[web99992002]

I will be driving on a nice mountain road with nice twists and turns.. I've driven on this mountain 3 times.. twice on my BMW and once on my Mustang. Both times I've driven on the BMW i didn't bother to turn off DSC. This time around I plan on turning it off but I'm not that confident yet. Would you recommend it? Will the drive be more fun with it turned off? Its one lane each. One going up then one going back. Lanes are fairly wide, probably will fit 1 and a half 3 series in terms of width.

[E90_boostjunky]

if your in a 328 you can turn it off all you want, ur not going to lose control. in a 335i a whole other story. but why not just turn it off halfway and be on the safe side.

[web99992002]

yes i plan on turning it off halfway, when going back so I can be on the safe side.

[marshall834]

How does one turn off DSC halfway?

[web99992002]

sorry! what i meant was half way. when going back down the mountain

[VTECaddict]

Originally Posted by E90_boostjunky

if your in a 328 you can turn it off all you want, ur not going to lose control. in a 335i a whole other story. but why not just turn it off halfway and be on the safe side.

You can most definitely eat it in a 328i. You 335i guys make it seem like the 328i is powered by a lawnmower engine. Even so, there are many ways to lose control other than traction loss from raw power.

[E90_boostjunky]

Originally Posted by marshall834

How does one turn off DSC halfway?

what i mean by halfway is limited.. not completley off.. instead of holding it, pressing it once..

[E90_boostjunky]

Originally Posted by VTECaddict

You can most definitely eat it in a 328i. You 335i guys make it seem like the 328i is powered by a lawnmower engine. Even so, there are many ways to lose control other than traction loss from raw power.

hahaha i know im jus messin!

[SaMaster14]

What road?

I did the snake in my 335is, and I left traction completely on. I still managed to fishtail on a turn. Nothing horrible, and I easily regained control, but I personally want to be more confident with the power at my feet when on a road like that. I'm driving with the traction off (not all the way, just pushing once) all the time now. Seeing how it reacts to sharp turns on the road in high revs and normal revs. It's tough to make the car want to slip, even with traction off, unless you are really trying

[Taipei-TT]

OP...

I would consider a few things.

1. You mention you are not confident. I would certainly keep it on in that case.

2. The DSC in our cars is fairly un-intrusive other than traction issues coming out of corners where it seems more proactive. I drive very hard on twisty mountain roads that I know SUPER well...I leave it on, but it has only intervened twice. Once, I didn't need it, the other time, I probably did. So to me it's an insurance policy but it's my job to keep the car within its mechanical limits, and when I get that right, DSC leaves me alone.
3. Drives are always more fun when you and the car come back as they left. If you spend enough time of car forums, you will find enough examples of driver's who have eaten the off-ramps because they wanted to be heroic without tech.

So...what I'm saying...is that, in my opinion, if you are doing it right, DSC on or off won't make a difference because the DSC won't intervene. If you are doing it wrong on a mountain road, you probably need te DSC to help out. And finally, DSC doesn't mean you can't crash!

[SaMaster14]

Originally Posted by Taipei-TT

OP...

I would consider a few things.

1. You mention you are not confident. I would certainly keep it on in that case.

2. The DSC in our cars is fairly un-intrusive other than traction issues coming out of corners where it seems more proactive. I drive very hard on twisty mountain roads that I know SUPER well...I leave it on, but it has only intervened twice. Once, I didn't need it, the other time, I probably did. So to me it's an insurance policy but it's my job to keep the car within its mechanical limits, and when I get that right, DSC leaves me alone.
3. Drives are always more fun when you and the car come back as they left. If you spend enough time of car forums, you will find enough examples of driver's who have eaten the off-ramps because they wanted to be heroic without tech.

So...what I'm saying...is that, in my opinion, if you are doing it right, DSC on or off won't make a difference because the DSC won't intervene. If you are doing it wrong on a mountain road, you probably need te DSC to help out. And finally, DSC doesn't mean you can't crash!

Just wondering how intrusive DSC is in this case. Is it possible that when the car tries to correct your mistake, it's almost too much? I remember in my Infiniti before my BMW, I took a corner too fast with too high revs. Traction was on and I still fish-tailed. I probably would have been able to recover fine, but the car tried to correct me and pushed the other way and I ended up loosing control. I would obviously never push my car with other drivers around, so there was nobody else on the street and I got back in control pretty quickly, but it was definitely a scare.

I've yet to encounter this with my BMW and actually barely see a difference between DSC on vs off. (and find that the handling is hundreds of times better than my G37 sedan was; I couldn't do half the things my car is capable of doing without slipping and/or killing myself in the G/the car just wouldn't let me do them).

[Taipei-TT]

Originally Posted by SaMaster14

Just wondering how intrusive DSC is in this case. Is it possible that when the car tries to correct your mistake, it's almost too much? I remember in my Infiniti before my BMW, I took a corner too fast with too high revs. Traction was on and I still fish-tailed. I probably would have been able to recover fine, but the car tried to correct me and pushed the other way and I ended up loosing control. I would obviously never push my car with other drivers around, so there was nobody else on the street and I got back in control pretty quickly, but it was definitely a scare.

I've yet to encounter this with my BMW and actually barely see a difference between DSC on vs off. (and find that the handling is hundreds of times better than my G37 sedan was; I couldn't do half the things my car is capable of doing without slipping and/or killing myself in the G/the car just wouldn't let me do them).

SaMaster....that is certainly a relevant point...how does the driver react when DSC intervenes? When ABS first came out, there were crashes when people took their foots off the pulsating brake pedals thinking there was a problem....

For me, I find DSC intervenes mostly on traction issues...however, there is an amazing combination of corners near me...the road rises, crests, then falls into a right after as it rises again into a left hander....You can really get the speeds up on this....so you have a lot of dynamics at work from braking, falling, bottoming, turning, accelerating etc. I've over-cooked this corner joyfully a few times and DSC jumped in...to me it was intuitive and without the yellow flashing light I might not have really felt it...just the slight modulation of the brakes coming through the wheel.

At any rate, a tight mountain switchback is not the place to find out what the limits of your car, DSC, or driving ability are!

[SaMaster14]

Originally Posted by Taipei-TT

SaMaster....that is certainly a relevant point...how does the driver react when DSC intervenes? When ABS first came out, there were crashes when people took their foots off the pulsating brake pedals thinking there was a problem....

For me, I find DSC intervenes mostly on traction issues...however, there is an amazing combination of corners near me...the road rises, crests, then falls into a right after as it rises again into a left hander....You can really get the speeds up on this....so you have a lot of dynamics at work from braking, falling, bottoming, turning, accelerating etc. I've over-cooked this corner joyfully a few times and DSC jumped in...to me it was intuitive and without the yellow flashing light I might not have really felt it...just the slight modulation of the brakes coming through the wheel.

At any rate, a tight mountain switchback is not the place to find out what the limits of your car, DSC, or driving ability are!

Thanks for the info. And I definitely agree with your last point! Always be safe, and if you're worried, don't push the car to where dsc will need to intervene.

[Dark_Knight_335]

Be safe, whatever you do. We don't want to have to read about you on the home page of Bimmerpost any time soon, if you know what I mean.

[avocet]

if you are wondering how/when dsc will intervene, then leave it on.

you should be able to drive near the limit, and know when this system is going to intervene. if you are driving smoothly you can begin to slide the car and not actually have the system intervene. it is awesome in the wet. being able to drive to the limit and have slight slip angles while having a safety net is pretty awesome.

mind you, if you dive into a corner and push the front, or hammer the throttle and lighten the rear, the dsc will rudely intervene.

turning the traction control off(well, as off as you can without disabling the whole system) would be, in my opinion, a step in learning your cars limits, and learning balance.

[BenTrovato]

Originally Posted by avocet

if you are wondering how/when dsc will intervene, then leave it on.

I agree. Find a place that is more forgiving than a mountain road to test out the limit of your vehicle.

[VMRWheels]

Originally Posted by BenTrovato

I agree. Find a place that is more forgiving than a mountain road to test out the limit of your vehicle.

I agree, you should play around with it in an open area so you know how it reacts before turning it off. I've crashed my car up in Angeles Crest off of the 210 freeway. Pushing your car to it's limits when you're not familiar with traction control and how it reacts can make a pretty depressing night.

[yesyesyes]

It is a safety function that is there for a reason. i haven't found it to be that intrusive in my driving, it's quite difficult to trigger it and when you DO trigger it, you will probably need it..