Last night about 10pm i was heading down I-75 in the really severe rain we were having, was going about 65mph, hit and overpass and car starting to hydroplane, then it suddenly wipped a 90 degree, angle so now im sliding down the overpass sideways facing the wall, my bumper maybe 6 inches from the guard rail. As soon as i hit the normal interstate pavement again my car rotates 90 degrees so now im sliding backwards, i proceed to skid into the median, rotate a few more times and come to a stop facing the same direction i originally was, car has stalled.

I sit a few and collect myself and make a few phonecalls and then try to start my car, sputters for a sec then fires right up, i limp it to a rest area that was in sight distance and impect the car, idles ok, no funny noises, drives fine, however my car looks like a botanical garden, and my undercarriage is a little beat up, by underbody panel is drooping and my front diffuser is partially ripped off. So i drove home, took a xanax and passed out, going to jack it up now to survey the damage.

And i had just given the car the full Menzerna treatment earlier in the week

Please be careful during our rainy season everyone!

~Ryan

 

Glad to hear that you're ok. Were you on stock tires?

 

Sorry to hear about the damage bro but at least you came out okay. That's what matters the most. Hope everything works out for you. Take it easy...

 

... What direction on 75? I just got done telling my girlfriend about the guy who spun out behind me on 75. Unless another Z did the samething on 75 at 10 p.m. last night I guess it was you that I saw. I am glad to hear you are o.k. That looked like it coulda been worse

 

yeah the rain is dangerous - for any car really. You never know how your car is gonna react.

here in AZ, people drive stupid in the rain all the time becasue it hardly rains here. I think they equate the wet road to when they were kids sliding on the slip and slide and think weeeeee let's have some fun and try driving crazy.

 

Stock tires?

 

No, i was on Nismo Wheel with Nitto 555's on the car, they are a little worn, but not time for new ones yet. Well luckily the car is just fine, tore up my under panel and the front diffuser a little, but nothing a few replacement clips and some pop-rivets couldnt fix. This was on I-75 heading North between Brookseville and Webster exits.

 

aint it the truth

 

Were you driving with VDC off in the rain?

Track model has VDC right?

 

and it took a "near death experience" to realize this?

 

I've seen a number of threads about the Z hydroplaning and it's clear to me that it has a greater tendency to hydroplane than other cars.

I hydroplaned at 65 mph in rain sending me into the center divider. I will never go faster than 55 mph in the rain with the Z again. VDC is useless in a hydroplane. I realized when I was off by 45 to 90 degrees, there was nothing I could do and I was just a passenger going for a ride. And, the hydroplane happens so quickly that I couldn't react fact enough to do anything. Forget steering into it when you're travelling at that speed, you don't have time before you're off scew. I didn't hit the brakes, something you're not supposed to do but that didn't matter. I did hit the brakes by the time I was 90 degrees and that didn't do anything either.

You're lucky, your damage doesn't sound nearly as bad as what many of us have experienced.

 

well VDC might prevent getting into a full out spin in the first place unless the water on the road really is so thick that it doesn't matter

once you start spinning and have some momentum, I don't think VDC or anything will save your car from acting like a surf board

 

Hmm, maybe its worth it to get tires that perform better in the rain even in Socal, where rain is not all that common...

I usually try to stay off the freeways whenever possible in LA when it rains... people drive too wrecklessly. Like people tailgating me in the rain... WTF?! Tailgating on dry pavement is bad enough.

I was also kinda hoping that VDC would be my trump card for wet weather... =\

 

I'm in no way flaming you, as I'm sure you've learned everything you need to from your experience, but what made you think your car would NOT hydroplane at 65 MPH in heavy rains (which is a nice way of saying standing water)? Yours is not by any stretch the first post I've read where people expect this car to stay stuck to the ground at highway speeds with standing water on the roads and I just don't get it. I wouldn't take my Lincoln Navigator at those speeds if the roads were that wet.

If you do the math, the car weighs in at, say 3400 lbs w/ driver. Divide that by four and each tire only has to lift 850 lbs up onto that surface....I'm sure if you broke it down further into how much weight that is per square inch of contact patch, it would be even more clear.

In any case, I'm really glad you're ok and that your car came out with only minor damage. It would suck big time to lose someone to something so senseless as driving too fast in the rain.

 

I still have a nightmare once in a while from a similar experience. Twenty something years ago I had a brand new RX7 (I know, I know, I coulda had a Z). I was leaving Buffalo, NY in January going east and it was raining, tempurature in the 30s.

I don't remember what highway it was but I DO remember that there were hardy ever any places on the right that wasn't either a big rock face or huge drop off a cliff. Always a guard rail but still, no where to go.

Got on the highway, got up to 70 or so and turned on the cruise. (cruise not nearly as common back then) Nobody on the road except a caddy I just passed when I start spinning. Total loss of control and maybe a little panic. I over corrected a couple times and then pushed in the clutch, slammed on the brakes and waited for the crash.

Suddenly, there was no noise and I KNEW that I had to be airbourne going off one of those cliffs. After 3-4 seconds I just open one eye because I'm not really sure if I wanna watch.

I'm stopped, backwards on the side of the road in the grass, not a scratch. I couldn't believe it. I somehow found one of those rare places where there was a place to go off the road. I had to wait a while to stop shaking to drive.

There was grass clumps stuck between the wheels and the tires and the damn car never tracked well after that.

No more cruise control for me when the road is wet since.

 

That is one of the scariest things I've read in a longtime because you can visualize yourself in that situation. The three or four seconds must have seemed like an eternity.

 

I had VDC on and it didnt do a damn thing, it was definately a learning experience and am thankful my car and myself came out virtually unscathed. Im young (20) so havent really had the experience in these situations, i admit i was going a little fast for the situation but i usually drive in the rain at 55-60 on the interstate w/o issue so i figured 65 wouldnt hurt, guess i was wrong. thanks for your sympathy everyone and i think im going to invest in some good wet performance tires.


On a side note this experience is definately a testament to the strength of Ray's Engineering wheels, it was one hell of a rough ride in the median and they came out un-bent and not a scratch on them.

 

65 MPH and rain don't mix. SLOW DOWN! Rear Drives will also fish tail into 90's and 360's. You have to know your rides limitations. Doesn't matter what you drive. Been there did it. Drive accordingly to weather conditions, live long and enjoy.

 

valuable, potentially life-saving thread.
doesn't fla have the nation's worse roads?

 

it's because of the low profile tires... period.. not cuz of the 350z... etc.. I had an IS300 with RE040 protenza's and because of these summer tires.. rain is definitly not a friend..