is driving in a n ice storm ever a good idea?

 

When you have to get to work, you have to get to work.

 

That's why I also have a 4WD truck.

I did a DCCD 6 speed conversion to my WRX. Basically a complete STI drivetrain swap. That's on par with adding VSA to an older S. The dash had to come out, the complete wiring harness had to be swapped (front to back). New sensors bolted down. The airbags still don't work but, I've been tracing the wires to figure out why. It's a massive job. The only way you could do it is if you had a wrecked S sitting next to your old S and started swapping parts over. That's how I did it. Like the VSA, the DCCD is tied into the ABS and the ECU.

 

wouldn't think of driving the S in ice - got an truck and awd crv for that and think again if think the vsa will help in ice.

 

^ when your S is your only DD, and when you need to get home, you need to get home. G-force kdw2 and vsa got me home in sleet, snow and ice.

 

VSA is going to help unless you're driving on a frictionless surface.

Another way of looking at it - if you're driving your truck or CRV on a surface where pressing the brakes will slow you down at all, then a VSA equipped S2K on that same surface in a loss of traction situation will have a better chance at going where the driver points it than an equivalent non-VSA S2K.

To answer the OP's question, yes it is possible but the cost of retrofitting VSA (stability control) it is very likely high enough that you'd be better off just selling your car and getting an 06+.

The Racelogic traction control is probably a good value at $1k but is a different animal than stability control.

 

Is the truck & CRV riding on snow tires? If not I think I rather have a VSA equipped AP2 with good snow tires in an ice storm.

I recall driving through the mountain range in Idaho during a snowstorm, this is when I first bought my car and was driving it home. The car did hit some ice and the VSA did save my butt. I did see a Jeep Grand Cherokee that was sideways on a bridge during this drive too!

 

the reason i really want to put on the vsa is because where i live in nc we dont get that much snow. but it rains a lot in the winter. and when i get up to go to work at 0500 it is still dark and cold and many times i hit black ice. now i can always control it in a fwd car but a rwd is gonna make that a lot harder to control. i just wanted to know if i got all the components from say a wrecked my06 for a good price if i could install it on my ap1 without too much hassle. now im fairly mechanically inclined. im a mechanic in the military and ive been working on cars since i was in grade school. i am just fairly new to the s and i havent even had a chance to drive it as i am deployed right now. i just wanna know what i can do when i get home to make it as perfect as i can. ive already got quite a few mods stacked up in my living room waiting for me to get home to put them on and tune. i guess the one last thing i wanted to know about was how i can make it safer in the winter and the rain as i will be selling my gsr powered del sol and it will become my new dd. sorry for this explaination being so long and elaborate but i just wanted my true intentions to be revealed. oh and btw i would like to not have to use an aftermarket system like racelogics. its a good system and seems worth the money but i believe that a system designed around this car in particular would work a whole lot better than a general bolt on tc. thanx for all your suggestions and input.

 

Expect to swap this stuff from the donor car:

ECU
ABS system
drive by wire system
yaw sensors
wheel speed sensors
steering angle sensor
various fuses and relays

In addition you'll probably want to swap the harness and instrument cluster, or do a bunch of hacking on the existing AP1 harness. I believe the wheel bearings need to be swapped over as well, and I imagine there is much that I'm missing.

Does that enter "hassle" territory for you? If not please do the retrofit and post up some info on how to do it.

 

You're high, or have never done it. My truck, any 4WD truck comes with fairly aggressive tires from the factory with large cleats that work pretty well in mud and snow. They don't stop any better but, they sure go better. Hell, I imagine it's pretty easy to high center the S on small amounts of snow.

I agree VSA is a wonderful thing. It's just not magic.