I am new to the forum. What a great site! I am in the market and found a '01 SE I like, but no traction control. I'd like to get opinions on whether or not traction control is worth it and useful. thanks

 

Just from my short experience with my 01 SE/AE the traction control really is not worth it. Most of the time I end up turning it off. The only time I leave it on is when its raining. The stock tires I have (potenzas) pretty much suck in the rain so thats why I leave it activated. Anyways, hope this helps.

 

...although not on a day-to-day basis. But if it's snowy or icy out Traction Control will come in very handy. If you're on an ice or snow covered road and the road isn't level, just a little bit of wheel spin can cause your nose to slide on the ice and point off of the roadway, or in the other lane. bad bad bad!!! But with traction control it'll prevent the wheels from spinning and your car from sliding.

In rain it's also pretty useful. If you need to get through an intersection pretty fast and there's just a little bit of that layer of grease/grime/oil on the ground when it rains then you can be majorly screwed because when you step on it all you'll get is wheelspin. But with the traction control it'll prevent the wheels from spinning and you'll still get traction and make it through the intersection, even though you'll be bouncing off of the TCS the whole time, but that's better than getting broadsided by someone

At least on my Accord, the traction control just applies brake to the spinning wheel, and I'm pretty sure the Maxima is the same way. It's not a "real" traction control system that sends power only to the wheels that have traction like in an Audi Quattro / VW 4Motion, or Subaru's system (forget what it's called.) It's just a fancy way of using ABS, but a useful way nonetheless.

And if you're racing or whatever, you can always turn the TCS off.

 

yeah i know that from personal experience. I wish i had traction control on my max, after sliding down a hill doing a 180 and riding over the curb...

 

i read somewhere that the max doesnt use brakes... it uses the engine, shuttin down cylinders to lower engine power. correct me if im wrong.

 

traction control, make sure you turn it off when it snows, else you aint going nowhere

 

well went your stuck in the snow....is what i meant

 

Is this an option that is fully integrated into other lines, systems, ECU or can it be added with a couple of lines and a relay/module or something? Not sure from the discussion that it is worth it either way, but I was just wondering what the level of integrated detail there is. I'm thinking along the lines of added a LSD to a tranny or something but it could be much, much more involved than that.
Thanks in advance!

 

The Maxima traction control uses the engine to retard power to the drive wheel that is slipping. Even though Nissan says this is smoother than using the brakes, the system is VERY, VERY clunky. When it kicks on, it feels like you sucked an orange into the engine.

The TCS won't help you if you are in a slide, or lose control, it will only help you get up a snow or ice covered hill. Plus, it only works at very slow speeds, it is not a Traction enhancer at all. It sucks in the rain, and in the dry.

For the $300-400 bucks, it isn't a bad deal, but I wouldn't go searching high and low for a Max with it. My car had it, but I didn't really want it. If I knew how bad it was, I wouldn't have paid the extra money for it - Just my .02

 

You're absolutely right - when I bought my max, the regional max rep happened to be at my dealer. I could not decide between a max with traction control and one without. They were both on the lot. I was really laboring - we had agreed on a price ($1,500 below invoice with or without TCS) so that wasn't an issue. Because I couldn't decide, the salesman went to get the regional guy to help me with any question he could answer for me. He said that the max TCS just drops the tranny to 2nd gear if you are in 3rd or 4th and 1st gear if you are in 2nd. It has nothing to do with the brakes. He said that it doesn't affect the tranny unless it engaged every single say, then the drops from the gears so suddenly would wind up giving the tranny problems, but Nissan wasn't concerned about it because NOBODY would have the TCS engage every single day. He said it is ineffective when you are stick in snow as pointed out in a different post and generally it was a pain in the ***. No flames please - that was just his view. He talked me out of it. So, that's just another view to add to the ones already presented.