grogan545

I agree with your assesment of the rsa tires.I just might be a little too thrifty for my own good.I have over 23000 miles on the rsa's and the tread is about 1/2 depth.They are useless below 40F.

grogan545

I whole heartedly agree with Znod on this one.The DTC/DTS controls way over compensate for wheel spin.If I break the tires completly loose the nannies bog the car down tremendously.It does't recover until about 4500 rpm's in 1rst gear.

znod

So, my theory is that your cold weather performance could be improved with new tires. And, I am betting that your best times would be with the nannies off. Do you think you still would need the nannies to get sufficient traction?

grogan545

You are correct Zman.Even though I can well afford to buy new tires I have trouble justifying getting rid of tires that have more than 1/2 tread still on them.Unfortunatly I think the tires cost me a couple of tenths at the drag strip today.On my test road I have learned to manage them in hot and cold weather,but at the strip with only 4 tries it was impossible to get a good starting method(no wheelspin).I think with ps2's I could have squeezed a 13.40 at the strip today.

grogan545

You are correct Zman.I believe All nannies off with the ps2's would give me the best times.I think my test road has tremendous traction which caused me to think I could do just as well with the rsa's I was wrong.

znod

Darn. Given your experience with drag strips, I am confident that you are right. I wish that you had had the opportunity to do your best. Did you see my earlier question about weather and altitude?

grogan545

Yes Zman.Look in the grogan goes to the drag strip thread.I posted complete run info.

znod

I just found it. Thanks.

Matt BMW California

My thought it after reading yours is this - I heard the thread and I beleive my comments are correct and consistent with the thread topic. I dont beleive that we can compensate better than a computer.... The computer (over) compensates for any heavy footing based on the driving style and conditions of the roadway. It makes it much more obvious when there are adverse conditions to which, I will agree, is far too inhibiting for most drivers. In fact, the more slippery the conditions the more likely you will find yourself cursing the traction controls. And I also agree that once its too late and the DTC takes over for the car by rev limiting the engine, there is frustration in the recovery time....way slower than I could react (depending on the amount of slip I gain before the computer takes over).

Holding the DTC button down shuts off BOTH DTC and DSC. The point of this is for drivers who like to slide the car around for fun. So fun quotent up, but the point A to point B efficiency goes down....I would be interested to know if this has ever been tested; however, I believe that in a straight line with dry conditions (or at least conditions that are more forgiving to the human condition) the computer aided car will beat the driver consistently. Of course, in this scenario all things are equal other than traction control....driver skill; horsepower; handling etc.

PS - I was not under the impression you were asking me to have a drag race with you....it never crossed my mind hence the

grogan545

I believe I just proved your theory to be incorrect.I just made 4 runs at a drag strip yesterday.2 runs with controls on,and 2 runs with controls off.The 2 runs with controls on were 13.899 & 13.804.The runs with controls off were 13.70 & 13.644.I have many years experience at the drag strip and have been testing my 545 extensively on the street.With cold,slippery conditions I get better times with the controls on,but under dry,good traction conditions my best times are with the controls off.My best times are always with the controls off.The controls over compensate,even with only a small amount of wheelspin.