explore/experience/safety/esp?csearch=esp

Killer
23-12-2010, 12:01 AM
My Golf S 1.6 TDi 105ps has ESP as standard. It has a button to switch it off if I were to consider myself superior to the electronics.

Maybe I am boringly normal but I leave mine on all the time. It seems to do a wonderful balancing job.

The only time I'd consider switching it off is if I got stuck in very deep snow and needed to apply different techniques to see if they worked.

However, traction control is an important feature when driving in snow so I'd imagine it might be unwise to switch off ESP for very long.

VictorPapa
25-12-2010, 11:28 PM
OK I realise its snow on the ground and a degree of ice underneath it but I have found my MK 6 appalling in the snow. I simply do not have any traction, it just spins well it will if the ESP allows it to.

Anyone any tips with the golf to cure this, apart from fitting winter tyres?
:1zhelp:

I've also found that (at least on the 2.0 TDI) 1st gear is too low but the car stalls if 2nd is used to start. My old MK4 1.9 had no problem moving off in 2nd, in dry, wet or snow.

Welshade
27-12-2010, 01:09 AM
seen the little orange light on my dash quite a few times over the last few weeks, some of the trips out to work which is only 3 miles away have been fun, driving out of my estate that has some corners in it that the golf has been sliding around was not so much fun.