How does BMW's DSC fair in the snow/ice?

Over Clocker

Over Clocker

Over Clocker

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Hi guys,

Last year we went away for a cottage break to the Peak District, and ended up getting snowed in for 2 days. The cottage was at top of a hill but the the driveway was downhill. My old Ford Focus couldn''t get up it at all once the snow had fallen and then become a bit compacted to ice.

We are considering going there again this year, and we'd like to go in the winter again a it's a good time for us to get away, but don't want to get snowed in again if it snows hard.

I've now got an E46 320i with DSC. Was wondering how that would fair in the same situation?

Cheers,

Mal
 
hmm,
lets say i got stuck trying to up a very small incline in my car when it snowed last year.

Although to be fair, i had summer tyres.
 
I imagine it'll be bloody useless and you'll end up turning it off and just going slow and using judgement. Then again i'm not talking first hand here, waiting for it to snow to see how the ESP on the 172 deals with it actually. Can't imagine it being that useful it'll just kill the power.
 
DSC will fair okay in the snow but won't turn your car in to offroader. For maximum possibale traction you'll want to press the DSC button once and let the automatic differential brake do some work!
 
I imagine the BMW will be even worse than the Focus due to less weiught over the driving wheels. You might encounter lots of oversteer too. RWD for the loose in snow (unless you want to have fun, then it's awesome!)
 
Pants said:
I imagine the BMW will be even worse than the Focus due to less weiught over the driving wheels. You might encounter lots of oversteer too. RWD for the loose in snow (unless you want to have fun, then it's awesome!)
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There's gonna be over 700kg over the rear wheels, and the E46 geometry pivots extra weight that is placed in the car towards the rear. The main problems will stem from wider, higher performance tyres. Pressing the DSC button once and allowing the ADB to do it's best work will yield surprisingly good snow driving results!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncE-Vk7egRo

End of this video essentially demonstrates the single-press of the E46's DSC button. Notice good snow capability!
 
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It is best switched off in the snow. If you leave it on, your car will start to reduce power when the wheels spin, you will get slower and slower, and you will stall, more so on hills. I always switched it off in the snow as I found it close to useless, though I hardly ever went out in the M3's when it snowed because they are the worse cars in the world................EVER in the snow!
 
My 330d was rubbish in the snow, too much torque with too wide tyres and the DSC made no odds on or off to how much progress I could make. I either had no power from the DSC cutting it or the merest touch of the accelerator would spin the wheels up.
 
FWD vs RWD for a start.

Also, I have had about 10 BMW's, all of them with DSC, all of them useless in the snow to a lesser or greater extent, and all of them useless with DSC on going up hill, no matter what a Youtube video with Miff Tedium might lead one to believe..
 
I'd love to take your word for it, but I distinctly remember being out in sheet ice conditions in a mates polo a few years back and barely being able to move, but being overtaken by an e39 who was having no issues whatsoever going uphill on sheet ice.
 
e39 and summer 18" in the snow is deadly :p with proper tyres though even in ice and deep snow its easy but you have to turn the asc off it said so in the manual.:)
 
Cars in general arent good in snow, and dont think that having a 4x4 will make any difference. In the end as much as different cars will be able to manouver better or worse in snow, ANY car when you apply the brakes is just going to slide unless u have snow tyres (ie spikes). If its a 4x4 thats just even more weight to slide into a wall/car/person
 
TruffleShuffle said:
Cars in general arent good in snow, and dont think that having a 4x4 will make any difference. In the end as much as different cars will be able to manouver better or worse in snow, ANY car when you apply the brakes is just going to slide unless u have snow tyres (ie spikes). If its a 4x4 thats just even more weight to slide into a wall/car/person
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sorry but this is just wrong, a subaru can go as fast in the snow as some cars can in the dry, this obviously required a fair level of driving skill though.
 
P1010578Medium.jpg


That's as far as i got in the snow last winter :/
 
Clarkey said:
sorry but this is just wrong, a subaru can go as fast in the snow as some cars can in the dry, this obviously required a fair level of driving skill though.
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On public roads and standard tyres? I doubt it very much, 4wd doesn't make any difference to the real problem, which is a lack of grip when braking.
 
Yes exactly

That's like my Pulsar. It had no problem accelerating fast in the snow, in fact it was able to climb hills with ease while other cars were sliding backwards on normal summer tyres

Unfortunately it was just as useless as all the rest when it came to braking. In fact maybe worse than some older cars as the ABS would go mental and stop the tyres from locking and therefore building up a little snow which helps slow you down.

I had some good fun in this car park doing 4WD drifts and spins :D
26.jpg
 
Clarkey said:
I'd love to take your word for it, but I distinctly remember being out in sheet ice conditions in a mates polo a few years back and barely being able to move, but being overtaken by an e39 who was having no issues whatsoever going uphill on sheet ice.
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Hey, I am asking no one to take my word for anything, I am simply telling you about my experience. If you want to take your experience as the 'way it is' without any accounting for other conditions (tyre condition, 6 tonnes of coal in't boot of the E39, a better driver than your mate), and wish to assume this is the way all BMW's work in snow, which rest assured (in my experience) it isn't, you go for it. ;)
 
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