Hi all,
Just got our '04 last week, and the traction control seems to be overly sensitive, it shuts us down making turns that we take the same way in our 4runner. On merge lanes, with hardly any or no throttle input. Someone suggested that I check the brake fluid level and it's good, all 4 tires are the same size and type, pressure good, with about half of the tread left. Any ideas? I tried the search and all I came up with was the brake fluid thing.

Thanks,
Dave

 

That's probably your problem. The OEM tires on the Z are staggered - the rears are about 0.7" taller than the fronts. Different sized tires result in the wheels spinning at different rates and that's what the computer expects to see. When you have tires that are the same size, the computer sees the rates are the same or close to the same. When you make a turn or lane change, that affects the rotation rate and can be triggering the TCS. I would expect you'd see it more often than just lane changes, but it may have something to do with the absolute speed of the vehicle too.

What size tires do you have?

 

VDC is not happy with this set up. For a complete explanation see: https://my350z.com/forum/wheels-and-tires/203755-will-these-tires-work-with-my-vdc-enabled-car-read-here.html.

 

Damn!!!
You guys were spot on. I went out to the garage to check the tires again, and noticed that the rears were quite a bit more worn than the front. I assume the previous owner just go two tires to sell the car, and moved the old ones, that were on the front to the rear, without giving a damn about it because he was selling.
I just got back from getting the tires and the alignment, and I had to work to get the tcs to activate, and when it did it was just a flash for less than a second,
thanks again fellas,
Dave

 

It sucks that a VDC enabled vehicle can't run a square setup without turning it off. My rears always wear super-fast. Don't know why.