Hey all,

Just got Bridgestone LM-22's on for winter and on the drive home, the DSC light comes on almost every time I take a corner rather quickly. Sometimes even from a stop and when accelerating it comes on. I've seen it come on over the summer when the road is slippery but the roads here are totally dry (where is that snow?) but cold.

Can you guys give me some feedback about this? Should I expect the light to come on more frequently now that I have different tires and the roads are getting slick? I just want to make sure everything is cool and ... you know ... I'm a noob still.

Thanks.
~ Elliott

 

First thing is, you have NEW tires and they need to be broken in. Second these are winter tires.....you will slip more on these than on performance summer tires. You have to be a little more guarded with the throttle, and braking. And remember, they have no where near the capability of a summer only tire, sounds like you are driving the car a bit to aggresively with these tires on........the only reason I say that is because I can push my car a fair amount before the dsc comes on with my ws-50's on......ease off a bit until they wear in and you get used to it.

 

Unless it is snowing hard, shut all of the electronic aids off. You will learn more about the car and your control will improve. After a year and a half, holding the traction button for 5sec comes as second nature with starting the car.

On a more positive note however, the tires might just not be right for your car...

 

Thank you very much, Gecko and Chris. Feeling re-assured now.

 

One thing you might want to check is the direction of your tires. If you got it mounted by someone. I know when I first mounted my winters on, I let KalTire do it, and they had the rear tires facing the wrong direction, thus my DSC light came on literally from every stop. After I got them redone in the correct direction the problem was gone.

Unless you're a lead foot, DSC coming on as much as it is in your case isn't normal.

 

*In Russell Peters voice* "Bee a mann"!!
Take the DSC off! All the time! There's no reason to have DSC/TCS on this type of vehicle.

I applaud all the RX-8 drivers who took the GS model and not the GT. Can't stand DSC/TCS!!

 

Hey, I also got mine installed at KalTire, here in London. My DSC light barely came on today ... I was driving more sensibly. Maybe the tires are breaking in a bit as I did a lot of driving.

What's this about tires facing the wrong direction? I don't think I've heard of that before (but I don't know much). How can they be on in the wrong direction? Now you got me wondering.

Thanks.

 

There are arrows on directional tires. Check the sidewalls, and they should be pointing to the front of the car.

 

They will either say that ^^^ or they'll say OUTSIDE.

 

Thank you very much, I'll check that.

 

Something's not right. In my experience, the rx-8's DSC is very forgiving and doesn't come on all the time like the typical BMW. In fact I had to be really really gunning the gas on a wet road to illicit tail-wagging therefore triggering the DSC to come on. For this reason alone, I have left it on. It comes on only when it needs to.
So perhaps your alignment's off or there's something weird happning. Then again it's an 07. Maybe they dumb down the DSC for 07+ rx8s?

 

I just went ahead a bought a 2007 Mazda 3 for the winter ..LOL

 

Smart move Pete!

 

From the symptoms, I'd say one of your rear tires is low on pressure - this causes a tiny differential in wheel speed, and drives the traction control snaky!

......and 'noobs' should not be turning the DSC off routinely in my opinion - it can save you from lots of Armco rash.

S

 

I got my Dunlop Winter Sport M3's installed today.. WOW these are good tires... they're quieter and more comfortable than the Dunlop SP 8090's summer tire!

 

All is fine now, I think I over-reacted and maybe was driving a bit too eratic. The light only comes on now when I push it. Thanks for the help.

 

I dont understand why you're concerned?

the dsc/traction control light will come on when your tires are slipping/spinning or not doing what they "should" be.

 

I was concerned because I hadn't seen much of that light and when I got the snows on, it was coming on a lot and I thought that was weird. Now I know better. Thanks Champion.

 

oh lol, no problem. Its easy to comprehend now that u know how the system works?

I had my car out last night in the first snowfall with summer tires on.... slippy slippy but fun. the light didnt go out at all.

 

Cool! Thanks man.