anyone fitted DSC controller to 987S

[BBB]

Having tracked my Nissan 200SX, which was full caged, uprated brakes, turbo, injectors, harnesses, race seat etc etc...Toyo R888s gave the most noticeable difference, so I totally agree with you there.

Having just come in from a spirited drive, being chased by a Focus ST, understeer was my biggest limitation in the really tight bends and the Toyos would have helped a lot.

[bally4563]

13 minutes ago, phazed said:

Coincidentally, I bought my car from Mick!

Did you fit one Mick?

Sorry not to yours

[phazed]

6 hours ago, TV8 said:

Phazed is being modest about his driving ability. He was quicker than lots of them in his Skoda! 

Hi Graham. Kind words.......

[phazed]

8 minutes ago, BBB said:

Having tracked my Nissan 200SX, which was full caged, uprated brakes, turbo, injectors, harnesses, race seat etc etc...Toyo R888s gave the most noticeable difference, so I totally agree with you there.

Having just come in from a spirited drive, being chased by a Focus ST, understeer was my biggest limitation in the really tight bends and the Toyos would have helped a lot.

Quite agree. I run Toyo's on my track Skoda as well.

 

We digress. Have many people fitted this controller?

[TV8]

7 hours ago, phazed said:

Hi Graham. Kind words.......

Hi Peter, kind words are easier when it’s true. 
 

in my experience, the thing that has made my car go faster than anything was the instructor I had at Castle Combe. There were a few of us there that day and I found it a scary and slippy track at the start. By the end of the day, it was a night and day improvement and it cost me about £60. The tyres were never the same after either 😀

[Ninesomething]

Having gone from a 987 without PASM which rode at best uncomfortably to a 987 with PASM which is doubtless better I could still use a smoother ride. I live in Northamptonshire which is known for badly surfaced roads. Haven't tracked either car so can't comment but I occasionally go a bit nuts on the road. I think that PASM in normal for performance use is almost but not quite as good as non PASM. For the average bumpy B road PASM in sport is a double-edged sword - sure it nails the car to the ground in corners but if the corner is bumpy it can throw the car offline. 

Pretty sure I'm not the only person to think this or DSC wouldn't have bothered to develop and then sell thousands of their fairly expensive sport controllers. If I got a slightly more sophisticated ride in normal and could use sport mode without the bumps getting though I could probably confidently drive the car faster/safer. I suspect when Porsche signed off the car they didn't test it on the crappy roads round where I live. Conversely in Spain the road where I live has never seen frost, dips, dives, twists with even radius bends and would be perfection with PASM in sport. Which is probably why I regularly see Porsche Audi and VW test mules there.

I should mention that my car has 70k on the clock and rides on Pzeros. The old one had PS4s so maybe that's the difference. Time I throw away the pirellis which are only half worn and fit michelins all round I'm well on the way to the cost of the sport controller. 

That said I still enjoy the feeling of my front strut braces and I definitely noticed the difference when my ballybar came off while I was chasing a knocking noise. 

On a related note I don't get understeer. So long as the throttle is open when you start to turn in then the attitude of the car can be completely controlled by how much gas you give it. From neutral to oversteer is all available.

[bally4563]

2 hours ago, JonSta said:

Having gone from a 987 without PASM which rode at best uncomfortably to a 987 with PASM which is doubtless better I could still use a smoother ride. I live in Northamptonshire which is known for badly surfaced roads. Haven't tracked either car so can't comment but I occasionally go a bit nuts on the road. I think that PASM in normal for performance use is almost but not quite as good as non PASM. For the average bumpy B road PASM in sport is a double-edged sword - sure it nails the car to the ground in corners but if the corner is bumpy it can throw the car offline. 

Pretty sure I'm not the only person to think this or DSC wouldn't have bothered to develop and then sell thousands of their fairly expensive sport controllers. If I got a slightly more sophisticated ride in normal and could use sport mode without the bumps getting though I could probably confidently drive the car faster/safer. I suspect when Porsche signed off the car they didn't test it on the crappy roads round where I live. Conversely in Spain the road where I live has never seen frost, dips, dives, twists with even radius bends and would be perfection with PASM in sport. Which is probably why I regularly see Porsche Audi and VW test mules there.

I should mention that my car has 70k on the clock and rides on Pzeros. The old one had PS4s so maybe that's the difference. Time I throw away the pirellis which are only half worn and fit michelins all round I'm well on the way to the cost of the sport controller. 

That said I still enjoy the feeling of my front strut braces and I definitely noticed the difference when my ballybar came off while I was chasing a knocking noise. 

On a related note I don't get understeer. So long as the throttle is open when you start to turn in then the attitude of the car can be completely controlled by how much gas you give it. From neutral to oversteer is all available.

For a 987.1, you also have to buy another bit of kit aswell as the dsc to make it work 

[Ninesomething]

Yeah 3 axis accelerometer. Another £250. Getting to the point where it's cheaper to move to a county with smoother roads. Wherever that is.

[Menoporsche]

13 hours ago, TV8 said:

in my experience, the thing that has made my car go faster than anything was the instructor I had at Castle Combe. 

Often stated that the best value upgrade is uprating the nut behind the wheel 👍

[phazed]

Are we missing the point that this is a proper sports car.

Having driven a BMW Z4 3.0 the ride was appalling. Press the sports button and it was like having the suspension removed! Now there is a car that could benefit from the controller. The Boxster is miles better in all departments, especially the suspension!

[bally4563]

49 minutes ago, phazed said:

Are we missing the point that this is a proper sports car.

Having driven a BMW Z4 3.0 the ride was appalling. Press the sports button and it was like having the suspension removed! Now there is a car that could benefit from the controller. The Boxster is miles better in all departments, especially the suspension!

Peter, I think it’s all about how the DSC control works in relationship with the signals generated by the magnetic fluid in the shocks transmit the control and action and reaction 

[phazed]

I see your point Mick. It would be good to hear a genuine opinion from someone who has it fitted.

[bally4563]

19 hours ago, phazed said:

I see your point Mick. It would be good to hear a genuine opinion from someone who has it fitted.

@Lonewolfhad one fitted

[Lonewolfgjp]

20 hours ago, phazed said:

I see your point Mick. It would be good to hear a genuine opinion from someone who has it fitted.

I fitted one and the difference it made surprised me! I never got into any custom settings but I did buy it used so maybe it had been adjusted by the previous owner.

The difference it made was like night and day, I ended up running everywhere on all road surfaces in Sport mode. It adjusted that quickly that ride quality in Sport was excellent but firm absorbing all the imperfections in the road. The car felt very planted in the corners and giving you confidence to push on.

They are expensive but definitely worth the money, I would consider one for my  981 but I think the later  oem PASM is equivalent to the 987 PASM with the DSC.

[Jonttt]

In simple terms the OEM PASM controller do not adjust each shock independently, the DSC is a lot smarter and controllers each corner independently based on individual parameters for each shock, those parameters being fully configurable via software should you wish to adjust them. From memory the parameter ranges are also wider than the OEM controller allow.

I would never have a road Porsche without PASM, I would never have PASM without DSC 

You guys just missed out on an absolute bargain 9x7.2 DSC that went for £500 on 911UK……massively underpriced by the seller and not surprisingly sold very quickly lol

all the info you need is on their website 

https://www.dscsport.com/porsche/

Edited May 22, 2022 by Jonttt

[phazed]

My only concern would be the setting up to suit the individual and his/her requirements.

Having spent many years setting cars up with different spring rates, Dampers and valving of Dampers it is an utter minefield.
Even the experts like Nitron get it wrong. They tried to set up a set of suspension units for my TVR several times and got it all wrong. So much so that the standard springs and Dampers work better.

I understand you can adjust each corner individually but I should imagine the secret is knowing exactly what you are doing, detecting minor changes and getting the whole thing set up correctly. It would be very easy to input settings that would be detrimental to the ride.

interesting to hear from anyone who has played about and set up their own settings without excepting a pre-set up package.

[Ninesomething]

Have to admit that I just went down a road I normally take in normal with PASM in sport. The feedback it gives from the rear is quite staggering. Caught up with a bloke in a Merc who set to having a little go with me. After 3 corners he waved me past. There's one zigzag where in normal I run all the way though in second with revs to spare. In sport I hit the limiter between the two corners and had to grab third. The way you can slam it into tight bends with the steering and just plant the throttle puts a big stupid grin on your face. Couldn't have it in sport everywhere though. At 25 mph in the bumpy villages it just shakes the whole car.

If as Lonewolf and Jonttt say you can comfortably run everywhere in sport then I think I'm going to have to bite the expensive bullet at some point.

Edited May 22, 2022 by JonSta

[Lonewolfgjp]

36 minutes ago, phazed said:

My only concern would be the setting up to suit the individual and his/her requirements.

Having spent many years setting cars up with different spring rates, Dampers and valving of Dampers it is an utter minefield.
Even the experts like Nitron get it wrong. They tried to set up a set of suspension units for my TVR several times and got it all wrong. So much so that the standard springs and Dampers work better.

I understand you can adjust each corner individually but I should imagine the secret is knowing exactly what you are doing, detecting minor changes and getting the whole thing set up correctly. It would be very easy to input settings that would be detrimental to the ride.

interesting to hear from anyone who has played about and set up their own settings without excepting a pre-set up package.

Another option is to have it fitted and set up at Center Gravity, I believe that was what the original owner of mine did.

Obviously mine would of been optimised for his car which was 987.1S and mine was a 987.2S but it worked a charm.

DSC do a whole range of suspension products and I would imagine a lot of the programming of the DSC controller is to optimise their complete suspension set ups as I think it will have a lot more room for adjustment over the oem PASM 

[bally4563]

This what frightens me… I want but the price is a bit rich for me, and rarely come up secondhand 

[TV8]

These are not new cars. Personally, I wouldn’t bother changing anything above standard unless I was certain standard, as it should be, was not good enough for how it was going to be used by me. 
what happens is that people have tired bits on the car and think that the upgrade route is required without understanding if their existing set up is sub optimal for them or not. And, it’s easier justifying an upgrade purchase than a refreshed standard replacement. 

[phazed]

Good point Graham.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take my Boxster out for a good Surrey Hills countryside run with a view to paying attention to the ride and handling inbetween standard and firm modes on our very average British roads.

Brisk driving is standard mode, (PS4 tyres with plenty of tread). Ride compliant without noticeable body roll or pitching. Suspension only got upset over the odd pothole, (what car doesn't) even my old Rangie with soft air suspension does a hop over these. General ride and handling really good, excellent. By comparison, my wife's Mini Cooper shakes and jumps about over the same road and my very stiff track day Skoda, well I won't even go there!

Switched to firm and repeated the route. Everything felt tighter and if our roads were like a race track, (believe me, they have a near perfect surface) this firm setting would be fine for a bit of spirited driving.

In the real word, the standard PASM road setting is all you need on the road, even at speed, (what road drivers think is fast on the road but isn't a patch on the cornering speeds that you can achieve on track).

I never switch to firm on the road, it is only worthwhile on track, far too firm for an enjoyable ride on our roads. Why suffer when the standard setting is comfortable, compliant and still is sporty enough for anything that our roads can offer.

BTW, last week on track I forgot to switch the suspension to firm for one afternoon outing when I was really at one with the car. Same speeds, some corners at 90mph +, braking from 130 mph to about 60 mph in the shortest distance, (sticky track tyres and seat belts groaning with the strain) and tipping into bends all under control. It was only after about 15 mins that I realised that I was on the road setting! Switched to firm and yes, there was a difference as you would think but at speed, hardly chalk and cheese but still totally safe with the car always under control.

My point is that the standard suspension setting with PASM is very, very good and we shouldn't get hung up on upgrades that we don't need. My car has done 86K, I have replaced a couple of suspension components and one front damper, (leaking) but apart from that it is box standard. These cars really are the best buy for our roads.

Again, I would like to try a car with the DSC controller fitted for a back to back comparison. Any takers in the Surrey or near area? 

[zcacogp]

On 5/21/2022 at 2:19 PM, bally4563 said:

... magnetic fluid in the shocks ...

I didn't think that the 9*7 DSC-equipped cars had magnetic fluid in their shocks; I thought that the adjustment was done with variable-orifice valves. Am I wrong? 

[phazed]

 

Interesting little video slightly on topic!

[Menoporsche]

3 hours ago, zcacogp said:

I thought that the adjustment was done with variable-orifice valves.

We have a few of those on here. 

[bally4563]

I think that the real point to all this that PASM in sport mode is unusable on our roads, but the DSC makes that function work.

I would really like to invest but at the price point it’s a would like but not a total need.