Traction Control Trouble

[DravenGSX]

I took my car to Discount Tire to get new tires Saturday morning. They installed a couple of 275/40R17 Kumhos. Drove the car home with no trouble. Left the house later that afternoon. When I hit 60 MPH (in 5th gear) the traction control came on. The light lit up in the dash and the car had no power. I pressed the clutch in and after a few seconds it turned off. Engaged the clutch and pressed on the accelerator (not hard, still in 5th gear) and it came on again.

At the next light everything was hunkey dorey until exactly 60 MPH when the same thing happened. I can turn off the traction control and the car drives fine.

It seems like an awfully big coincidence that some monkeys put new tires on the car and suddenly the TC is goofy. Can anybody give some insight into what I should be looking for here? Has anybody experienced this before?

 

[Janstang]

Is your ABS light on? If the front and rear tires are not close to the same size it will raise hell with the ABS sensors and the traction control stuff..

 

[DravenGSX]

The ABS light is not on. However, there is a size difference between the front and rear tires... 255/50 and 275/40. I was hoping to get away with not replacing the front tires quite yet (car came to me with that funky 255/50 on it).

Will the tire size mis-match cause any other troubles?

 

[cobracide]

Get a xcal2 and program your tire size. Speedo is probably off too.

 

[01SVTSnake]

255/50 is 27.04 inches in diameter. 275/40 is 25.66 inches in diameter. That may be causing the problem

 

[3B99SVT]

255/50 is 27.04 inches in diameter. 275/40 is 25.66 inches in diameter. That may be causing the problem

+1. That would make the traction control think that the rear tires are not getting enough traction. I'd physically measure the tires though since there are differences between manufacturers.

Also, I'd pull off the rear tires to make sure the exciter rings and sensor are looking good.

 

[mysticsvt]

I ran that same setup for ever with my 02 GT with no problems ever. Doesnt mean it isnt the problem though.-Shane

 

[DravenGSX]

+1. That would make the traction control think that the rear tires are not getting enough traction. I'd physically measure the tires though since there are differences between manufacturers.

Also, I'd pull off the rear tires to make sure the exciter rings and sensor are looking good.

There's a visible difference. I knew that the sizes wouldn't match. 255*.5 = 127.5 vs 275*.4 = 110. The difference is 17.5 x 2. This makes perfect sense.

I don't know why I didn't think of this. I will take the wheel off and have a look, just in case.

Can this cause any damage?