I was so lucky yesterday...

[denyo77]

I should have known better. My brother already warned me when he got back from late shift that the constant rain had made the roads quite slippery and that my rear tires aren't good anymore. He said he swerved a bit on the way home when accelerating.
Anyways, it was about midnight and I was late getting to the club to meet my friends, plus I hadn't driven my car in 3 weeks so I didn't exactly pay heed to his warning. When I was in town, I was waiting behind a ricer Golf II in the turn-left lane. When the light turned green, he turned and then got on the middle lane. I accelerated to also turn and then overtake him, and then it happened: Just as I was half over the intersection, not going quick but accelerating, I aquaplaned. The rear insantly swerved out of control. I was heading straight towards the car at the opposite lane, so I took her back round, oversteering, the rear still pretty much out of control, now drifting towards the wall and the pavement on the right side. Thanks god I have such good brakes on my car and I wasn't that fast. I was able to break just inches before ripping of my front spoiler at the high curb. Also I was lucky that there were no other cars driving behind me.

Well, I got a little shock right there...

I instantly drove off because I didn't want anyone to write down my plates or something, but I was still shaken an hour later.
The guys in the fart can Golf must have thought I'm a complete moron.


Next time I'm gonna think twice before acting like a dumbass on the road. And I should probably get new tires.

[MEDSTUDENT87]

Yes you were very lucky. Glad to hear everything turned out ok. How did your car pass inspection? Please get new tires, for your sake and for the person you could possibly hurt or kill if it happens again. Thats one thing I hate about the states in the south is there is no inspection so people don't maintain their cars and run around with bald tires and no brakes.

[witeshark]

Wow, I'm so glad you're okay and the car too. I guess you have LSD on that car!

[denyo77]

well German TÜV inspection is very hard to pass, and my car had no problems at all, but the tires are the ones my brothers car has stood on for 2 years. They have enough profile left, but they are a cheap brand and they're about 4 years old. I wasn't aware that they were getting this bad because until last week they were okay, and the TÜV inspection was about a month or two ago...
I usually have Continentals, and they're awesome, but I'll get new rims next spring and the Contis were down so I took the other tires.
+1 on witey, and I guess it's good I have quality brembo discs and just overhauled the whole suspension and brakes last year.

[Teh Prof]

I had big problems today too on the interstate...SERIOUS rain driving on I-20 in Alabama. My rear wheels were dancing all over the place practically whenever I hit the accelerator, and my tires aren't that bad!

[RoadsterMadness]

Momma always warned me - "you NEVER play around with brakes or tires". Better to have a cheaper brand in decent shape than a worn out set of top end ones. Yes, as Prof said with enouh rain this could happen to anyone regardless, but with cars, we are tallking about minimizing risk

[RoadsterMadness]

PS - thank your lucky stars you are alright!

[drz]

I am glad to know you are fine. Be careful out there.

[johnnyBgood]

The guys in the fart can Golf must have thought I'm a complete moron.

No........ SHIT! HAPPENS! & everything ended up to be OK!
johnny,

[denyo77]

btw whitey I really think the LSD played a part in saving my life (and the car), because I now remember that about 5 months ago after rain I took the exit of a roundabout too fast and the car spun a bit and I felt that the engine immediately lost throttle, the revs went down until the car had traction on all four wheels again.

Btw my brother had some serious shimmies on the way home, so I will definitely get new tires next week. Both front and rear. I also found out that the problem may very well bve he front and not the rear - the front tires have very little rubber left on them.
It hurts that I have to buy the tires although I was hoping to buy new rims next summer (about 16"), but safety goes first, I guess...

edit: I just researched LSD on wikipedia. It says there that lsds react pretty sensitive to a difference in profile depth... now what does that mean exactly? I mean what does that change about the driving and the reactions of the LSD?

[thekid]

A siginificant difference in tire profile will affect the speed at which each wheel turns. This could also affect your ABS system. The LSD works by keeping on eye on the speed of your rear wheels. If one starts to spin faster than the other (lose traction) then the power is diverted to the other wheel and so forth until traction is resumed. Just as the ABS system lets up on your brakes if it senses that one wheel is going significantly slower than the other while you are braking. This is a simplified explanation, but you get the idea.

[denyo77]

okay, thanks
and I guess the reason why the LSD didn't help me that much in the more recent heavy spin is because on non-M e30s it has only a 25% lock function

[thekid]

LSD for traction purposes is more helpful for FWD. For rear wheel drive, as you are spinning if you are using the gas pedal, it basically is just going to help both wheels to be spinning together. For instance, if you did not have LSD then say your left wheel would basically be getting the power and depending on the direction of the spin, that could be very bad. LSD is going to help you "control" the spin the same as it helps people control their cars while drifting. It helps to stop the "fish tail" effect as you counter steer, but does not stop it entirely... etc....etc... I would check out howstuffworks and read up on it. It's an interesting read... as is most things on that site.

[AlpineSixAndSeven]

you can also Mod your current diff to have more lockup

[denyo77]

^how do I do that?