I2h8BMW

I was on mathilda ave. in the morning. No rain at that time. Took a left turn on el camino and I pushed it just a little bit more and the rear end slipped all the way to the right. Scared the sh.. out of me (didn't want to have any damage done to the Z). And I over reacted & the now the rear end was on left side. Lucky the other cars noticed and slowed down. In the commotion, I didn't get a change to see if my SLIP light came on or not. I didn't push it any hard and speed was quite slow when this happened so I am suspecting stock tires. I just wish VDC was an option on the AUTO.

You guys & gals drive safe out there.

LaoSiFu

iTrader: (97)

Glad that you're fine. When I drive in the rain, I am more extra careful. and TCS ON. haha

spf4000

Heh, I was driving around all night practicing doing this intentionally! I'm getting to the point where I'm comfortable sliding the rear out.

longbowe

Whew, glad you were safe! I was taking the 101SB->85SB today en route home from Menlo Park, and I took the right lane because, for some unknown reason, people think that they should drive in the fast lane on a rainy day. I was driving a little faster than them (so at least they knew enough to slow down -- but if they knew to drive slow, why didn't they drive in the slow lane?), but slower than usual; and as the merge ramp was about to complete, a minivan on the left lane of the ramp started cutting into my lane. I let off the throttle a little (not sure if that would've been the right response), and as soon as the minivan started scooting back into its own lane, but not completely there, I quickly swept past it onto 85SB, and maintained steady pace at just a tad above 65mph.

At the time, I thought the minivan driver was being irresponsible. But maybe it was due to a little bit of slip? But then aren't minivans FWD?

Anyway, glad you're okay!

failsafe

VDC will not save you in the rain. Once the tires break and start sliding they continue to do so. The VDC can cut gas and apply brake but this doesn't help unless the pavement is dry and traction can catch.

spf4000

Yep, VDC is only good if there's traction to be had. But having the VDC on in a really slippery condition is still better than nothing, cause the system will try to make the best use of what little grip it has and try to get the car back into shape. One thing I noticed about the VDC is that it is responsive to oversteer, but not to understeer. In fact, I can't get the slip indicator to light up at all even during a really bad understeer.