What's your preferred driving mode?

[Norm Peterson]

... rear end slid right to about 40 degrees slip angle, caught it because I know skid control from extensive snow driving, a lot of people wouldn't have caught the skid amd would have slammed into driver's side of an oncoming car.

:cheers:
It's a real shame that so many people rarely or perhaps never get this experience. Or that among those who can, most avoid trying to learn anything when it's there. Deserted parking lots make excellent "training grounds" even if you don't get any more out of it than having a lower sense of panic/freeze at the controls when one end or the other starts to side a little.

Winter practice has paid off big time for me at wet track days and at a track notorious for early morning dampness.


Norm

Sponsored

 

[Vile_the_Bastage]

Sport+/Sport

 

[OppoLock]

Unless you're Ted Kaczynski, isn't ALL driving going to be done "with traffic around"?

Times in my life I've gone into an unplanned, uncontrolled skid where stability control would have saved me (with pre-1990 cars that had no traction control or stability control) (none of these actually resulted in an accident, but they easily could have and it was pure luck I was safe):

- Two-way road, one lane in each direction, going 35 mph in a 30 zone, cars parallel parked on both sides of the road. Car directly in front of me on the right decides to pull out of his parallel-parked spot and make a U-Turn to go the other way. No time to stop; would have t-boned him. Accelerated and swerved left into the oncoming lane to loop around the guy, then quick back into my lane to avoid oncoming traffic... rear end slid right to about 40 degrees slip angle, caught it because I know skid control from extensive snow driving, a lot of people wouldn't have caught the skid amd would have slammed into driver's side of an oncoming car.

- Rural-ish two-lane with grass on both sides, moderate traffic, going in to a blind downhill left curve after a rain storm. Was going too fast (40 in a reccomended 25) because there are never cars there normally; see cars stopped, brake too hard for the wet pavement, rear end slides loose and I can't catch it because it's a counter-clockwise spin on a downhill left curve. Did a 360 and was a miracle I didn't hit any oncoming cars before I went off on to the grass on the wrong side of the road onto someone's front lawn.

Both times were unexpected; both could have been prevented if I'd had stability control. It was pure luck I didn't kill somebody both times (had my then-80 year old grandmother in the car for the first one; she raved for weeks about what a good job I did saving us from an accident with U-Turn guy without realizing how close we came to hitting somebody after the subsequent skid).

The first one sounds like a surprise, and the second one sounds like inclement weather was a factor. Glad you're okay either way.

I don't know what to tell you though... I've never had any kind of issues because I know when to use proper judgement (and I'm not saying you don't). I've been fortunate to go to HPDEs and learned car control at an early age (and got started in learning how to induce, control, and avoid understeer/oversteer on wet skid pads).

If you drive normally, understand the basics of throttle control, weight transfer, etc., there's never really a time where you're frightened or surprised.

 

[OppoLock]

I'm going to guess that your actual alignment specs are too conservative (maybe read "understeerish" and "insufficiently negative front camber" into this)

I'd also consider trying some tire pressure tuning, something like 3 - 4 psi more up front for steering response and reduction of front slip angle.


Norm

I don't think the suspension's at fault here. The nose is sufficiently darty as is with good turn-in. I could even appreciate a little more straightline stability as a DD. It's just how well sorted the rear diff and chassis are; you can put so much power down without any kind of issue. I'm sure it's great for a track if you're trying to lay down a quick lap.

 

[Sasuketr]

I'm picking up some LM-32s this week. Haven't driven the car in the snow yet because I don't trust the all seasons. I'm glad to hear that the LM-32s work well because I wasn't sure how great they would work in the snow since they are more performance oriented compared to other Blizzaks. Just trying to decide between 225/50r18 or 245/45r18 for the stock GT wheels.

A little warning for the LM-32's they are not good on ice, i repeat not good on ice. They are performance winter tire and sacrifice ice traction for dry traction. I even slid couple of times during turns with them on. I have the staggered setup 275 back 255 front. However they are great on snow, wet and dry roads. It would be hard going uphill on ice with these tires on, if u drive uphills a lot then i would recommend x ice or similar soft compound tires. Cheers.

 

[Boff]

I haven't yet had to deal with ice (thank goodness). I might have considered a standard winter tire rather than performance, but availability in my staggered size was an issue. Luckily there are no hills where I live.

 

[RocketGuy3]

Based on the responses to this thread, I guess it is not possible to make the car remember the mode you left it on every time you start it up? Or to at least change the default mode upon startup?

It's pretty annoying to have to put it in Sport+ on every start.

 

[Norm Peterson]

It can't possibly hurt anything to start the car first, and write off the time it takes you to go through whatever checklist of settings against letting the engine warm up a tad and get all the fluids flowing. After a while it should become almost habit.


Norm

 

[racer24crm]

Based on the responses to this thread, I guess it is not possible to make the car remember the mode you left it on every time you start it up? Or to at least change the default mode upon startup?

It's pretty annoying to have to put it in Sport+ on every start.

I thought it was required by law that car's "tune" settings be returned to normal upon restart. Maybe not. I just always figured it reset because it was like restarting a computer but it seems the steering settings are always saved.

 

[racer24crm]

I wonder if a tuner out there can allow the mode to be saved after shutting the car off.

 

[OppoLock]

I thought it was required by law that car's "tune" settings be returned to normal upon restart. Maybe not. I just always figured it reset because it was like restarting a computer but it seems the steering settings are always saved.

Yep, it's a legal requirement that isn't up to the manufacturer's discretion.

 

[Old 5 Oh]

Normal/Sport most of the time. Normal/Comfort on the highway. Sport/Sport when I am playing in the curves.

 

[Boff]

I'm picking up some LM-32s this week. Haven't driven the car in the snow yet because I don't trust the all seasons. I'm glad to hear that the LM-32s work well because I wasn't sure how great they would work in the snow since they are more performance oriented compared to other Blizzaks. Just trying to decide between 225/50r18 or 245/45r18 for the stock GT wheels.

Narrower is better, if you anticipate driving in snow.

 

[RocketGuy3]

It can't possibly hurt anything to start the car first, and write off the time it takes you to go through whatever checklist of settings against letting the engine warm up a tad and get all the fluids flowing. After a while it should become almost habit.


Norm

I mean it's not a huge complaint, but it's certainly a minor annoyance, but I figure as racer said below, it's probably a safety thing. They want to make sure you're consciously aware of choosing Track Mode every time.

I thought it was required by law that car's "tune" settings be returned to normal upon restart. Maybe not. I just always figured it reset because it was like restarting a computer but it seems the steering settings are always saved.

When you restart a computer, none of your saved data goes away. There's no reason this couldn't be saved data (in theory). But I was thinking it's probably a safety thing, like you're getting at. Still would be nice if there was some workaround, especially for the non-track modes since they should still be pretty safe.

 

[Rickycardo]

It resets at each startup because of this:

Sponsored