Ice...wheel spin...strange sound

[ben4866]

Today the roads near me got covered with snow which has now turned to ice.
When driving my '97 A3 1.8t I was struggling to get grip and every time the wheels spun I got a strange sound from the front of car which sounded similar to when the ABS pump kicks in.
I get quite a bit of wheel spin in wet weather but have never heard this sound before.
Can anyone shed any light ?
Any help appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[simch]

Its ASR. A form of traction control in ice. Even without proper traction control, they all have ASR. Nowt to worry about, in fact you know it's working!

Basically it is the ABS pulsing the brakes to aid traction...

 

[mattoo]

Yep I had that same sound when the wheels let go in the snow.
Sorry I don't know what the answer is but at least it's not just me..

 

[A3Tom]

Mine does it too, almost like a clicking/whirring noise.

Does it a lot in the wet too, and the dry

 

[jojo]

Does it a lot in the wet too, and the dry

 

[ben4866]

Thanks guys, I was starting to think something else had gone wrong with car !

 

[ben4866]

P.s I wish I had enough power to spin the wheels in the dry A3Tom :thumbsup:

 

[voorhees]

P.s I wish I had enough power to spin the wheels in the dry A3Tom :thumbsup:

go at a roundabout with a bit of haste and you'll get it

 

[A3Tom]

P.s I wish I had enough power to spin the wheels in the dry A3Tom :thumbsup:

You should, unless you're running huge rims?. Even when running standard power it would do it.

 

[Keeno]

Does this half cocked traction control jobbie also come with a judder when it kicks in?

 

[A3Tom]

Does this half cocked traction control jobbie also come with a judder when it kicks in?

Nope, just a noise. Clicking type noise

 

[1animal1]

almost like a grinding....used top get it on my A3 under low traction

 

[Keeno]

Ah, in which case does anyone know what could cause a pretty violent judder at around 4k in first. I assume it's just road wheels losing grip but want to be sure!
Apologies for the thread highjack...

 

[s3ollie]

Its ASR. A form of traction control in ice. Even without proper traction control, they all have ASR. Nowt to worry about, in fact you know it's working!

Basically it is the ABS pulsing the brakes to aid traction...

isnt it EDL? (electronic diff lock) as you say it brakes the wheel that spins to put the drive to the otherside wheel

 

[A3Tom]

Its not locking the diff, its just jabbing the brake on the spinning wheel. By doing this and due to how diffs work it stops that wheel from spinning whilst still putting power to the other wheel.

 

[s3ollie]

no its not locking the diff i never suggested that. Audi call it Electronic Diff Lock in the 8L S3 manual. As i said, "it brakes the wheel that spins to put the drive to the otherside wheel ".

 

[A3Tom]

Audi have written a load of bilge then. Electronic diff lock (think range rovers etc) actually locks the diff.

 

[Westy]

Sounds just like normal wheel spin to me. That causes judder time as the wheels scramble all over the place. Though I must say I can remember what wheel spin feels like