Esp question

[spurswes]

I'm trying to find on the forum a topic which included a discussion about pros and cons of turning off the ESP but I can't find it.Why do some drivers turn it off?? 

[Dee_82]

its pish.

however, even if you do turn it off, its still not completely off, I believe its impossible to fully disable the system. 

If you know how to drive safely then ESP doesn't really help all that much and if its snowing you should turn it off anyway.

Personally I don't think I would  miss it if it was disabled and I cant think of a situation its been useful for me either.

[Tonis_T]

28 minutes ago, Dee_82 said:

its pish.

however, even if you do turn it off, its still not completely off, I believe its impossible to fully disable the system. 

If you know how to drive safely then ESP doesn't really help all that much and if its snowing you should turn it off anyway.

Personally I don't think I would  miss it if it was disabled and I cant think of a situation its been useful for me either.

Why would you turn it off when it's snowing? I have never switched it off during winter.

[spurswes]

I've heard from other sources it's best to turn off when snowing,something to do it's the power not going to the front wheels or something?  Anyone explain ? 

[Dee_82]

that is exactly it. The system works be monitoring the rotation of wheels in relation with the rotation of other wheels, if one is moving quicker than another the computer takes that to be slipping so it applies a small amount of brake to slow the slip and hopefully get traction or at the very least get all the wheels rotating at the same speed.

The problem in the snow and on ice is that you will be hard pushed not to spin up the wheels and in most cases, unless your a complete numpty who drives about in the snow 1st gear, that isn't a bad thing, you might need to spin up a little to be able to pick up some traction, this is mostly true when starting from a stand still.  Once moving if the system is smart enough, it can help but every time you stop and need to start, all your efforts to get going might be hampered by the system clamping down on your brake, personally I don't like it running in the snow at all but then I have modified my steering to reduce the assist a fair amount and prefer to "feel" the road.

[Micro]

6 hours ago, Dee_82 said:

that is exactly it. The system works be monitoring the rotation of wheels in relation with the rotation of other wheels, if one is moving quicker than another the computer takes that to be slipping so it applies a small amount of brake to slow the slip and hopefully get traction or at the very least get all the wheels rotating at the same speed.

The problem in the snow and on ice is that you will be hard pushed not to spin up the wheels and in most cases, unless your a complete numpty who drives about in the snow 1st gear, that isn't a bad thing, you might need to spin up a little to be able to pick up some traction, this is mostly true when starting from a stand still.  Once moving if the system is smart enough, it can help but every time you stop and need to start, all your efforts to get going might be hampered by the system clamping down on your brake, personally I don't like it running in the snow at all but then I have modified my steering to reduce the assist a fair amount and prefer to "feel" the road.

Actually in snow it might help by reducing engine power (for driving). For braking there is always the suggestion that if you lock all 4 wheels, where is the car getting it's speed signal from? Will the ESP/ABS think you're at a standstill?

I leave mine on all the time it only clunks a bit if I hit bumps or potholes on corners. Even in the snow we had last year and the couple of years before that I've never had to turn it off because it was impeding my progress. If you're setting it off in normal driving, then you're probably driving the car too hard for the conditions (snow/ice excluded).