Bardman

I was wondering whether anyone has any recent experience with the DSC module and street driving:

I found a few posts here:

https://rennlist.com/forums/gt4/8935...dsc-sport.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/gt4/8952...sc-module.html

But these are getting on a bit.

Where I am currently temporarily located, the roads are really bad, and the feedback on the above links seems to suggest that the DSC module can help smooth out some of the bumps.

Does anyone have any experience with it?

Does it really help to smooth out bumpy roads?

Are there multiple modes you can switch it to (I assume you use the PASM button to control it)?

Is there any reason why you would not recommend getting one? (does the car lose some 'feel'?)

Appreciate any constructive input anyone has.

Bardman

I had forgotten about the DSC unit, and was reminded by this article. Interesting read:

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/03...c-carpet-ride/

Alpha.GT4

No idea if the above link is a paid advertisement.

my personal experience with DSC is nothing short of impressive. It's a great unit. I live in Hong Kong, where some parts of the city has pretty crappy pavements. The DSC certainly is a good mod (for me at least)

DSC Sport

I'll answer the questions I can answer without too much bias...

Smooth out bumpy roads?
DSC Sport greatly improves road compliance. I won't say much more, because obviously I'm very bias and this will be better answered by a third party. But yes, that is part of DSC Sport's design.

Multiple modes? Mode switching?
Yes and yes. There are two modes for the Porsche vehicles, and you switch them just like you would switch PASM modes as it comes from the factory.

Glad you're enjoying the DSC! No, this was not paid. We had a media track test day in May of '16 where we invited a small group of journalists/automotive personalities. Randy Pobst and Matt Farah were the big names and came from afar. Jonathan of ARS fortunately lives in the area, so he came on his own accord and gave his honest review.

PistolPete

I was fortunate enough to be at the event mentioned in the article with my stock GT4. I can say that as a passenger with Randy wheeling both GT4's back to back, the DSC module made a huge difference in smoothing out the asphalt of Summit Point.

Unfortunately between the limited time we had on track (due to the entire morning being washed out with rain) and me being loopy after one too many hot laps with Randy, I was not able to personally try the DSC car that day.

Maybe we can fix that this year?

Here are some more photos from that day last year.

https://rennlist.com/forums/gt4/9348...pc-racing.html

cox1974

for my experience a little bit better on our (very bad) roads....:-)

DrPhil Gandini

I am a poor judge, but I have been running the DSC unit for over 6 months now. I found the change from the OEM PASM settings to be small, and nuanced. I do not track my car, but commute to work and drive a lot of high country tours. (Over 15000 miles in 15 months.) The DSC has two modes, with Sport off and Sport on. There is a clear difference, and each is best for different conditions. I run it off to commute, and for fast freeway driving. It does seem to offer smoother ride, but I don't find it all that much better than the stock PASM in off mode. I run it ON for high country twistees, and it really glues the car to the road. Again, it's more of what the car does when stock.
I can imagine the controlled conditions of the race track would allow some drivers to really feel the differences between stock and DSC.
I also can't resist messing with my cars, and so modify them with almost all the bolt on goodies. The DSC is amongst the easiest mods to perform as it's plug and play.

jmartpr

I recently upgraded to rear TPC toe links and the DSC loaded with their specific map for the toe links. Next weekend will be the first track day with the mods but already I have noticed a difference on the street. The car is way smoother and reacts great to changes in direction, braking, etc. But don't take the smoother description as less performance....the DSC is full active and will react and adjust the suspension based on road and driving conditions. The Sport Suspension mode On / Off just makes the system more aggressive on the tuning and how it reacts.....IMO it's a worthy mod for the GT4 and can be done in 10-15 minutes plus it's fully reversible.


BTW...according to Tom at TPC PAG did leaved a bit on the table on the PASM tuning of the GT4 vs GT3.....Maybe Tom can elaborate on this.

MagicRat

Had my DSC 911 out tonight and it was simply glued to the road in all the turns. I'd say if you only do one mod do that one, though I have not tried it on the 981 platform of course...

Bardman

Great feedback everyone, thank you.

For the installation, I assume you have to remove the engine cover?

A follow up question to this. As I don't track the car, I guess I am looking for a "bumpy road" mode similar to what Ferrari has for its cars.

Ie without the PASM light on, the car would be the same or similar to the stock ride without the PASM light on. In 'bumpy road' mode (ie you push the PASM button on), it would offer a more compliant ride over poor surfaces (ie it goes softer rather than harder).

Does that make sense? Is this possible?

jmartpr

Nope...the PASM module is on the rear right corner. YOu take out that corner cover and pull back the carpet...you will see the module there with a 10 mm nut holding it in place.....there's a you tube video that shows the whole procedure.


As for the modes, DSC or Tom could probably add more as I'm no expert on this but you don't have a "mode" that's just soft for the road......the DSC will be calibrated with parameter that will have far greater range of adjustability that the OEM unit using every available sensor for input of what the driver is doing and the road conditions. So you are cruising at 60-65 mph straight and the DSC knows to offer a more comfortable ride but if all of a sudden you take a ramp and push it a bit it senses all of this and adjust accordingly which the stock OEM unit had a far greater limitation on adjustability on the fly....the difference between Normal Chassis and Sport Chassis mode is basically the aggressiveness on the adjustments.


You could also play with the setups using DSC software but I would leave that for the experts as there are too many variables involved and you could end up with a bad handling/dangerous car.

Tom@TPC Racing

No sir. The installation can be done in under 5 minutes. Here's a youtube video link of the installation-


DSC stands for Dynamic Suspension Control, it is a load dependent system. DSC reads the load while you are driving and actively adjusts the damping force of suspension individually for each corner of the car. The "load" is the amount of g-force, the direction of g-force, braking activity and suspension movement velocity. The more spirited you drive the more g-force is generated, as a result, DSC stiffens the suspension relative to the amount of g-force. DSC includes a base program(we call it the map) that was developed from hundred of hours of real world testing. This program is fully adjustable by the user to specific personal preferences and road conditions via DSC Windows-based software and support is provided for any adjustment.

DSC Normal mode has command range of 10% to 100% damping force. DSC Sport mode has command range of 15% to 100% damping force, and the rate of which stiffness ramps up is more progressive in DSC Sport mode than DSC normal mode. Also DSC Sport mode is react more sensitive to changing load. The damping % range is also programmable by the user. But our standard program is very good.

For comparison, the two OEM PASM modes are far less active in the way that each mode has a command range of only around 10%. And each mode is active to only lateral g force. Whereas DSC reads and reacts to lateral, vertical, and longitudinal g force to superior damping over bumps and dips. And DSC uses the car's ride height sensors to read the amount of suspension movement(travel) and speed of the movement to determine sharpness of bumps and amount of compression from cornering. Damping force is addes or subtracted based on these movements. These are all loads that DSC reads and actively adjusts for.

There are no shortage of positive experience here on rennlist and other forums. Just do a search and you'll find hundreds...or more.

In your case, to optimize road comfort, put on a DSC on and set front sway bar to full soft to decrease roll stiffness. The factory front sway bar setting is middle out of three holes.

thigos

Thanks for the explanation Tom. I am still a bit confused as to the difference between dsc and pasm. Can you explain the percentages some more. Pasm can only get up to 10% stiffer whereas dsc can be up to 100% stiffer to compensate for a load? Seems like a huge difference. What am I missing?

Also, Pasm doesn't help/compensate for squat and dive,but only for lateral loads? Is that right?

thx

gregp714

How does this affect the warranty? Similar to other mods?

Bardman

Thanks - the install does look easy.

So increased damping force applied means stiffer suspension = bumpier ride (assuming all else is equal)?

If DSC in normal mode is 10% - 100% damping force, what is PASM in normal mode? You mention 10% range, but is that 0% - 10%, or some other range that covers 10%?

Thanks in advance for your answers.