Turn off ESP --> Smoother Shifting

[mcster]

I always turn off ESP when driving now .. more fun and smoother shifting. Anyone else do the same? Is there a way to reverse so it's off by default, and you can enable by pushing the button?

[JB_ImolaS4]

I do the same. It seriously kills throttle, esp if you're dropping the hammer to merge onto a busy highway. Of course, some of my friends give me a hard time about turning it off even on a dry day. Don't see why it's a big deal since the car has awd...

[richib86]

on these cars i see it solely as a luxury not a necessity... but thats just me... and i suppose you both aswell haha

[CHECKERED]

Agree…They shouldn’t call it “Traction Control”…they should call it “Fun Control”

[JMG]

esp sucks especially on shitty roads. I always feel like the car is going to die when I turn onto this shitty road near work in 2nd gear.

[Storm33]

Wow - thanks for this post!!! I had no idea...

I turned it off yesterday for the first time and was shocked at the difference it makes!

[brianmfournier]

There is a module from KP technologies that you can use. I had one when I used to own my G35. It keeps any push button in your vehicle on or off all of the time, you just have to find somewhere to mount it. Click "products" at the top, then "traction control"
http://www.kptechnologies.com/

[shocker514]

ESP sucks in the dry. It's not important and does take away from fun. I was at a light when a 550i pulled up. Tried to take off and then the esp gets tripped.. bullshit. Anyway, that car is quick. I have a b6 s4 and was a car length behind at all times. Not bad I guess

[mystro]

I am going to turn it off more. I tend to forget to turn it off. Your right,..I have had alot of older quattro Audis that didnt have esp and I never had any control issues. ESP is a modern day crutch.

[Undisputed]

I thought that it was only actively doing something when the icon flashed on the dash?

[nimski62]

I thought that it was only actively doing something when the icon flashed on the dash?

x2

[ZachPDX]

I thought that it was only actively doing something when the icon flashed on the dash?

x3?

[Stormin]

No, the system is alway there... It's actively cutting the power and applying the brakes when the light is flashing.

[Undisputed]

But unless the light flashes, the car acts the same as if the system was turned off correct? I'm just trying to make sure that when the light is off, the car doesn't react to anything any differently.
The system is only intervening when the light is actually flashing. So unless you drive hard enough to trip the system all the time, turning it off won't really make a difference.
Is this correct?

[ant7701]

^^^....yep....so I dont understand the point of this thread???

i mean if you drive your car hard to the point that your activating the system all the time.....then ok I understand why you would just turn it off. But for the most of us that drive normally or somewhat hard but never engage the ESP....then its useless.

[earhythmic]

I used to roll around with my ESP off in my old B5...

until one fateful night

I was getting on the freeway one night and some douche bag suddenly decides that he needs to take the next exit. Well he's 3 lanes over, and the exit is coming up REALLY fast. So he zooms over, cutting me off, and I assumed he was going to make the exit just fine. Well for whatever reason he didnt get all the way over, and almost ran into the exit sign, so he swerved back into my lane at a sharp angle. I'm going about 65-70mph now, and he did this about 10 feet in front of me, so i made an aggressive hard left turn to avoid him (I BARELY missed him) but in doing that, my back end pops out and I'm sliding sideways down the freeway and eventually nose first into a wall. The guy of course backs up to take his exit, and no body pulls over to see if I'm fine.

moral of the story: I have a feeling that if I had my ESP on it would've prevented the loss of control. Since that happened, I always leave my ESP on when driving on public roads, because you never know what's going to happen, no matter how safe you're being.

[Undisputed]

Very true.

[ngng]

I used to roll around with my ESP off in my old B5...

until one fateful night

I was getting on the freeway one night and some douche bag suddenly decides that he needs to take the next exit. Well he's 3 lanes over, and the exit is coming up REALLY fast. So he zooms over, cutting me off, and I assumed he was going to make the exit just fine. Well for whatever reason he didnt get all the way over, and almost ran into the exit sign, so he swerved back into my lane at a sharp angle. I'm going about 65-70mph now, and he did this about 10 feet in front of me, so i made an aggressive hard left turn to avoid him (I BARELY missed him) but in doing that, my back end pops out and I'm sliding sideways down the freeway and eventually nose first into a wall. The guy of course backs up to take his exit, and no body pulls over to see if I'm fine.

moral of the story: I have a feeling that if I had my ESP on it would've prevented the loss of control. Since that happened, I always leave my ESP on when driving on public roads, because you never know what's going to happen, no matter how safe you're being.

esp is not going to save you from that

[Undisputed]

A photon cannon would've helped though.

[ieatfishburitos]

I wouldn't expect that the light has to be on for it to be functioning. You have to understand that the electronics in the esp are actively monitoring power and subtly applying the brakes. It is looking at things 10000's of times per second and I'll bet that it may make adjustments that do not turn on the light. I notice if I really do something that creates wheel spin for more than 1 second that the light comes on, but that doesn't mean the light comes on every time it makes an adjustment.

I guess my point would be better defined by stating that if the car slowed down the throttle response for .1 seconds that may not be sufficient time for the light circuitry to come on and start flashing. Guess we would have to see the schematic for the esp light.

[earhythmic]

esp is not going to save you from that

why not? I was under the impression that once the computer detects loss of traction it determines where you want the car to go by measuring speed and the angle of the steering wheel, and applies brakes to the correct wheel to straighten out the car.

flame protection: I'm asking that in the most un-asshole way possible. I just want to know a little more about it and what it's actually useful for.

[b spot]

esp is not going to save you from that

It absolutely would have saved him from that.

Find a road where you can play around safely when it's icy. Go about 60-80km/h and throw the rear end out by turning one way gently then quickly counter steering. You're rear will start to slide out, and as soon as the ESP light kicks on, it will suck it back in. I was amazed the first time I tried this. It works really, really well.

[ngng]

It absolutely would have saved him from that.

Find a road where you can play around safely when it's icy. Go about 60-80km/h and throw the rear end out by turning one way gently then quickly counter steering. You're rear will start to slide out, and as soon as the ESP light kicks on, it will suck it back in. I was amazed the first time I tried this. It works really, really well.

i've done it numerous times. we do have mountain here ;) esp will help, but it wont save you.

[ghoonk]

Not all the time, but at least it gives you a chance to avoid the accident.

[mcster]

^^^....yep....so I dont understand the point of this thread???

i mean if you drive your car hard to the point that your activating the system all the time.....then ok I understand why you would just turn it off. But for the most of us that drive normally or somewhat hard but never engage the ESP....then its useless.

The car responds differently to agressive driving with ESP off, even when the light does not come on.

[littleredwagen]

all i know is that i turn my off everytime i get inthe car

[turbo4s]

yeah i dont understand this thread at all either. The car does not react differently with it off if im just driving normal. The only time i turn it off is if im banking turns to get the ass end out or to have fun in the snow. think what u want but unless that light is blinking its just thinking and not interveining.

[beung]

Is the Audi's ESP two staged?

As in, if you press the ESP button it turns the traction control off but if you hold the button for like 3 sec it turnd both the traction control and stability control off as well or is that only a feature of the RS4?

I would suspect that with the ESP on, even though you may be on prefect dry and sticky conditions the car doesn't know that until you give it some input. So maybe when you press the gas pedal there still are some calculations that are made before the FBW system actually opens up the throttle on the engine.

[Glassnpowder98]

I am not sure if the a4 and s4 ESP systems are the same, but a few weeks ago I had an instance with the ESP in the rain. I came into an on ramp a little too quick and the back end came out pretty far. I let off the gas and the steered to correct. Once I got the situation under control for the most part I jumped on the gas to keep the slide going (you know, to make a scary situation look like I had planned it...). At this point the ESP kicked in shutting down the engine and immediately straightening me out. Point being, the ESP did not do anything to help my slide until I tried to give it gas. I'm guessing if I had stability control (which I think only RS4's come with) it would have kicked in right when the back end slide out?

[beung]

I am pretty sure that ESP has traction control and stability control, according to the Audi site anyways....unless I am interpreting it wrong.

ESP
The electronic stabilization program (ESP) is designed for a decidedly sporty feel. The program uses a combination of the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), the Electronic Differential Lock (EDL) and the traction control (ASR) system, to help make the S4 easier to control in handling situations close to the limit.

Electronic Stabilization Program
The ESP 8.0 electronic stabilization program has specific RS 4 settings and its own parameters for even sportier road dynamics. The program uses a combination of the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), the Electronic Differential Lock (EDL), an innovative brake disc drying function and the traction control (ASR) system, to help make the RS 4 easier to control in handling situation close to the limit.

I am sure that the RS4's program might be a little more forgiving but I don't think the systems are any different.

[whartung]

^^ nice internet detective work

I've been driving with the ESP on and off a bunch these past few days and I can't say that I notice any difference under everyday circumstances...

[[email protected]]

AFAIK ESP is always on.

When you push the button it will 'desensitize' it but ESP is always active in some form.

The only time ESP does not work is when your shifter is in Neutral.. found that out after a mis-shift at the track.

[S4DTM]

I am pretty sure that ESP has traction control and stability control, according to the Audi site anyways....unless I am interpreting it wrong.



I am sure that the RS4's program might be a little more forgiving but I don't think the systems are any different.

I too used to turn ESP off for the change in throttle response; however, it's not really that big of a difference. If you are taking off hard (i.e. dropping the clutch) then the ESP will inhibit you from doing that because if the car feels the tires start to lose traction, it corrects (which is why the throttle response can be a bit rougher with ESP on). To answer the RS4 question, the ESP is exactly the same. I've driven both cars to the point of the light constantly flashing on and off, so I know from experience the feel of the ESP. I know drive with it ON all the time because I have seen what it really can do. If you want to drive the car really hard on the backroads and still be in control, leave it one, trust me. If you're just lookin to race from the line, sure turn it off for a bit, but I still don't suggest it. ESP trueliy is an amazing piece of programming, understanding where each tire is unbalanced and correcting for it. It takes AWD to a whole new level and I can pretty much guarantee that since I don't think anyone here is a "professional," if you drive with it off and you drive hard, eventually you'll end up in the ditch.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

AFAIK ESP is always on.

When you push the button it will 'desensitize' it but ESP is always active in some form.

Except for the B7 RS4 and C6 RS6. Press the button briefly, and the warning light in the dash slowly flashes - this means that the traction control is fully turned off, but the ESP is still on. Press and hold the button for more than 3 seconds (only works when the car is stationary), and the ESP (along with the TC) is fully turned off. The normal Audi A and S models don't do this.

[sakimano]

same here. Someone call Mythbusters

^^ nice internet detective work

I've been driving with the ESP on and off a bunch these past few days and I can't say that I notice any difference under everyday circumstances...

[sakimano]

It's not exactly the same...RS4 has 2 stages

S4 is on or off...and even 'off' is still a little bit on.

RS4 is on, off (like s4) or COMPLETELY off...you have to hold down the button for a few seconds before it kicks into COMPLETELY off mode.

Not sure the difference between off and completely off, but I'd like to know. I've tried this on the S4 (holding it down) but it doesn't do anything.

To answer the RS4 question, the ESP is exactly the same. I've driven both cars to the point of the light constantly flashing on and off, so I know from experience the feel of the ESP.

[eneq]

Fuse #42 if im not mistaken, could hook in a switch to the line.

[pogiFRESH]

Except for the B7 RS4 and C6 RS6. Press the button briefly, and the warning light in the dash slowly flashes - this means that the traction control is fully turned off, but the ESP is still on. Press and hold the button for more than 3 seconds (only works when the car is stationary), and the ESP (along with the TC) is fully turned off. The normal Audi A and S models don't do this.

i think there may be a way to fully turn it off, everything is able to go off and on for testing, the same way that you can turn off the traction control in a c55 amg fully off by a specific combinations of on and off while the ignition is on accessory. anybody know a audi tech? i bet they know how to turn off esp fully.. haha

[Teutonic_Tamer]

It's not exactly the same...RS4 has 2 stages

S4 is on or off...and even 'off' is still a little bit on.

RS4 is on, off (like s4) or COMPLETELY off...you have to hold down the button for a few seconds before it kicks into COMPLETELY off mode.

Erm . . . didn't I sort of state that just two posts earlier, in reply #34?


And for the record, the B7 RS4 (along with the C6 RS6) has a three-stage ESP, and is NOT "is on, off, or COMPLETELY off" - but actually:

• ESP button not touched & warning light off - all electronic functions (ABS, EBD, HBA, ASR, EDL & ESP) fully on,
• ESP button briefly pressed & warning light slow flashing - all electronic functions fully on - apart from ASR (traction control) fully disabled and ESP modified with increased slip,
• ESP button briefly pressed & held for 3 seconds whilst stationary & warning light permanently on - all electronic functions fully on - apart from ASR (traction control), EDL and ESP fully disabled. The "brakes" parts of ESP can not be disabled

Not sure the difference between off and completely off, but I'd like to know. I've tried this on the S4 (holding it down) but it doesn't do anything.

Because you can not defeat the ESP on modern A and S Audis.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Fuse #42 if im not mistaken, could hook in a switch to the line.

That is a bit irresponsible - because it that fuse does disable the ESP, then it will also disable the ABS and EBD functions of the brakes too!