1st drive in the rain in my 128, can I disable the traction control?

[EldRick]

+1 for DSSG.
DSC is a major PIA - I have a tight corner that goes sharply up to the crossroad, and when taking the corner at about 10mph the traction control comes on so hard that I thought a wheel had fallen off the first time. Since then, DSC is always off if I'm not just driving around in traffic - that at least mitigates the sudden action of the traction control.
I haven't had the car long enough to try traction control off - waiting for dry roads and summer tires again to play with it.

[DSSG]

The reason to test out DSC on a wet surface is to be able to break the car loose at low (safe) speeds. You can then test with it on or off.

You should try it doing panic breaking and turns at low speeds both on and off.

All the theoretical descriptions of these systems isn't of much benefit unless you are a suspension or chassis engineer. What you want is the practical applications or driving the car to simulate panic stops and high speed turns.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

My personal choice is DTC button pushed for DD on both cars. Have it programed to set on start with the JB4. 435 takes Sport+ or DTC button push in other modes. It automatically switches off with cruise control active

[Kgolf31]

What I've noticed, with winter tires on the car in 3rd or 4th gear with TC completely on, if I go to merge onto the highway and I go to punch the throttle TC freaks out an cuts throttle.

LOL

[Gray_Panther]

OP should really do an autocross event with TC semi-off and fully off. I learned a crazy amount about my 128i at each event I participated in. One was in rain and I could have spun those tires (RFT) all day long!!! Sliding was a lot of fun too!

[DSSG]

In some cars, you can't totally disable TC. In others, you can. In the BMW, when you turn off DSC, the TC is disabled, but I'm not sure if it is totally disabled.

I think the reason that TC can't be totally disable or not at all is makers are concerned about lawsuits. Today, government is in your business even when you drive.

[JimD]

I've never played with the traction control off on wet roads, only in snowy parking lots. We don't get enough snow in SC for this to be practical here. Roads are not a good place to mess around IMHO. Maybe I should try a wet parking lot sometime. But cornering speeds on wet surfaces, while slower than dry, are much higher than on snow. So risk is also greater.

My SUV has traction control and it can only be switched off at less than 10mph. I pulled my boat across wet grass with it on and my son was surprised that I didn't spin a tire. I was going up a fairly steep hill with 2WD. It really helped. The only way to "play" with the ZUK is to wire in a switch on one wheel's sensor so you can switch it off. If the system thinks a sensor is bad, the stability control goes off.

Whenever your stability control comes on, it is an indication you are going too fast. Our cars corner well enough that the cornering speeds with it on are pretty high. I think the right thing to do if you see it coming on is to slow down a tiny amount.

I haven't done an autocross in more than a year (may have to make a New Year's resolution about that) but when I ran them I put the stability control in the in between position. It flashed at me some and that meant I was pushing appropriately hard for the track. I've never had it cut throttle. If I see the lights come on when on the street, I back off. Knocking down a cone on the track is fairly painless. Getting out of your lane on the street can have much higher consequences.

[Overpar56]

Originally Posted by Kgolf31

What I've noticed, with winter tires on the car in 3rd or 4th gear with TC completely on, if I go to merge onto the highway and I go to punch the throttle TC freaks out an cuts throttle.

LOL

Amen to that.