DCS on or off?

personally i drive with it off all the time... however if it is half on there are some benifits... it uses corning brake control to brake the inside wheels a little on turn in to alow you to turn sharper... if your car is properly set up... the dsc wont actually be very obtrusive... and might actually help by dialing out some understeer... and sometimes even adding more oversteer to make the car more neutral... kinda cool... that being said... i always drive with it all the way off...

Originally Posted by blablac

I use to drive a 240 with an LSD, stiff engine / transmission / solid diff mounts / very tall gear on the diff / 10lb flywheel and very grabby clutch. That car taught me how to be smooth on and off throttle, I ended in the grass once or twice and then started to get much better at it.


Now since I got the bimmer with the electronic nannies I'm not so careful and I will floor it and let the car take care of the rest.

Your not learning any car control skills by doing that and your also creating a ton of bad habits

Originally Posted by ///Miller325ci

personally i drive with it off all the time... however if it is half on there are some benifits... it uses corning brake control to brake the inside wheels a little on turn in to alow you to turn sharper... if your car is properly set up... the dsc wont actually be very obtrusive... and might actually help by dialing out some understeer... and sometimes even adding more oversteer to make the car more neutral... kinda cool... that being said... i always drive with it all the way off...

NICE NICE NICE CAR you have there. Wow i haven't seen a dinan 3 non-M in awhile aside from one that i wreceked

I like the 2.5s better than the 3/.0s for some reason.

Originally Posted by SKIPPY PB

Umm im not sure how to respond exactly.

But you must understand that the DSC system replicated the function of an LSD by applying the brakes to the inside wheel to make it tavel at a slower speed than that of the outside wheel. If I am correct, ive been e36'ing so i may be outdated.

Yeah, DSC does help by restoring traction but it also cuts power as well. So when DSC intervenes, it feels like your coasting. I wouldn't consider DSC in E46s to be comparable to an LSD. Maybe this is the case in the E9X.

Originally Posted by rnitti

There's a great article by Randy Pobst in this months SCCA SportsCar Magazine that talkes about this. His general rule is that if in doubt leave it on.

Agreed. To expand on that, I usually have 3 goals when I go to the track.

1. Drive the car home the way it went to the track
2. Have fun
3. Learn and work on 3 things.

Originally Posted by drivrswntd

Your not learning any car control skills by doing that and your also creating a ton of bad habits

DSC and no worry is what I do on the street, I just got tired of trying to guess what is going one in the back... No LSD makes for a pretty dull rear end.

On a closed course it's DSC off but again without the LSD and all the electronic stuff in the E46 it's a bit hard to know if your throttle input is lagging, your spinning one wheel, or your forgot to completely switch the DSC off and your are in 1 of 3 positions.




I need an LSD hehe.

off.

Originally Posted by blablac

On a closed course it's DSC off but again without the LSD and all the electronic stuff in the E46 it's a bit hard to know if your throttle input is lagging, your spinning one wheel, or your forgot to completely switch the DSC off and your are in 1 of 3 positions.

I need an LSD hehe.

I dont know about you, but I can feel exactly what my car is doing at all times. I can tell when i'm not putting the power down and the inside is spinning or when the car is rotating just enough to get a good slip angle for corner exit. It is clearly obvious when dsc is on/off or partially off.

Originally Posted by drivrswntd

I dont know about you, but I can feel exactly what my car is doing at all times. I can tell when i'm not putting the power down and the inside is spinning or when the car is rotating just enough to get a good slip angle for corner exit. It is clearly obvious when dsc is on/off or partially off.

Feels very muted to me, more communicative than most cars on the road but nothing compared to my old ride. Not a bad thing at all makes a lot better daily driver. I probably just need to get used to it and "listen" more carefully it.

Its just the lack of engine vibration, one wheel spin vs increased slip angle when you give it too much gaz, the general quietness of it.

For example coming out of a really tight turn on an autocross, if you give it a bit too much gas, you are just going to have your inside tire spin and your speed will increase a bit but not as much as if you were giving the proper amount of gas. But apart from the lack of acceleration there isn't giving you an idea of whats going on, are you giving to much gas ? Is your throttle lagging behind ?

In my old car, if that was the case, the stiff engine mounts would transmit a sudden increase in vibrations throughout the entire car, it would start getting a bit sideways and I knew I was giving it just a bit too much throttle and I could correct for it.

I have to learn the E46 chassis some more anyway I'm pretty new to this car. Autocross next week end is right on time.