Thread: An Interesting illustration of Traction Control settings

So why was he in "normal" mode in the first place?

I always select an off road mode as soon as I leave the hard top; at the very least grass/gravel/snow.

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

So why was he in "normal" mode in the first place?

I think most owners do not believe the knob does anything. It took me quite awhile to get used to using it. It was not so much that I did not believe that it worked, as I just tended to forget about it. As long as the 3 stayed on the road, well all was well.

What probably got me used to using it regularly in the winter was, well I must give the credit to the HP tyres. It was positively dangerous to drive on snowy roads in normal with the HP's. When one would attempt to cross a snow ridge, the 3 would suddenly jump into the next lane.

Once I tuned myself into using the "knob", I found that not only was the gas pedal remapped, but something else was as well. The 3 became quite manageable in winter driving even on the HP tyres.

I have since discovered that with a set of real snow tyres and the ruts program dialled in, that deep snow, well the more the better. It keeps cars off the streets and leaves most domestic and off shore 4x4's following a cloud of snow.

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

So why was he in "normal" mode in the first place?

I always select an off road mode as soon as I leave the hard top; at the very least grass/gravel/snow.

I suspect that he did not know how to use his vehicle properly. I'm involved with driver education at a club level and it is quite amazing the number of people who don't know what the traction control and other settings in their vehicle do. Although you would think that if you had gone to the trouble to fit a winch you would have read the owners manual........

Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by Tote

Although you would think that if you had gone to the trouble to fit a winch you would have read the owners manual........

If you'd gone to the trouble of buying an $80k 4WD you'd think you'd read the manual as well

Could be he wasn't in low range. Rock crawl can make a differnece but that ledge doesn't look like it'll make the Disco run out of suspension travel so doubt that would be much of an issue. DSC may have been cutting in too, and it could also be the car was in Drive and had selected too high a gear for the situation. So, Rock Crawl would select a lower (perhaps better) gear, lock the ETC up quicker, force low range and reduce ESC intervention.

Could also be he finally selected the correct line!

The terrain response settings modify:

- throttle response
- auto gear shift points
- DSC sensitivity
- front/rear torque lockup
- ETC sensitvity
and more I forget. The biggest differences are grass/gravel/snow to rock crawl. Sand is also quite different.

I recently took my D3 off-road for the first time, but not after speaking with other D3 owners in the club. I was recommended to turn off DSC when off-road.
(hold down DSC button until you get a message it's off).

I also had a good play with some different terrain response settings on a 45 deg (rough guess) inclined with mix of hard mud and rock:

Low range, off-road height, std tyres.

No Terrain response - failed after 3 attempts
Set to 'Mud Ruts' - drove up first time

It was as though there was no CDL in when the terrain response is off (std setting).
I then tried something sligtly more difficult with a turn half way up and lumps/holes accross axles.

Set to 'Mud Ruts' - failed after 2 attempts
Set to 'Rock Crawl' (whilst at stuck postion) - drove out

I can't claim a different line was the reason, as I tried rock crawl from the stuck position, so it does seem to lock things up a little tighter!

Amazing what the 'knob' does!! ...but some scuffs on the alloys has left me searching for steel's and A/T's!

It seems to me that TR is for knobs.

Unfortunately, some knobs aren't even clued in for that.

Best Wishes,
Peter

Originally Posted by Tote

Last weekend we went down to the snowys and did the Deddick trail, camped at Jacksons Crossing and Native Dog and then did Cobberas Track...

Nice country 'round them parts!

How was Cobberas Track & McFarlane Flat Track? Normally they are pretty cut-up & eroded at this end of the "roads open" season. I also consider them one of the harder 'main' tracks in this eastern part of the VHC. Any sections that you considered you would have difficulty driving back up again if you had to turn around?