qas1981

So today I was racing home to meet some (female) company after work.. Of course I was speeding b/c I was excited (typical male reaction). I hit a couple of curves doing about 65 where the speed limit was 35. I had tapped this little section before doing close to this speed but today was a little faster due to the added motivation. The first curve is a lefty second curve is a right and they come hard and fast so I love punching through them on a late night. Soon as I came into the second curve I felt some hard body roll when I hit the gas and worked the steering to the right. Before I knew it I heard my tires squeal! I thought hmm a little bit of squeal doesnt mean much maybe the tires are just digging in. By the time the curve was coming to an end I felt the rear end enter to a hard sway and not following my steering!! By this time all was lost! With the rear wheels at zero traction (DTC? where i dont see it) the car was sliding down the road perpendicular. Luckily the road was straight by now and all curbs were averted!

Of course this was exciting!! But after all the euphoria wore off I'm left to wonder where was my DTC!! I didnt get a light a warning or anything!!

I put the car in the sport shifting. Did this have something to do with it?

BMWPower06

test ur system. Go to an empty parking lot, turn the steering wheel hard to the left or right and floor it. if the light doesnt come on, then something is probably wrong with the system

Brit_in_NJ

Traction control kicks in when wheels spin under acceleration, you were sliding sideways which is the realm of the stability control however it's not infallible, stability control lets off the throttle which in many situations will allow the tail end to gain traction and fall back in line but like traction control tend to work under acceleration. If you were already at speed sliding sideways and not using the gas it can't do much to help.

sdg1871

Traction control will not change the laws of physics. If you go around a corner waaay to fast, traction control will not save you from wiping out. But if your DTC light was not going on, you may very well have a problem. Time to get your system checked.

Krozi

Exactly what I wanted to say. DSC will save your ass but only to a certain extent.

unknown

hey hey this is a family forum

theXman

Wow, glad to hear you came out ok. Better get that DTC check out.

qas1981

So I was a bit concerned with my traction control and had to immediately go and investigate my cars features and ensure they worked correctly.. I used to be a mechanic and I know what waiting and hoping that nothing is wrong will get you.. Thus I did the quick test of turning the wheel and punching it. Sure enough like clockwork the DTC kicked in and stopped the wheels from peeling out.

So just to be completely stupid and out of my mind!! (I will not loose to a stupid curve! ) I took the curve again.. I realized that the curve is much sharper than what I really imagined it and That I understeered then oversteered to correct. Taking it again doing much slower speeds & closely monitoring my reactions helped a ton! The curve is almost a huge u-turn but its like an optical illusion I guess..

All in All, DTC works fine my driving capabilities just hit a hiccup.....

Thanks for the insight! It was well needed!

Lesson learned... Slow down... she will still be there....

v_therussian

Still, I think it should've kicked in - especially, considering that he went into a turn too fast, from what it sounds like.

Practice makes perfect
Some people push their cars into submission, others - find a perfect trajectory and dance the car through the curves. The latter being actually the harder act to follow. Before you take a curve at speed, you should take that curve (series of curves) at 50% your max pace and find your "line" - that is, of course, unless you're experienced enough (or played enough PlayStation ) to just see the line as you're approaching the corner. But taking a risk like that on a public street... God forbid something jumps out of the nearby trees, or something, ya know...

Phantom Mark

DTC

Dynamic TRACTION CONTROL

A combination of throttle adjustment by the ECU and ABS braking inputs to the spinning wheels to stop Wheel Spin, thats it, nothing else, in severe weight transfers like entering a corner much too fast it can do nothing to help you, especially if you braked mid corner with no throttle or braking whilst turning at the same time, this is called lift off oversteer and nothing to do with wheelspin.

DSC

Dynamic STABILITY CONTROL

This basicaly monitors the relative wheel speed of each wheel sensing slip, oversteer, understeer, and of course direction of the vehicle in relation to steering input, it then uses the ABS system to brake any given wheel to bring the car back on the course the car thinks you are trying to take based on steering input and relative wheel speeds.............this system in theory should have saved you some what, all you need to do in a situation is steer in the direction you wish to go.

I have played extensively with both systems on the track and also with all systems turned off, both systems are pretty decent if a little intrusive to the advanced driver, whilst I have never relied on either system to save me in the extremes I have deliberately pushed the car into both oversteer and understeer to see how the systems work, never had a problem with them.

Going hell fast with maybe a sudden steering input or maybe a sudden change in surface grip is the only way I can think you managed to catch out the systems, outside of a system malfunction of course.