Terry L

I recently tried a DSC box from TPC and liked it. I told Tom Chan that I'd write up my experience.
I ran the stock PASM controller for a day at the Glen, then ran the DSC unit the second day. My lap times were faster but that is likely meaningless because we are all faster on the second day with a new car on a newly paved circuit.
The difference in the feeling was that the car was more compliant, or buttoned down, but also reacted better to threshold braking. There was no dancing around, while the stock unit seemed less stable. (At NJMP Lightning, at the end of the front straight where there is both compression and bumpiness, the rear oscillation on heavy braking was shockingly bad.)
I'm not sure that the car cornered flatter but the limiting factor was always the stock tires, never the chassis.
Since the Glen, I have used the DSC box to daily drive the car. The car hates manholes, potholes, etc but that is more the short springs than the shocks. Maybe the box makes the experience a little more harsh but it's acceptable. TPC says that they can easily program it for different tracks and uses but I haven't done so yet.
I'm definitely keeping the unit. It's not cheap but it's a lot easier and less expensive than the currently available alternatives.
BTW, the car is stock except for pads and fluid. 2.5 degrees neg camber front, 1.5 rear, stock toe links. It seemed to like 36 lbs front 38 rear as hot pressures.

Alan C.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I plan to install one on my car.

usctrojanGT3

Would it work with stiffer Swift springs?

orthojoe

I need to find out because I'm about to head in that direction.

Eric5280

They claim it will and I am going to try soon.

Beantown Kman

I expect the DSC would have to be reprogrammed for different spring rates.

Alan C.

That is my Winter project.

usctrojanGT3

I know the dampers need to be adjusted for the stiffer springs so it'd be great did they could make the DSC box work with the Swift springs.

orthojoe

Dampers need to be adjusted? How? I thought the springs were within the stock usable range and no revalving was needed?

KingSize.Hamster

Love the DSC box. I really can't think of anything negative about it if one has a little over a grand to spare.

Potentially the dampers might not last as long? But who knows -- Disclaimer: not starting a rumor they this would happen, just saying if there is one possible downside then MAYBE (big maybe) this could happen. Though chances are the diff in longevity is so small anyway

cox1974

I'm waiting the dsc... I will let you know my experience...

mrd_spy

that is some high PSI in those tyres 36/38 !

Tom@TPC Racing

Terry L,

Thank you for posting your experience. We are honored that you like the DSC module. We know you have tracked a lot of cars over a lot of years, it really means a lot to us. :-)

In regard to body roll, while we can easily tune the DSC mapping to reduce the body roll by stiffening the shocks more during the initial stage of roll, but we have found a certain amount of weight transfer to produce more tire grip!

For street, we can also easily make a change in Normal mode to make the ride more compliant over pot holes for daily use. Happy to talk you(or any DSC user) through making the change or send you a map to upload. We would custom tune the sensitively to work best for the type of bumps in your daily commute.

Regards,
Tom

Beantown Kman

I met Mike Levitas at a track event this spring and spoke with him about the DSC. I may be mistaken, but as if I understood him correctly the benefit of the DSC is that it assesses what the dampers are doing and then makes adjustments much more rapidly and with greater precision than the stock PASM controller does. In effect, both units open and close the damping valves on the fly according to their respective parameters. In the case of installing springs with different rates than OEM the DSC would need to be reprogrammed to adjust for the different demands on the dampers caused by the different spring rates. This would all be done in the software.

No revalving would be needed. It is all done in the software. I'm not sure what you mean by "springs within the usable range". I would think any change in spring rates would warrant a change in the DSC parameters.

Aren't buyers of the DSC provided with the program that allows them to adjust the software themselves? I understand the program is quite complicated to use.

Tom@TPC Racing

In general, DSC will work with any brand of stiffer springs. That is with spring stiffness that is within the capability of the shocks, of course. We are a big fan of Swift spring though.


Depends on how much stiffer the springs are, of course. The standard DSC mapping "G Force table" commands the appropriate corner shock to go 100%(full stiff) when g force exceeds 0.8g in any direction(turning left, right, braking, and accelerating). Also the additive % from the DSC "Braking table" based on how much braking is pressure(measured in Bars via CAN-bus) is applied to achieve full stiff before the longitudinal g approaches 0.8g to reduce front dive/rear lift. DSC with stock shocks can easily handle up to ~500/700 lb(90/130nm) springs. However, with stiffer springs the compromise is losing some of the low end of the full dynamic range, which is fine for more track focused cars. It all in what I refer to as " Momentary Compound Stiffness Value".


Sealed shocks(dampers) need to be re-valved when stiffer springs that are installed are too stiff; beyond the control of the shock's valving. On manually-adjustable shocks that have adjustment ****, the user can turn the ****(s) to soften or stiffen the damping value for spring rate change and for tuning weight transfer management. DSC does this tuning dynamically based on the vehicle's CAN-bus data. However, if the springs are say +900 lbs, the shocks then need to be re-valved for stiffer damping for its electronic command range since the spring stiffness over powers the shock's damping capability. I don't think the OE shocks supplier(Bilstein) is offering PASM shock re-valving. Tractive DDA shocks is the logical for choice for such an application since the dynamic range is much wider than OE to begin with, and motorsport support is available.