A little rain and CSL don't mix!

[Durgesh]

Was driving around in the new CSL all day today, its started to rain a little, and then stopped. Was a little damp on the road, not pools of water or anything.

Anyway there are 4 of us in the car, coming up to a right bend in regents park, I had been caning it all day yesterday and today, she had not made a wrong step yet... until now.

Go into the bend, drop down to second, throttle down on the way out... DSC is on, M-Track Mode is off, only sport button on.

Car start's to slide, huge amount of oversteer, car coming the other way!!! ahhh!!!

Give it some left lock, miss the car but what must be two inch's, now heading straight for the kerb... lock the other way... ahhhhh... wheels miss the kerb by less than an inch. Bit of a fish tail, and back in control.

I have no idea, how I was lucky enough to grab control of her again, it was so tooo close both times.

Luckly no one was hurt, and secondly car did not touch/hit anything. Serious lesson learnt, this car is hard core, needs respect. That's never even happend to me in any other high performance car. And I am running road tyres not even the slicks!

What I don't understand is that, in my 330, the DSC would have stopped me dead. M3 people.. does the sport button take any of the traction control away, I thought it only inreased throttle response.

I think I need to invest in some serious track time to get to know her better.

Durgesh

[RDG 40]

lesson learnt but ay its a csl it needs to be on the edge,lol

your a lucky guy having one cant wait to see it up close

[Doc Matt]

my dsc still works in my 02 M3 with sport activated.

[Nickleback]

Just a thought, but was the road wet or was it diesel on the road? :(
My big accident war when some Pillock has chucked diesel all over the road? :eek:

[MistaSmiff]

Sounds like you has a very close shave their mate, glad you, your peeps and you car are all ok.

[Chaos]

DSC is the same with Sport off or on AFAIK bro, but I've noticed the same thing happen with mine at the beginning. With the Sport on, the car gets a lot more grabbier and it's easier to step the back end out. That said, on the 2 or 3 times I've got it out with the DSC on, it snapped it straight back into line again. I've only ever managed a fishtail with the DSC off..

I know with the F575s and I think with the M5, the DSC backs off in stages depending on how you have your track settings. It's entirely possible therefore that the CSL does aswell, although if you've got the M-Track off then there's no reason why it should behave any differently than a 'standard' M unless they deliberately pushed back the envelope on the basis that it's a hardcore M3 and therefore designed to be more 'pure'.

The most likely explanation to it stepping out that quickly with the DSC on would be a bus dumping diesel down the road, but I wouldn't expect it to go that far along as to stop you controlling it for that long or to be close enough to the kerb for you to kick it out the other way there. May be worth investigating bro, don't want any nasty surprises in the future.. I'm heading into Ted's and maybe into town some time this coming week, if you're around then you're welcome to take mine out for a jolly (it'll give you a rough comparison of your old car with an M engine in it) and see if it behaves any differently to the new beast.. Just holla if you fancy comparing them (don't worry, I won't ask to follow you in yours :p ).

Short answer is though, no I wouldn't have expected the DSC to let it get that far out of shape before it took over. :confused:

[rahrah]

the dsc is a bit tamer in the csl, its allows for more backend action before it kicks in,..but ask the boys at bm3w im sure they will have more advice!...but hey, must of looked wicked from the car behind!..lol

[Raj]

Sounds like a very lucky escape Digs. Glad all turned out ok. As rahrah has said i believe with the CSL the DSC doesn't quite take as much control as the idea is that the CSL is a more focused drivers car and a bit of a track dayer to boot. Ultimately, it just needs a little more caressing through the bends.

[mystic sport]

Light rain after a very dry spell is one of the worst road combinations other than snow/ice, very greasy road surface. Have had a bit of fun yesterday with nanny firmly asleep in these conditions :D .

Glad yourself and the CSL escaped unharmed.

[peppernick]

Have you put your cup tyres on?

[Tin]

wow..thats alittle scary dude after 2 days of ownership! :eek: yep tracktime with some tutoring would be good idea... need something like this myself too!

[CA Automotive UK]

The Csl does step out VERY easily in even slightly damp road conditions on a sport setting I found , especially on the "semi slick " tyre option

[AlpinaAl]

To be honest I find that sometimes it is possible to overwhelm the TC espec when its damp, in the wet the car isnt as bad, but through in damp conditions and the car gets all confused, I spun my Alpina twice cause of this, back end seems to go and you think "no worries the TC's got it" then it keeps going and you think "SH!? maybe not" then by the time you feed in opposite lock the TC goes "WOOO WAIT A MINUTE I BETTER DO SOMETHING"

By which time its normally to late or your facing the way you just came with a man in a Honda looking at you shaking his head mouthing the word " ***head "

Also the I belive the Track button just backs off proccesor power from non essential items and has no effect on the TC system (however I am quite tired and maybe mistaken ;) )

[Shuriken]

Glad everyone/everything is alright but be careful Bigs, wouldn't wanna see you wreck you new pride n' joy.


Light rain after a very dry spell is one of the worst road combinations I second that. :o

Take care mate. :)

Shuriken.

[will_uk]

Light rain after a very dry spell is one of the worst road combinations other than snow/ice.

Lol, yeah that's completely true. I've had the arse out in my transit before now in such conditions.!

Good to hear no damage to you or your p&j mate. Bet the adrenalin was pumpin though eh?

Will....

[Har5ha]

all i can say is drive safe 'bigs' (someone said in an earlier post..found it funny)

quite scared to go cruising with u...esp since its always raining in London.

weigh it down with loads of ice....lol!!

[Durgesh]

Well... to make matters worse, had a SMG failure today... Might be a relay maybe something worse, like the pump or motor, don't know yet.

Can't belive my luck.... :(

Was speaking to the BMW Tech, when they came to look at the car... he said as far as he knows.. the sport button does "back off" the DSC system a little on M3's. As well as increase throttle response.

BTW I am still on normal Pilot Sports, not the cups!

We were talking about it, and agreed, that the sport button is a no go for the wet. It put's too much throttle on, makes the rear's break traction very easily as the power is not progressive enough.

Roy.. I think this comes back to what you were telling me the other day.

Anyway... things are not too bad:

1. Everyone is OK
2. The car is OK.
3. Has warranty, so no Bill !!! Let them fix it.

Durgesh

PS Even with all this crap, have to say, I love the car!

[pete]

so sad to see her go on the low loader...but after being in it just once i have 1 thing to say...what a noise!!!!

sure it'll be back in no time digs :)

couldnt resist another pic for the collection :D

[Tin]

http://www.bm3w.co.uk/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif

hope its sorted soon dude, i wanna ride in da csl...

[peppernick]

Gutted for you bro.....but she'll be back, in full force [cool

Ask BMW to update the ECU and SMG software whilst they are at it. As you car has been kept for some time before you bought it, it's probably still running on old versions of the software.

[mysticm3]

spine chilling experience bro but glad that nothing happened...sport button does increase throttle response quite a bit maybe your right foot was just a bit too heavy, remember you got 360 ponnies under the bonnet ;) I think on the M5 the sport button increases thorttle response as well as stiffens up the suspension so I don't think it takes off any TC at all.

[Afif]

Congrats on the CSL man but :eek: on the low loader already!. Now thats serious driving :cool:. Did they give u an estimate of how long?

[Mits]

Me thinks you were driving it too hard for the weather Digs.
I never have sport button on any kind of damp/wet weather...it very easy to get the rear loose.

My smg shut down too once, turned the car off/on and it was fine, but the dealer upgraded all the software, no probs since.

[Durgesh]

Car's back, was just a bad relay.

Durgesh