Subbacultcha

I was lightly-to-moderately accelerating out of a u-turn when my back end starting sliding out. What a weird feeling that was. I've never had a rwd car before so it was new experience for me. I immediately let go of the gas and the car straighten out. Is this normal? Is it really that easy to get the car tail-sliding? I have a touring with VDC/TCS, but I had my eyes on the road so I didn't have a chance to see if it was kicking in or not.

zand02max

iTrader: (22)

I have had mine almost 4 months and mine has yet to touch the rain.

From what I have read, those OEM tires suck in the rain and def. the snow. be careful out there

bobS

YEa thats normal. I don't know how good the traction control is on the z (don't have one yet) but with my bmw the traction control would cut the rpms as soon as the rear slipped so it was real hard to lose control. Just turn into the direction u are sliding if u start to slide. Go to an empty parking lot and practice, it gets fun after a while.

AndyB

Yes, this is normal. RWD cars, particularly those with limited slip differentials, tend to fishtail when the rear tire break loose to to acceleration. It can freak you out at first, but it is not really so bad.

(I wouldn't expect it to happen as much with VDC/TCS, but that is a whole other topic)

You will get used to it. You did the right thing, if you let up on the gas (not too fast) you can usually re-gain the rear grip and straighten it out. Try to let off the gas smoothly. If you lift your foot too fast you might cause a slip due to deceleration of the rear wheels.

If the fishtail is significant you might also want to coutersteer.

Since this is your first RWD car I highly recommend playing with fishtailing. Find a wet parking (lot with no light poles), or better yet a lot with a little bit of snow. Turn off the TCS/VDC, and then play with it. Practice countersteering to get a feel for it. Not only is this good practice it is a hell of a lot of fun.

(You could also practice on a loose/sandy surface, but that can be rough on the paint)

I have found most cops are ok with this. If the lot is empty and you are not going TOO fast they may be cool. Twice I have been stopped. I said "Yeah, the car is new to me and I am trying to get a feel for how to recover if it slip out in bad weather." Both times they told me to leave since it was a private lot, but they were cool about it and there was no ticket. I think they respect the fact that someone is trying to become a better driver to avoid accidents.

You should practice until counter steering is automatic in a slide. This simple skill could save your life in a bad situation. But... you need it to be automatic because you don't have much time to think about it. When I fishtail I find I am already counter steering by the time my conscious brain knows there is a slip in progress.

By the way, fishtailing is probably one reason (along with cost) that on almost all RWD cars the limited slip is optional or not on the base model. It probably reduces liability if you actually had to order that option (or model with that option) since then it was YOUR choice to have it. (even the base Z doesn't have it.)

One a car with an open rear diff, only one wheel will spin and the other one will sort of act as a rudder to keep the tail in line. An open diff car can still fishtail, but it is less likely to do so.

marhot

Got my Z July 2, 2003. Still hasn't seen rain! I hope it doesn't snow too much this winter because she'll not be out much.

Good post, AndyB, RWD can be a little tricky if you're not use to them. Since in the last 20 years the majority of cars have been FWD there are many people who have never driven RWD.

This is my first RWD since my '79 Hurst/Olds. It does take a little getting use to, and boy does it bring back memories of the "good old days"!

hornet59

This is definitely my first RWD and I'm gonna take your advice and practice it in a empty parking lot. There's a few over where I live so it'll be my practice grounds Thanks for the insight, I would have never thought about going there

yobri

iTrader: (2)

First time my Z has been rained on since owning it, and I had to get just a tad bit of rain on a dirty (well, not so clean) car... and the worst of it is that I'm looking out the window right now. The sun is out now and pretty blaring warm... and there are water drops all over the car sitting in newly-formed dirt. Why doesn't it just continue raining? Outta here (from work) in an hour and a half....

Just venting.

icepig

too bad for you about the rain. that must be tough. then again, not as tough as the 2 days of freezing rain and snow that has turned my streets into very bumpy skating rinks. i'll just wait until this mess clears up - in a short 5-6 months i should be back out again!

drew703

iTrader: (1)

Rain is about the worst of the elements my baby Z will ever see. She wont dare be touched by snow, hail, or whatever else mother nature might throw at us. This is my first rear wheel drive car as is for some other members, and definitely have had to get experienced to some major slipping/traction differences from my FWD jetta! Love the Z so much, so it's all good

-drew

ktm

I learned to drive in Anchorage, Alaska in February when I was 15. My father took me to an ice and snow covered parking lot and told me to have at it. We were doing sooooooo many spins it was crazy (and in a 1979 VW rabbit diesel too!).

tanakaZ

First week of heavy rain here in the Northwest and I managed to lose the backend while turning left. I was behind 3 full size (empty) school buses, so I know I wasn't going too fast. Might have accelerated a bit too hard though.

What tires do people recommend for heavy rain/light snow environments? I've thought about blizzaks, but think this might be overkill. How are the Pilot Sports in the winter?

archman350z

ANDYB, thank you for posting that...very well done!

I'll add that beginners tend to over control the car when attempting to control a slide and the rear end will "pendulum" rally car style. Bad. Very bad. Just remember to keep the steering inputs minimal during a slide...use just enough opposite lock to steady the car, the Z will straighten out by itself. Actually, you'll find (in a wide open parking lot, I hope) that less input will actually cause a drift: quite fun.

Kinda sad that we've hit the day and age where people expect the car to compensate for them instead of the other <right> way around. I've always believed that a driver who can compensate for the shortcomings of the car is a far superior driver.

Yes, case in point to keep the VDC on while in rain, snow, etc. It will save your a$$.

I've been impressed by the Z in the rain. Drove home from the dragstrip in a down pour late night. There was about 1/4" of standing water on the pavement and puddles maybe an inch deep. I was able to do 70 MPH effortlessly with VDC on. It didn't not pull or jiggle when hitting the deeper puddles...I was super impressed. I can't say that about any of my other cars/trucks!

Aggro_Al

bobS

If you have a car with Electronic Stability Control (VDC on the 350Z) you shouldn't try to out perform the system. The best way is to just steer the car in the direction you want to go and let the computer adjust the vector and do what it was designed to do. If you attempt to compensate it yourself with stability control on the computer will re-adjust to undo your input causing a delay.

Trying to outperform stability control is like pumping the brakes on an ABS. In almost all cases, too much human input just makes it worse. Granted there are some "exceptional" drivers out there that can probably do better than the computer but, I'm not one of them and I'll bet most people fall in my category. If we were that good we would be making the big bucks in competition.

It is kinda fun though to find an open parking that is wet and get the VDC to come on and try to manually overcompensate it. The car will go tail wagging until VDC finally gets the car to straighten out.