2tone

iTrader: (3)

i may not be the most seasoned poster on here, but it's easy to recognize when a bunch of you guys are being dicks. the guy has a question -- calling him a sh!tty driver isn't going to solve anything. this forum is here so we can help each other, right? that's why i read these threads. maybe we can all be adults instead of little punks trying to stroke our own driver egos with the "well you're not skilled enough to share the road with me" or "don't ask dumb questions unless you have taken a professional driving course and driven all these other fancy cards and bla bla bla". so here, i'll start...

"The Drunk IT Guy", I personally have not had the issue you're talking about with dsc. the only time i take it off is when i go to an empty parking lot and do donuts. it's there for a reason, i would not recommend driving with it off, skilled driver or not. from reading others' posts, it seems most people have not had your same troubles either. i suggest trying to replicate the issue (safely of course, in an empty secluded parking lot maybe) and see if you can tell if it's something that YOU did wrong (too much revs, dropped the clutch too fast, poor tire tread causing a loss of traction, etc) or if it feels the car is just acting up. bottom line, what happened to you shouldn't happen. take it to your dealer and have them run any and all checks on the dsc. keep us informed if anything fishy comes up.

8 Maniac

iTrader: (1)

From what it sounds like to me, he's dropping in at 5k rpms making a 90 degree turn... that doesnt sound like a good idea. As I said earlier, I'm almost completely through a turn before I step on it and I've never had issues. I know houston traffic can be bad, but I've never had a situation where I didnt have enough time to just step on it at the end of turning and redline it, in fact, it gives you an excuse to redline it

Rotary Inspired

iTrader: (1)

Hey chief I don't want to hear it. I am not some punk kid. I swear this is why I was looking into getting a Porsche. At least those guys are respectful and don't want to be ethugs.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

your skills will still suck in a porsche..

beers

swoope

iTrader: (5)

was the motor cold, what you describe sounds more like the ecu taking care of the motor... it is called the limp mode..

beers

expo1

Ethug?? Well if using one's own words against them makes me a ethug then so be it.

Rotator

This happens to me all the time too - IN THE SNOW.

The car only has 150lb-ft of torque with 225 width rubber - on a dry clean road, there should be no way you can get the tires spinning without really, really trying.

In snow - yes, DSC can impede forward progress from a start. But then you most likely aren't trying to merge into traffic that is doing 60mph.

If your tires have lost traction and are spinning, then how do you think that will equate to forward motion? Heat, and smoke possibly, but not much speed.

I find the DSC and traction control to be very forgiving - DSC does allow a certain amount of yaw angle and 4 wheel drifts, but traction control doesn't allow much wheelspin at all. Although with 245/40R18's I find the increased grip really makes wheelspin and drifts difficult.

Just test traction control from a standstill.

Here is the method I propose:
Find a nice straight section of road with no traffic.
From a stop, hold the engine at 8000rpm for half an hour to get it into the optimum thermal efficiency range.
At 30:01 start releasing the clutch slowly - but don't engage it - just hold the car in place until you can smell it. You need to warm this puppy up for a good 5 minutes too.
At 35:01 - press the clutch pedal, and the accelerator both to the floor, then immediately side step the clutch to let it out abruptly.
Traction control should intervene.
Turn Traction control off.
Repeat process.

Let me know how the test works out.

StewC625

The DSC is doing it's job, and apparently with you, putting in overtime hours.

Why don't you find a good SCCA or other sanctioned autocross, and learn to drive appropriately so you don't kill anyone out there.

The only time my DSC kicks in is when it saves my butt due to an unanticipated pavement condition like oil in the road, wet pavement, etc.

The Drunk IT Guy

I just love old neked dudes, they rock my socks!


Rotator
Do you think it's better if I just rev it in my garage to get the optimum thermal efficiency? It's too hot outside..

Rotary Inspired

iTrader: (1)

Gotta love the internet. I would like to know how many of you have actually taken your 8 to a track and I am not talking about a parking lot. I am not sure why I am even taking the time to type this.

I am out of here. All I'll ever post about will be in the Gulf area next time we are holding a track and BBQ day see ya.

Rotator

The Drunk IT Guy,

Yeah - Garage - Door closed for the first 20minutes of the warm up session.

On a more serious note - I'm with StewC625. DSC and traction control have reeled in some possible mishaps due to crappy RE040's and oily or dusty roads.

Snow though? Not so much - I can't even climb a 2% grade with 4 snow tires. There are situations where a little tire spin can help.

My $0.02 - The RE050A PP's are much more betterer.

I'd really like to see this crazy on-ramp. What do people do with say - A SMART CAR?

expo1

Watkins Glen, Pocono & Summit Point

dynamho

OP, you said you know how to drive. Great.
Now learn about your machine and then learn about traffic.

You find it necessary to break lose to merge with traffic? Then it basically means people driving 1.8L Corollas don't stand a chance in that intersection huh?

Design1stCode2nd

I've had DSC kick in, usually in the same sort of situation but you need to modulate the power. If you turn DSC off and pucnch it you are going to oversteer like mad anyway if there is less than optimal road conditions.

Just pull out briskly wait until you straigten out and punch it.

CoupeM

Yea...the last person who turn it off in my country totaled his car. Besides keeping dsc on makes me look good. Heehehe

Haze

This might shock all of you guys, but there are a bunch of us 8 owners who drive around with DSC off permanently ... it's called the base model, at least in '04, and it might further shock you that the car is not prone to spin around during accelaration flip over and explode of its own free volition without DSC.

On dry roads the car handles very well and DSC is pretty useless. On slick roads, the car has a tendancy to kick its *** out fairly easily, where DSC would be very helpful, however the car can be brought back in without it. In the 58,000 miles that I have driven the car it has only kicked out on me once when I hit an oily asphalt patch, and I was able to bring it back in without damage to it, me or anyone.

That said, I can totally relate to IT guy's problem. Occassionally, I have to drive my wife to work on one of the first limited access highways ever built in the US. There is NO on-ramp. Just a stop sign and a jump onto a 60 MPH highway. Even waiting for a decent gap in traffic the only thing to do is stand on the accelerator to get up to speed. That being said, I do not do clutch dumps. Stupidly, I believe that traction only happens when the tires are well contacted to the pavement, however, the pavement on this slice of highway is pretty broken up. If I had DSC, then I would have the same non-acceleration problem that IT Guy is having and people would be slamming on the brakes to avoid hitting me.

The only advie that I would give IT Guy is to not clutch dump the car. If he just let's the car accelerate on its own, then he shouldn't have such a strong intervention from the DSC.

Clutch dumping while doing a 90 degree turn in this car without DSC (even on dry roads) would most likely lead to a pretty quick spinning 270, and then he would really find out what fear would be.

Rosko350z

Drunk IT Guy, I say screw it, hit your DSC button before you pull out into traffic. We'll let your driving skills determine the outcome.

If / when I buy a RX8, it will be a sport model and no "DSC with Traction Control".

According to some of you guys, I might as well sign my death warrant.

mysql101

Nah, the problem is that people are used to how the car handles with DSC. Then they push the car to the limit without DSC and suddenly the car doesn't react the same way, and they're wrapped around a tree.

I know most of you guys are smarter than that, but it happens more than you might expect, especially if people start recommending disabling DSC as a way to get better fuel economy.

costello

I've had the exact same experience with this although not in an RX-8, but a Corvette. Your DSC is working correctly. Got a chance to run a corvette at the GM rev-it-up during the final round challenge and the DSC in that car cuts the power exactly the same way. The course had relatively slow sections and the asphalt surface was dusty and wet so during the last 90-degree right hand turn before the finish, the car would lose some rear traction. Even though it was only ~20 mph, the DSC would cut power and would not accelerate even if your foot was to the floor. The only way to get around it was to drive a lot smoother and not let it lose rear traction. They would not let you disable the DSC on their cars. (Disabled the button).

I was surprised that the Corvette DSC came on at such a slow speed and such little rear traction loss. I was expecting it to have a more agressive tuning than what we experienced but I think due to the slippery surface it would sense wheel spin a lot sooner. I believe in your situation the RX-8 behaves the same way. Especially on a slippery surface after a 90 degree turn. Take it smooth during the turn and don't floor it until you're steering wheel is pointed straight. If it senses traction loss during hard acceleration it may also cut power. Only way to get around it is to disable the DSC. Or do what I did and get the base model without the DSC.

StewC625

+1 here. Clutch dumping is stupid, damages the car and shows how little skill the driver has. There is no reason to do that.

Besides, if you're attempting to slow quickly, stomping the brakes generally has a much more immediate and efficient effect.

"Oooh, there's an emergency stop situation coming up. I know, I'll rev the engine to five grand, downshift two gears, and dump the clutch"

Versus

[no mental conversation at all] - STOMP BRAKE PEDAL, screech to an ABS-assisted stop in short order.

Only a moron would use a 5K downshifting clutch dump to quickly slow the car. Heel & Toe downshifting for a corner, with matched revs, then coast in with engine retardation, and onto the power in the right gear for an exit? Now that's the proper use of downshift deccel ...

StewC625

For 99% of your driving, you will never notice the DSC. On the 0.99% of the time that you want to drive very aggressively on the track or autocross course, there is a convenient off button.

And for that 0.01% of the time, when you're motoring along in the rain, you go to turn a corner at a perfectly safe speed, and right at the apex, there's a patch of oily-water mixed up slippery mess, you will be ******* righteously glad that the DSC was on and was there, and what could have been a badly fucked up RX-8 at the easiest, and either injured or dead people or you at the worst, instead turns into a "hmm, must have been some oil there" as you calmly drive off after seeing the DSC light blink and the brakes and wheels chatter momentarily while the DSC catches and settles things.

Let us know how that works out for you, OK? Or are you instead going to be wearing your invincibility cloak at all times?

Stew

SureShot

I'm confused here.

If you turn off traction control, will a DSC event still cut power?

Where might I find a narrative on how these systems are supposed to work?

-Bill

Rosko350z

I just altered my will, Stew. After I'm dead because of no DSC, they are going to post the details of how it worked out on this forum.

Seriously, I agree that it's a nice safety device, but I've made it 37 years as either a passenger or driver without it.

To each his own. Agree to disagree, and all that. "The Dude abides". LOL

mmats69

Just let the guy turn it off and have a wreck. When the insurance company downloads the comp and sees he was not using it, his claim will be denied. Then he will be off the streets and our roads will be a LOT safer.

mysql101

^ If enough morons do that, the rest of us will be paying higher rates because of it.