I not sure if I truley understand what the DSC does or how it works? Do you?
When do you use it? When do not use it?

 

I'm no expert on this, but in very simple terms, it keeps the tires from losing traction by reducing the wheel speed (ie applying the brakes) on whichever wheel(s) is(are) spinning. I've heard that it's not good to use it in the snow, but being a so cal native, I'd have no way of knowin if that's true or not . Basically, for normal driving, it should be left on at all times. Some people like to turn it off if they're doing "spirited" driving, since when it turns on it will slow you down if your wheels start to spin. Unless you have experience with this type of driving, I wouldn't recommend turning it off.

PigLick

 

I also read somewhere that it affects the timing and throttle as well as the brakes... basically, it does whatever is necessary to keep your car from going out of control.

I am assuming the MINI DSC is the same stuff that's on my BMW 325i (don't have the MINI yet)... on my 325, it's a really great thing to have, and I wouldn't have gotten a new MINI unless I could get DSC. If I'm out "messing around", I'll turn it off, but otherwise it's on all the time. It makes me feel a LOT better knowing that when I'm driving in a bad rain storm and have a split second to jerk the wheel really hard to avoid something bad in front of me, that there's something extra trying to help me keep the car in control. The reason I am such a proponent of DSC is because I've seen it work on a few occasions, and once feel that it saved my life (or at least saved me and my car from serious injury).

A really neat thing to try if you already have your DSC MINI (I did this when I first got the 325)... take it out on some safe dirt road somewhere, find a nice sharp turn in the road, and go through the turn "too fast"... fast enough to cause you to spin out. Then, repeat the same exact thing, at exactly the same speed, with the DSC on. You won't believe the difference. You'll actually have a difficult time trying to get your car to spin out of control when the DSC is on.

The one time that I REALLY hate DSC is when I'm trying to pull out of a parking lot into oncoming traffic, and I'm trying to do it really quick-like, because my window of opportunity may be small. If I forget to turn DSC off, I'll be in deep trouble, cuz as soon as I whip out of the parking lot, if any of the tires loose traction (I'm sure you all know how easy it is to spin a tire when pulling out of a parking lot), the DSC will kick on and severely reduce the power output of my car, to "keep it under control" even though it really wasn't out of control. This can be very irritating, and can often **** off the people you were trying to merge in front of :smile:

All in all though, IMO, the goods FAR outweigh the bads, and I have my DSC on 99% of the time.

~Bob

 

Ok,
now I have a better understanding of it. It sound like a great thing to have and I'm glad to have it. Now all I need is the Mini. Just one more day.WOO HOOOO!

 

In the cold weather or ice you can really get a good feel for the huge differnece that DSC makes. For instance, if you try to do donuts in the snow or ice with DSC on, it will sense that certain wheels are not in traction and apply brake to the necessary wheels to help to correct the problem.

Under acceleration, if wheelspin is detected, the throttle is taken back, to give the tires a chance, and then throttle is given back once the wheels have traction.

I was given a 330i as a loaner that also had DSC and the features were all the same to my MINI with regard to lateral spins and loosing the back end (on purpose of course) but with regard to acceleration, the 330i did much better with the help of DSC, compared to the mini. It was snowing for half of the day i had the 330i, and in the snow, you can literally just put the gas to the floor and go, no problems at all, DSC sorts the whole mess out, a truely amazing thing.

In the mini, it has the same removal of the throttle under acceleration wheel spin, but it comes back to mid to full power to quickly, you cant just gun the mini in the snow and get somewhere like in the 330i.

For any kind of fun driving though, DSC MUST be off.

 

DCS kind of works like a positraction device. Instead of power going to the wheels that slip the computer applies the brake, modulates the throtle and does whatever else is necessary to send power to the non-slipping wheels.

A positraction device or Limited Slip Differiential does something similar but using mechanicl devices only and no computer.

 

LSD's do not apply brakes to the spinning wheel but puts power to the wheel with traction via gears and viscous fluid. If a wheel is lightened, say by a sharp corner at moderate speed,the power will go through the transfer case and follow the path of least resistance- the wheel with less weight. DSC will brake the spinning wheel and forces the power to the loaded wheel. In DSC mode the computer can take control of the brakes, timing and throttle to save you from yourself. I was pulling up my drive that was very slick and started on dry pavement, taking a run in first gear. The DSC light started blinking like a pinball machine, the throttle was to the floor and I was pulling maybe 900 rpms and going nowhere.

 

>>LSD's do not apply brakes to the spinning wheel but puts power to the wheel with traction via gears and viscous fluid. If a wheel is lightened, say by a sharp corner at moderate speed,the power will go through the transfer case and follow the path of least resistance- the wheel with less weight. DSC will brake the spinning wheel and forces the power to the loaded wheel. In DSC mode the computer can take control of the brakes, timing and throttle to save you from yourself. I was pulling up my drive that was very slick and started on dry pavement, taking a run in first gear. The DSC light started blinking like a pinball machine, the throttle was to the floor and I was pulling maybe 900 rpms and going nowhere.


Yeah i know that I just did not define that very well. Some LSD's use clutch packs to transfer power and some use gears.

 

So answer me this, does the DSC come on automatically when the car is started? Or do you have to flip the toggle so that the light is illuminated? Or does the light being illuminated mean its off?

 

>>So answer me this, does the DSC come on automatically when the car is started? Or do you have to flip the toggle so that the light is illuminated? Or does the light being illuminated mean its off?

Yes, DSC comes on automatically when the car is started.. and

Yes.. the light being illuminated, means DSC is off.

Matt

 

DSC is on when the car starts, you have to turn it off every time you restart your car. When the light is on DSC is off. If the light flashes while driving DSC is doing its magic.

 

Thanks, that's what I thought

 

>>...I was pulling up my drive that was very slick and started on dry pavement, taking a run in first gear. The DSC light started blinking like a pinball machine, the throttle was to the floor and I was pulling maybe 900 rpms and going nowhere.

Here is how I observe the effect. It's raining, the asphault gets wet and it gets slick. You are at a stop sign and need to turn. You are enthusiastic and apply good pedal and pop the clutch. You anticipate the wheels will give a testosterone filled chirrrrp!!! . S-CAR-GO!

You are in the turn; the weight shifts off the inside front wheel. DSC kicks in, not only clamping the spinning wheel but also cutting power. The car goes blaaaaaah and almost dies, spilling those sweet sounding, precious RPMs all over the road.

Most Disconcerting when you learn that DeSCargo is really just a cooked snail.

Tom

 

why is everyone on this site so smug?? i am a mini owner and have posted three questions without any response. quess i'm just not hip and articulate enough for all of you MINI people. whatever, is there somekind of code word?null

 

TBP

I, personally, do not read all of the topics only ones that interest me. I have never read counting chocolate, once I figured out what it was. Many times certain things have been posted about a lot of previous times. So, if I see something that has been beaten to death, I don't read it. I can, also, state that I don't look at the author, and say that they don't know the code word therefore I am not going to respond. Some of the people on here have been on here for a long time and they are like friends, so they tend to reply to each other regularly. I have been reading posts on here for 4 months, and I really don't feel that they are snobby. I, also, do more reading than posting. So, I tend to be familiar with topics that are a little worn out.

jc

ps, best advice is to not take it personal. If you hang out here for a couple of years you will be fully initiated into the club... too bad there isn't one!