ESP at work
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From: Ohio
2010 C300 4matic
ESP at work
There has been lots of talk in the past about how much ESP does after you turn it off. It doesn't cut throttle, but it still applies brakes. Well anyway, today at work, a mechanic had to check an E320 4matic for a wheel bearing noise to see what wheel it was coming from. So he put it up on the lift and I got in and drove the wheels so he could hear the sound.
I had ESP off and even though the throttle was not cutting out, you could feel the brakes pulsing, even through the gas pedal, because the brakes were still interrupting the power delivery trying to stop the wheels. Once it gets going, you don't notice it anymore. You could also see the difference in power delivery to the different wheels with 4matic. At idle, the rear wheels would start spinning and the fronts would hardly move. And as you accelerate, the rears were still moving faster than the fronts.
It would be interesting to try this with a C-class so you can feel the difference between ESP off and dyno mode. It's usually hard to feel the brakes working when you are on the road, but you can hear them sometimes.
Well, just thought I would share this observation.
I had ESP off and even though the throttle was not cutting out, you could feel the brakes pulsing, even through the gas pedal, because the brakes were still interrupting the power delivery trying to stop the wheels. Once it gets going, you don't notice it anymore. You could also see the difference in power delivery to the different wheels with 4matic. At idle, the rear wheels would start spinning and the fronts would hardly move. And as you accelerate, the rears were still moving faster than the fronts.
It would be interesting to try this with a C-class so you can feel the difference between ESP off and dyno mode. It's usually hard to feel the brakes working when you are on the road, but you can hear them sometimes.
Well, just thought I would share this observation.
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From: Nashua, NH
2008 VW GTI
This is no secret. It's been known that when ESP is off, there is a program running that brakes a spinning drive wheel to simulate a limited slip differential (STFF for more of Lynn's insight).
Dyno mode turns off this program. When you get throttle-happy in dyno mode, one drive wheel breaks loose and just keeps going until it gains traction on it's own. You end up doing a one-wheel burn out. I doubt this provides better acceleration times then when NOT in dyno-mode. If it did, why would they bother to include it?
AFAIK, most AWD systems do not provide a 50/50 torque split unless it's called for in a low traction situation.
Dyno mode turns off this program. When you get throttle-happy in dyno mode, one drive wheel breaks loose and just keeps going until it gains traction on it's own. You end up doing a one-wheel burn out. I doubt this provides better acceleration times then when NOT in dyno-mode. If it did, why would they bother to include it?
AFAIK, most AWD systems do not provide a 50/50 torque split unless it's called for in a low traction situation.
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From: Ohio
2010 C300 4matic
Yeah, I already knew all this stuff and other here probably do also. I just thought it was neat to see it in action. It was kinda hard to get the wheels spinning at first because the brakes were trying pretty hard to stop them. I was trying to be gentle and rev up smoothly and the brakes put up a good fight for a while. But once I got the wheels spinning, I couldn't feel the brakes anymore. I don't know if maybe they give up eventually or what? Maybe just harder to feel.
Another interesting thing I noticed, when I was first doing this, the wheels were about an inch off the ground and the speedo was reading about 35mph at 3000 rpm. Then he put the car all the way up on the lift to get underneath it. I did the same thing and this time the speedo read 10mph at 3000 rpm. I don't know why it didn't shift gears when it was higher up in the air.
Another interesting thing I noticed, when I was first doing this, the wheels were about an inch off the ground and the speedo was reading about 35mph at 3000 rpm. Then he put the car all the way up on the lift to get underneath it. I did the same thing and this time the speedo read 10mph at 3000 rpm. I don't know why it didn't shift gears when it was higher up in the air.
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From: Gaithersburg, MD
2002 C240 6-spd (ret)
I think in the past we've said that there are actually two systems, ESP (stability control) and "regular" traction control. Turning ESP off leaves the traction control component active. Traction control simply brakes a spinning drive wheel. ESP brakes the appropriate wheel(s) to stop unwanted vehicle spin (yaw).
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From: Ohio
2010 C300 4matic
Originally posted by ArPoe
So does turning the ESP off makes the car accrelates faster???
and will it damage the car???
So does turning the ESP off makes the car accrelates faster???
and will it damage the car???
In dry situations, if you know how to drive, ESP off can make you a bit faster. You might get a bit of wheelspin on the dry, especially when you shift if you are driving hard. But it won't cut the throttle at all. That hurts your momentum. So you can make it go slightly faster.
It won't damage your car, unless you slide into something.
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From: Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada
'00 ML320 Elegance/'03 C320 4-matic
Originally posted by Matt230K
[B]Yeah, I already knew all this stuff and other here probably do also. I just thought it was neat to see it in action. It was kinda hard to get the wheels spinning at first because the brakes were trying pretty hard to stop them. I was trying to be gentle and rev up smoothly and the brakes put up a good fight for a while. But once I got the wheels spinning, I couldn't feel the brakes anymore. I don't know if maybe they give up eventually or what? Maybe just harder to feel.
[B]Yeah, I already knew all this stuff and other here probably do also. I just thought it was neat to see it in action. It was kinda hard to get the wheels spinning at first because the brakes were trying pretty hard to stop them. I was trying to be gentle and rev up smoothly and the brakes put up a good fight for a while. But once I got the wheels spinning, I couldn't feel the brakes anymore. I don't know if maybe they give up eventually or what? Maybe just harder to feel.
The system - ESP/ASR/ABS/4ETS - is actually better integrated (even less noticable) on the C-class 4-matic since it's a newer version compared to the E-class's 4-matic/ESP initegration.
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