Scary 944 story

Rock · 11-18-2003, 08:44 PM

Ok this was kinda scary.

I was driving the car tonight, and everything is fine and dandy. I come up to an intersection, the roads are wet after a heavy rain, but my tires are new. I start to make the turn, and im giving it a little gas as usual. Everything is fine, then right when i am almost done with the turn, the car fishtails. I am spinning around the whole road, cars are swerving off the road trying to avoid me. The road in turned onto has 4 lanes, and spun around 3 complete times, and ended up in the opposite side of the road. A police man sees this happen, and luckily, nobody is hurt and nobodys cars were wrecked. So i start the car and pull over to the shoulder of the road, and the police man asks me what happens. The best i can tell him is that i turned too fast, because to tell the truth, i have no idea what happened. He makes sure im ok, and lets me go. So i drive off and make it home.

But man, that was scary.

bigyagi · bigyagi's Garage

glad you were ok,and no damage done!
i remember when i first bought my 944. i was ecstatic over its great handling, and cornering ability's.
truly magic. then it rained hard one day, after being dry for a long time, and the roads were slippy/greasy. i went into a tight turn, as i usually do, and hey presto!! i'm facing back the other way!! no indication at all, that the back end was letting go. it happenned so fast, and so slick, i was stunned.
the 944 is fantastic on dry roads, but when its wet, you really do have to take care, as the back end is prone to letting go, even at moderate cornering speeds. in fact, i think i could almost push my olds as fast in the wet, as my 944!!
bob.

flangermog · flangermog's Garage

Phew! glad you're ok - you must have been going some to spin round 3 times!

Watch out in the wet, keep your revs lower to avoid loss of traction - I sometimes start from 2nd gear on slippy roads to avoid the inevitable.

If you feel it start to go, stay calm, turn in to the skid and try to be smooth, nothing helps a spin along more than rapidly shifting the balance of the weight from one end of the car to the other...

TheCooler · 11-19-2003, 10:20 AM

Wow, Ive never really lost control of my 944 in the rain. Of course I have fishtailed but that was for fun and it was controlled. Other than that I can control my car perfectly in the rain. I notice at High RPM when i tap the gas at lets say 5k rpms the back end will lose traction for a second and if i hold it down i would crash and if i let go it will correct just fine. Im pretty used to driving in the rain because well ..it rains almost everyday

pearldrum · 11-19-2003, 06:22 PM

There's a road around here where EVERY time it rains there is at least 1 wreck. One day in the rain I was coming down the thin twisty road downhill, lost it after a turn and sent it into a rocky ditch slamming the rear bottom onto a cliff ledge thing. Thank god there wasn't another car coming and there wasn't any damage except a fairly small dent under the driver's door. It wouldn't start and I had to have it pulled out by a tow truck, but before that a mustang came flying around, saw me in the ditch so swerved a little and sideswiped another car right in front of mine (she then proceeded to tell the police officer for the next 15 minutes about how it was my fault.

Cop just kept saying nope, it's your own fault.) Another car also slammed into the guard rail a couple hundred feet down the road while I was there. Bad times. I am paranoid in the rain now...

cruzermusic · 11-19-2003, 06:24 PM

get the gum off your shoe

Dark Skies · 11-19-2003, 06:43 PM

I've spun my car in almost identical circumstances as your own. Absolutely no warning at all. I wasn't even pushing it - it just happened. It was raining - I guess I just hit a patch of diesel.

gtroth · 11-19-2003, 07:19 PM

I guess a well balanced car will spin quite well. A good friend once spun his mid-engined MR2 like a top in the rain. Glad you're ok.

blvon · 11-20-2003, 06:39 PM

what tires do you have and what size wheels and tires??

emwporsche · 11-20-2003, 11:43 PM

I push the car every time it rains.
I give enough gusto for it to slip 6" then save it.
I figure this practice keeps me aware of it's capabilites
which aren't that much in the rain!
no lsd and a turbo keep things interesting
I've only spun out once, it was dry.
I was fairly new to the car and was checking its maximum turning capacity
I guess I found out, but I only did a 180
How do you do '3' 360's?
take drivers ed, that won't happen again.

rbt944 · 11-21-2003, 03:07 AM

Ok this was kinda scary.

I was driving the car tonight, and everything is fine and dandy. I come up to an intersection, the roads are wet after a heavy rain, but my tires are new. I start to make the turn, and im giving it a little gas as usual. Everything is fine, then right when i am almost done with the turn, the car fishtails. I am spinning around the whole road, cars are swerving off the road trying to avoid me. The road in turned onto has 4 lanes, and spun around 3 complete times, and ended up in the opposite side of the road. A police man sees this happen, and luckily, nobody is hurt and nobodys cars were wrecked. So i start the car and pull over to the shoulder of the road, and the police man asks me what happens. The best i can tell him is that i turned too fast, because to tell the truth, i have no idea what happened. He makes sure im ok, and lets me go. So i drive off and make it home.

But man, that was scary.
--------------------------------------

DeJavu

repoman · 11-21-2003, 04:11 AM

Don't overlook tires on occasional drivers; rubber will get hard after several seasons and not be as effective in squeeging out the water.

while stretching out tires for "one more season" I'll treat them with a good traction compound.

a good practise is to deaccelerate prior to turn and accelerate out at apex. Old bikers are good at this as bikes can't brake and turn well at same time. They commit to corner speed prior to entering turn.

My TR8 is a handful in rain due to high torque, short wheelbase and tendency of front end to oversteer. Your '44 my be oversteering. Or perhaps it thinks it's a 911!

Lawrence Coppari · 11-21-2003, 09:24 AM

Very new tires are always slippery when it is wet. There is some material that has to work out of them. After a few days, they'll get better. Every new set I've had does the same thing.

There could also have been oil or coolant on the road that you could not see. But brand new tires don't grip as well when it is wet as they will after they have been used for a while.

Dark Skies · 11-21-2003, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lawrence Coppari
Very new tires are always slippery when it is wet. There is some material that has to work out of them. After a few days, they'll get better. Every new set I've had does the same thing.

There could also have been oil or coolant on the road that you could not see. But brand new tires don't grip as well when it is wet as they will after they have been used for a while.

True that. They spray the moulds in the factory with a release agent so the tyres pull out easily. On motorcycles I've always got one of those coarse cloth sponges that they use for rubbing down woodwork to scrub in new tyres. That's not practical on car tyres. However, when my car spun I was using a well scrubbed in (5,000 miles or so) set of Pirellis ( 215 and 205). Totally without warning the car just spun right amongst the lanes of traffic (hitting nothing) and backwards up an embankment. I think I hit a diesel spill as it was in an area with industrial sites either side. Happened so fast that I didn't even have time to be petrified.

blvon · 11-28-2003, 08:03 PM

a stock size tire being replaced with a wider size setup like a 255-40-17 out back and a 235-45-17 on front may prevent some of this you have almost 4 inches more rubber across the rear axle to keep the rear in the rear and better handling when driving.That size will fit with stock ride height the widht being the thing. as for a release agent on the tires that would be gone within 5 miles of driving last. Last brand makes a difference research what you are buying before you buy it just because a tire looks cool does not mean they handle the best for your car and the guy selling them to you he get paid to tell you what you need to hear

Zero10 · 11-28-2003, 10:24 PM

I useta ride with pirelli's on my 944, (till the winter tires went on), it seems every time that the roads got so much as damp, the car was an absolute fright, then again, mine only have 40% tread left, but still, they shouldn't do that. Got a scary look at a median going by sideways 4 feet from my front bumper once from those tires.... freaky
Were you riding with pirelli's as well when you spun?

lMason · 10:47 PM

I did the same thing on Pirellis ,turned touched the gas and it was gone, I was not going very fast either.

ds475 · 11-29-2003, 01:21 AM

damn. that is quite terrifying. i can't imagine surviving that event... along with my 944.

pearldrum · 11-29-2003, 09:46 AM

Anyone have any snow/ice stories? People are a lot more careful in that stuff, but it can be a lot slicker. I don't have any other than doing the occasional donut in a parking lot for fun. Only on ice though... Hopefully I can stay away from any new "scary" stories this winter.

repoman · 11-30-2003, 11:07 AM

not in a 944

20 years ago driving a '68 Mustang through Minnesota. Know how we are always warned that bridge freezes first?

On a clear divided highway, the second I touched the bridge, from guardrail to guardrail, both lanes for the entire length (200 feet?) A wild ride; gratefully didn't hit the sides.

In a 911; left NYC and crossing the Tappen Zee bridge west. Got caught in a blizzard. As a downshifted to take ramp to my dad's town, car swapped ends. Backwards, 30-40 mph; looking through rear window. yipes. Went off on shoulder, stopped about 10 feet from exit signpost.