My low mileage 2004 XJ8 drives beautifully but I have been caught out a couple of times with poor traction on wet roads when I leave a light and especially turning out of a junction. I am talking low throttle here. My tires are Continentals and have great tread on them. Is this normal for this car? I have had performance cars before, that used 2nd gear for low throttle starts because the engine developed such a high torque. I wish my tranny did the same
Steve

 

It will start in 2nd gear unless in Sport mode. How old are the tyres?

 

Hard to tell but looking at the tread they probably have less than 5000 miles on them The car only has 70,000 total and the previous owner seems to have spared no expense on maintenance. She definitely starts in first - I can count the changes and it in not in sport mode
Steve

 

So how many millimetres of tread on the tyres ? 70k miles for a 2004 car is low miles, so the tyres could now be beyond their useful life in terms of the rubber quality. Tyres on the X350 cars can last a very long time, I got nearly 35k out of mine. Legal limit here in the UK is 1.6 mm. but most owners will replace around 2-2.5mm who have any safety sense. I'm assuming you have tread all across the tyre and no shoulders wear. The traction control will detect wheel spin and apply one or both rear brakes to stop the spinning but this takes a finite time. Limited slip diffs are probably better in this regard, but the cost means most car manufacturers now use electronic controls on brakes and engine. If it were me, I'd replace the tyres if you don't like this nervousness in the wet.

 

I have 9mm across the tread and the tires are ContiPro Contact.....I am happy to deal with the wet road issue on the few occasions we get it here in sunny Florida. I have the same issue with my 560SL though in that case I think the tires are a bit on the original side.....Still puzzled though why this transmission doesn't start in 2nd gear under light throttle. The XJR must be a real bugger to handle in the wet
Steve

 

When I bought my 04 it had 18" Pirelli P-Zero tires on it that were in fairly good condition tread wise. I did notice that they had traction issues even on dry pavement. Since I did not care for the ride of the 18" tires I was pretty hard on them. You know trying to get my money's worth. I have been happy with the Pirelli tires I have ran on my motorcycles and was put off by the lack of traction provided by the P-Zero's. When I switched over to 17" rims and tires I looked at the DOT information on them and found they were nearly 8 years old. (If you go to the tire companies website you can find out how old your tires are by reading the DOT code on the sidewall.) The rubber was very hard. Had I driven carefully I would have expected at least another year out of them but the way they behaved I would not have felt safe. When the tires did slip I did see the DSC light appear on the dash. Do you use the DSC control?

 

No lights on the dash when it happened - I am guessing both rear tires slipped at the same rate....I didn't have any load in the car...just little old 200lb me

 

Look at the date of mfg. on the side wall, the last four numbers of the D O T # are the week number, & last two of the year.

 

Shouldn't the traction control light come on when the wheels are spinning? I thought it did on my 04 when driving snow covered roads. Only way I get wheel spin (while traveling) in the snow was to turn off the traction control, which is what I do to help keep some momentum going up windy snow covered roads. Otherwise I lose too much speed. Going 35 mph very slight wheel spin, with some sliding is more effective than massive slowing while trying to climb the hill. Of course from a dead stop it will tire spin and not go anywhere (traction control on or off)..

 

Yes, the light appears when the traction control engages if the button is pushed in. You get a message the DSC is not available if you turn it off. I thought my 04 had an LSD when I first bought it until I read the owber's manual. I do believe my 04 starts in 2nd when I put it in 2nd. If not then it is really shifting smoothly from 1st to 2nd. Even under hard acceleration. I know it only goes into 2nd when downshifting from 3rd to 2nd and never goes into 1st using the J gate.

I know many new cars use braking to equalize the power to both wheels but would really prefer LSD.. Although with the power to weight of these cars I do find the traction is really well controlled with good tires. My current Michelin tires have great traction compared to old P-Zeros anyway.