Quote:
Originally Posted by 08crd
The sujestion that the esp is so finely tuned that a 50mm lift will change its dynamic operation is bordering on ludicrous. Actually a raised vehicle, one would think, should activate the E.S.P earlier than standard hight as the vehicle would tend to laterally accelerate faster than standard. There has to be a degree of common sense when it comes to suspension modifications. The Commander is a great tow vehicle, however with the standard suspension the back end tends to sag when you put a caravan on, so by the same reasoning, that will affect the E.S.P as the vehicle geometry has changed. Therefore does that mean a vehicle with E.S.P can't tow a caravan or trailer, it may mean that you cant carry anything in the boot as the difference between the car fully loaded as opposed to empty can be upto 50mm. 
Please someone give these bureaucrats some meaningfull productive work. Maybe they could look into why headlights on loaded vehicles shine into oncomming trafic. The result may be vehicles that carry a load have to fit heavier springs to maintain the vehicle ride hight as close to normal as possible, thereby assisting the E.S.P.  |
The best thing I did to my Commander was to get rid of the OE springs and shocks and add OME springs, decent shocks, 50mm lift and wider tyres. The wider tyres aid stability and negated any change in CoG due to the lift..My Commander holds the road better and feels like I've got control on corrugated rough dirt roads etc..Than can be a bad thing??... How could these mods be dangerous when they really overcome the shortcomings of the standard vehicle??...No allowance is made in the NCOP for improvements to handling from better designed aftermarket gear.[/I].
I can vouch that the ESP has never actuated except when I've forgotten to fully disable it when in Low. I agree o8crd that you'd expect premature activation of the ESP by raising the vehicle and adding higher profile tyres but this hasn't happen...well not to me. Just goes to show how much real life testing they've done to arrive at this code.
The other thing is the while it's a national code it's up to the states how much of it they'll adopt if any so we'll probably still end up with the situation where all states are different. If they had used good reasoning and formulated the code from properly tested data, then maybe the states would adopt it all and then we'll be approaching something like a real federation but bureaucrats being what they are, it'll take some rattling of their cage to change their ideas.
What percentage of road accidents are due to modified ESC 4x4s??...I'd guess very low.
Maybe the solution is the new 2010 Grand setup with the air adjustable suspension, adjustable from 165mm to 277mm (OK LandRover has had it for years) but what then about tyres??....Anyway what's wrong with aftermarket ESP re-calibration - something like the AEV 4" lift ESC correction module??? Have they considered this option...Don't think so.
If modifying ESC 4x4's is so dangerous then why haven't the US banned it, they're the litigation capital of the world...Got me puzzled.
Trailhawk
