[Demetrius Joel]

Anyone try this out yet? I did the other day, but got a lot of tire spin. Pretty sure I messed it up. Where did I go wrong?

[SJL]

Originally Posted by Demetrius Joel

Anyone try this out yet? I did the other day, but got a lot of tire spin. Pretty sure I messed it up. Where did I go wrong?

Did u drive for a period first ? They did mention to use launch control after driving awhile . Your wheels needto be facing dead straight .

If done right, you will know it's in launch control mode when the checkered flag icon shows up at the cluster .

[Demetrius Joel]

Yeah I think it's six miles at first. Didn't get the flag though. I think I know where I went wrong. I'll give another shot today.

[BEM-S4]

I tried it yesterday as well I don't think I had the brake in all the way. When I tried it got a lot of wheel spin and the back end started pulling to the right. Given there was a guard rail ahead and we were at a red light I listened when my passenger started yelling "abort abort abort!!!" At least we got a good laugh out of it.

[Demetrius Joel]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

I tried it yesterday as well I don't think I had the brake in all the way. When I tried it got a lot of wheel spin and the back end started pulling to the right. Given there was a guard rail ahead and we were at a red light I listened when my passenger started yelling "abort abort abort!!!" At least we got a good laugh out of it.

Yeah, apparently it won't work unless all steps are done properly. Will prob be easier once we figure it out. Like anything else.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by Demetrius Joel

Yeah, apparently it won't work unless all steps are done properly. Will prob be easier once we figure it out. Like anything else.

Yeah my other launchable cars were much easier. Oh well, will keep us busy for a while.

[Diesel Rob]

Here is how you do it. It takes some practice.

1-- you must have drivin 12 miles.

2- Press Trac control button once to enable dynamic traction.

3- Slide shifter to the left into sport mode.

4- Left foot on the brake...

5- Gas pedal ALL the way to the floor beyond the normal..stop when you feel a button press at the end.....
Then you will see it activate on the dash ......>>>>>3k or so then HOLD ON!!!!!!

[five3three]

Originally Posted by Diesel Rob

Here is how you do it. It takes some practice.

1-- you must have drivin 12 miles.

2- Press Trac control button once to enable dynamic traction.

3- Slide shifter to the left into sport mode.

4- Left foot on the brake...

5- Gas pedal ALL the way to the floor beyond the normal..stop when you feel a button press at the end.....
Then you will see it activate on the dash ......>>>>>3k or so then HOLD ON!!!!!!

Agree with all your steps the only thing is that the manual states something like 6 miles, not 12.

[CBB1978]

I tried all the steps in the owner manual and it didn't work. Just spun up the rears. Went to the dealership to find out why it wasn't working. They called BMW South Africa and apparently launch control is locked until you reach 5000km's.

[plien69]

I think there's a lot of over-thinking in terms of activating Launch Control. I think there are 4 things that need to be in place for Launch Control to work:
1. Engine is warmed up. I think it's based on temp, not miles driven. I've driven less than 6 miles, but with a warmed up engine, I've still been able to use LC.
2. Sport+ mode active (more importantly, DTC active)
3. For autos, shifter moved left (so it's in sportier, yet still Auto shift, mode)
4. Accelerator pedal kick down depressed. I don't think you see the LC flag until this happens. So if you ease into the throttle thinking you'll activate LC, you won't see the flag and become confused. This is what happened to me the first few times.

Keep in mind, with the Auto, there's nothing magical happening with the transmission when you activate LC. You are just brake torquing with RPMs held at 3k (or whatever it is). So, if you don't have the brake pedal mashed HARD, you'll overwhelm the brakes and get rear wheel spin. To keep the rear wheels from spinning, press the brake pedal HARD, I mean really hard! You're trying to keep 332 lbs/ft in check.

[golf_234]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

I tried it yesterday as well I don't think I had the brake in all the way. When I tried it got a lot of wheel spin and the back end started pulling to the right. Given there was a guard rail ahead and we were at a red light I listened when my passenger started yelling "abort abort abort!!!" At least we got a good laugh out of it.

Lol

[pikcachu]

Originally Posted by plien69

I think there's a lot of over-thinking in terms of activating Launch Control. I think there are 4 things that need to be in place for Launch Control to work:
1. Engine is warmed up. I think it's based on temp, not miles driven. I've driven less than 6 miles, but with a warmed up engine, I've still been able to use LC.
2. Sport+ mode active (more importantly, DTC active)
3. For autos, shifter moved left (so it's in sportier, yet still Auto shift, mode)
4. Accelerator pedal kick down depressed. I don't think you see the LC flag until this happens. So if you ease into the throttle thinking you'll activate LC, you won't see the flag and become confused. This is what happened to me the first few times.

Keep in mind, with the Auto, there's nothing magical happening with the transmission when you activate LC. You are just brake torquing with RPMs held at 3k (or whatever it is). So, if you don't have the brake pedal mashed HARD, you'll overwhelm the brakes and get rear wheel spin. To keep the rear wheels from spinning, press the brake pedal HARD, I mean really hard! You're trying to keep 332 lbs/ft in check.

I don't think sport+ is required... just DTC on and shifter to the left

[jbenington86]

Originally Posted by pikcachu

I don't think sport+ is required... just DTC on and shifter to the left

So you are going to launch in what? Eco mode? Why wouldn't you use sport+? You are launching the car after all.

[plien69]

Originally Posted by jbenington86

So you are going to launch in what? Eco mode? Why wouldn't you use sport+? You are launching the car after all.

Launching in Eco Pro would make no sense, but I did do a launch in Comfort mode today.

The shifter has been moved left into Sport shift mode, so you'll have the same, more aggressive shift points as Sport+.

You'll have the throttle mashed, so the different throttle mappings don't come into play; you're at 100% either way.

The only remaining difference would be the shock damping. You could make the argument that with the less aggressive shock damping, there would be more rearward weight shift under hard acceleration, giving better traction at the rear wheels and thus better launch performance. I don't know if that's true or not, but you could make the argument.

[pikcachu]

Originally Posted by jbenington86

So you are going to launch in what? Eco mode? Why wouldn't you use sport+? You are launching the car after all.

Comfort

[3.0L]

I seem to recall a major car magazine stating that they observed their best 0 to 60 times without using Launch Control.

Or perhaps it was Lunch Control.

[hyperzulu]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I seem to recall a major car magazine stating that they observed their best 0 to 60 times without using Launch Control.

Or perhaps it was Lunch Control.

Launch control is meant to give consistent launch while minimizing wheelspin in an intelligent manner. It will reduce throttle during the initial wheelspin until the tires lock up. If you test the limits of the chassis several times to figure throttle position best suitable to a good launch, it's going to give you better times. You're anticipating how much power the chassis can put down at launch and not correcting wheelspin after it happens. You can also shift at better times to take advantage of the powerband, whereas launch control redlines before upshift, which has exhausted the torque available from the engine.

(Disclaimer: this is how it works on my 335is... may be different on the M235i)

[valentinbmw]

It would be great if someone could make a video doing it, that would help a lot...

[pikcachu]

time to practice some german

[valentinbmw]

Originally Posted by pikcachu

time to practice some german

Thanks pikcachu, but i've seen that video many times, as a matter of fact it is also in english, but many of the things are not explained in this video, like you have to put your foot hard on the brakes and the motor needs to be warmed up, it is diferent if some of us could make a video, besides it is kind of hard to try it on the street, well i am going to the track next saturday and i am going to give it my best try, i let you guys know how it went...

[pikcachu]

looks like you need at least 5000km on your car also

http://www.2addicts.com/forums/showp...95&postcount=9

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by jbenington86

So you are going to launch in what? Eco mode? Why wouldn't you use sport+? You are launching the car after all.

For a wheel spin controlled launch you want the computer to have some control over throttle, because as it senses wheel spin it will then control the throttle in order to maintain power while also controlling wheel spin.

This can only happen when the computer is set to "DTC" - dynamic traction control. Dymanic mode allows for some wheel spin but will still intervene if the wheel spin gets beyond a certain threshold.
I can see why LC requires the system be set to DTC, for the reasons above.

I think what he was saying is that you don't have to use sport+ mode to do a launch.
You can be in comfort or sport mode and then activate DTC by pushing once on the DSC button, which activates DTC.

Sport+ automatically turns on DTC, and sets the AT to sport mode.
I don't have launch control on my 335i Msport, but I can easily do a launch, and I mostly use Sport+ when I do as it sets everything for best performance with one button push.