[lux.sh]

So,

" until just recently so the roads are slick with oil+water too"

and,

"I did have DTC inactive when this happened"

Reason is = ?

[N1]

If we run over oil in the road even by 40 mph its worst than "acqua planning". The speed increases as the lack of traction is total often 4 wheel drift, the solution is to leave the car with no power and try to control it with the wheel. The weight should go to the front wheels when it pass over the drift and then brake. The last time i was driving by 35 mph and after a right bow i found one car stopped by the half of the road making light signal to turn left. When i touched the brakes slowly i lost all the contact with the road, 4 wheels drift, very fast, increasing speed. I put the hands on the wheel and try to avoid the collision course and detour the other vehicle. I entered the right off the road, by the right and i saw in the left eye other car that was behind me drifting and passing by because he was braking hard certainly. I was lucky and i could divert, drift off road, over sand and the car recover contact. It all happened in 2 sec. The other car braking and drifting hit the car stopped. It was sunday, 2 pm and the rain had stopped.
If we brake we are doomed, i think, with all respect to other opinions.

[cntlaw]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

It doesn't matter if the DTC is on or not if you are going too fast for a turn. When you get into a slide with all wheels you are toast unless you have lots of room to compensate. He didn't. It is called driving too fast for conditions.

Yep, your insurance will probably go up. You may want to pay out of pocket and keep them out of it. Go to the dealer or someone you can trust to look at it. Sounds like it may be pretty expensive to be honest.

My 1992 E36 was totalled in a smilar situation , under 40km/h. It spinned 360 degree 2 times, during that spinning, brake and steering were both not working to make the car stop nor could slow it down; and the frontend finally ended up hitting the fence. (1992 E36 did not have Traction Control System). The sad thing was I actually got a locked up wheel about just a minute ago before the accident where I did get out of the car to check if the tires were ok. When I 'saw' nothing wrong, I got back in and ended up the wheels locked again in the next cornering. Yes, the road was slippy because of moisture, the tires must be greasy and I was turning the steering faster than the car could turn.

If his steering wheel is now not in the center, the mechanicals in the steering system must have experienced an impact and somehow got the axle dislocated. It could be hard to tell if any parts were seriously damaged as he could drive one mile home without feeling any abnormalities. But I would make sure the dealer to do a very careful test with right experts because it is the critical steering system.
The bill can be huge if the entire steering system is to be replaced.
Just my naive guess.

[tctic]

Not wanting to start another arguement on the DTC title. But when you said DTC is inactive, did you mean you pressed the DTC button once? Because to interpret the way I interpret how DTC/DSC work, you didn't alter the DSC system meaning it's on "Full".

Definition of DTC from E92 Press Release: Activation of DTC raises the threshold for intervention by the brakes, enabling the driver of a BMW 3 Series Coupe to set off smoothly on low friction surfaces such as snow. A benefit of DTC for the enthusiast is that it allows slight, easily controllable slip on the drive wheels even on a dry surface.