Domza

does dsc apply braking power to the front 2 wheels on traction loss?

I was driving just now, like literally 2 minutes ago and i was going around a corner a little bit quick, nothing stupid, but enough to obviously unsettle the car. (I thought i was WELL within my grip limits and i may have accelerated out of the corner about 20ms too early, when i could feel the back end start to break away, i let go of the gas, and very lightly applied braking, and as i did DSC interrupted me and the car severely understeered, almost sending me up the gutter had i not flicked the steering just in time to avoid it. the tyres squeeled a little and i recovered fine, buti think i might have given the on coming car a bit of a fright.

And this was on bone dry tarmac.

just scared me when DSC interrupted so violently and i basically lost the car for a couple of milliseconds.

i had dsc on on the way back from geelong 2 days ago in the wet, and it locked up the rear wheels to create understeer, when i had the start of some pretty sweet oversteer; it basically arrested the car from getting nicely sideways (which i appreciated, because although i knew the corner was prone to getting sideways, i didnt want to, and took it fairly easy nonetheless...) I set it partially off and the back of the car likes to snap out given the opportunity, so in the wet its always on...

does any one drive with it partially off all the time?

any one else got DSC stories to share?

auzoom

I cant say for certain but I dont think the front wheels are braked by DSC. Rears are a definate. I have a thread in here about cracking a rim because DSC kicked in on me on a wet road and straightened the car up ... while I was still facing a gutter. My own fault but when you expect a car to keep coming around its not nice to have it YANKED away from you...I personally think that the DSC is a little vicious.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

all wheels, and the throttle are controlled by the ecu... if you think you can feel that you have made a 20ms mistake...

well, that covers it....

beers

auzoom

Was that at my comment?

Cromax

I was about to say the same thing ... I have a feeling that the fronts correct you a lot ... especially in the wet when the poor camber on some roads makes the car understeer off the road (unless you power over )

On a side note ... I've noticed mine doesn't kick in as much anymore. It used to kick in a fair bit, and quite violently ... now it tends to be more passive (I'm not complaining about it, it just changed!). Is this because the dsc actually learns the driver? Or is it because I've broken something?!

astro

^^^Nope! You haven't broken a thing. You are more familiarised with the car's characteristics and instinctively, you have a fair idea where/when the car will lose traction at certain conditions. Experience is priceless!

I lack the experience, I have it "ON"!

auzoom

Astro...You will turn it of!

swoope

iTrader: (5)

not aimed at you... the first poster..

Domza

in the grand scheme of things... in the wet. i find that the rears cut... then the throttle..

the fronts. if you discover oil.. and that does happen.

beers

astro

YES MASTER!

Rotor Convert

Domza I have had the DCS come on doing a spirited slalom at a driver training day....Computer Said NO big time and grabbed a front brake to stabilise the car......DSC works on all wheels as far as I know.....

One more thing.....if you know you've made a slight error in judgement then the car is just agreeing with you!

I choose to leave it on when on the road and then full off when on the track! Go the four wheel drift!!!

Remember always know your limits and drive within them.

Safe driving.

takahashi

People said a picture speaks a thousand words........

I have a video of how DSC works.

http://alwstudios.net/rx8club/taka/r...s/DSC_demo.zip

In Japanese, but Domza can read the Chinese Subtitle.

EDIT: for those who don't

The fist run is DSC on
2nd is DSC half off (one second)
3rd is DSC all off (7 sec)
4th is MazdaSpeed RX-8

Cromax

I keep mine on during commuting and when it's raining ...

... but otherwise it's off ... it's such a waste to have it on around some of the roads around here. We have roads like windy point rd and that road up to lobethal packarded with 110km signs still

Don't think that'll be for long though. Recently they've been dropping speed limits around here left right and centre!

Domza

thanks for the great feedback guys.

Yeah Cromax: it grabs you really suddenly, and thats why i nearly understeered into a a square gutter. It was very very quick, but if the back end had broke, it would have regained traction just about straight away because i wasnt travelling that fast. Even if it had broken away, thats were you get some power over action in and slide it out, but it was basically the ferocity of it that stunned me, and having basically no control over what the 4 wheels were doing...

EZZY

Dom: can you check your tyre pressure and see if it is at a "different" pressure?!?

StratoMike

Straight up , the RX8 can be scary in the wet.

Tim Tam

Guys, there's no "half off" for our DSC/traction control. The Canberra group ran tests on a skidpan, and pushing the button for 1 second has exactly the same effect as holding it for 10.

takahashi

That only goes for power oversteer.

Press for one second means the throttle control is off. Hence you can drift on the skidpan when you power slide it with one sec DSC off

But the EBD still active for extreme braking. Certainly it is shown in the video in the link of the thread above!

I have the car "one second off" on track days most times (unless I am on my own). Certainly save my day when someone slow down in the corner on a track and thinking of letting me through. The light came on and the brake locks appropriately and help me from not drifting.

If you put 10 sec DSC off - then EBD will go, and only ABS is working!

And you cannot turn the ABS off

Any car is scary in the wet (when you have the wrong driver behind the wheel). MX5 handles better in the wet (suck up to Stu )

swoope

iTrader: (5)

very good point ezzy.

beers

StratoMike

Any car is scary in dry conditions with the wrong driver behind the wheel.

What i am saying, specifically, is that compared to other cars i have driven the RX8
can be a little unpredictable on wet roads.
I think it may be something to do with the way the way the car steers through corners, in that turning the wheel a certain distance to make a corner doesn't always translate to a consistently predictable arc, and sometimes you need to readjust midway. In dry conditions its not noticeable, but in the wet it can cause the back to skip out.

Cromax

Sounds a bit like you need a bit more experience behind the wheel. The steering is less direct because the front wheels are further forward and the cabin sits further back as compared with other cars. I originally mistook that as a flaw in the car, but it just means you have to turn in a very small fraction of a second earlier. Once you get used to that, the car turns into a nimble mosquito ...

... the back stepping out means you're not accelerating properly through corners. If you don't want the back to step out, make sure you apply power at the right point. The basic principle is not to power right through a corner like you do in a front wheel drive or all wheel drive car ... brake in and only apply power when you know it's not going to spin the car around the other way. Practise on long windy roads in the wet ... when I say windy, I mean the road between kinglake and healesville windy ... or the summit road down in the dandenongs would be suiteable as well.

Other things you should watch is the road camber and other little niggly things like corroguations. If the camber of the road is off it'll tend to make your car either understeer or oversteer a bit around corners (or a lot if you don't know what you're doing) ... and corroguations cause your car to basically bounce off the road (especially when your spring rate is increase above stock).

Anyway, I probably wafted on a bit there, but give that a go.

If you think the handlings sketchy in the RX8 in the wet ... you should try an MX5 and then go back ... you'll appreciate the difference

WhiteRain

I think the RX-8 is quite well behaved.
My previous S15 200sx was much scarier than my RX-8 in the wet.
Slightly boosted, stiffer aftermarket springs, cheap-ish non OEM tyres = bad bad handling in the wet.

Revolver

I must say I haven't noticed anything problematic with the car's handling in the wet but then again I'm a reasonably cautious driver in the wet. IMHO, that is NOT the time to be pushing the car anyway. Indeed, I don't think I've ever activated DSC in the wet because I stay well within the car's comfort zone.

As it is, we don't have much wet weather compared to other countries, so I don't think it's a real hardship to pull back a little when it is wet.

I also haven't noticed anything savage or sharp about the DSC when it does kick in, even when pushing the car hard on a track. Actually, I've found it to be quite moderate in its application and sometimes you can barely feel it working.

Turning it off altogether. A whole other story. Not recommended for the inexperienced unless you've got plenty of runoff room!!!!

Cromax

I agree ... you should save your energetic driving while you're inexperienced with the car to dry weather ... hitting trees is bad for your car, as well as the fact that the impact could kill you ... to death!

I used to be cautious in the wet, but I'm probably the opposite of you now though ... I push the cars comfort zone in the wet and occiasionally get a little nudge by the dsc just telling me "back off or next time I'll try to rip your neck off" ... the same way my piano teacher used to tap me across the knuckles with a pencil when I started to slouch over the keys.

Revolver

Fair enough. I just believe that pushing cars in the wet (any car) is high risk for low return.

BTW, I've owned mine for over two years, so I think it's fair to say I know it reasonably well by now.

Cromax

No, you're completely right! I definately wouldn't drive the car the same way as I would in the dry in the wet ... and I definatley keep dsc on ... it keeps me in check when I lose my nerve.

Sorry, I wasn't saying you didn't know your car ... I was meaning to speak generally.