So, steppin’ out?

[Sig556]

I agree

I hear what you are saying and that being said I am no kid and I like to believe I can handle horsepower cars but I never had what happened to me happen. It was like the car had a mind of it's own. I dragged raced in the 60 's and 70's Balls to the wall but this was a new one on me.

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[EmCel]

I hear what you are saying and that being said I am no kid and I like to believe I can handle horsepower cars but I never had what happened to me happen. It was like the car had a mind of it's own. I dragged raced in the 60 's and 70's Balls to the wall but this was a new one on me.

Yeah sometimes unexpected things happen with cars. I’ve been lucky enough not to experience anything unusual or bad but that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen ever.

 

[tosha]

I hear what you are saying and that being said I am no kid and I like to believe I can handle horsepower cars but I never had what happened to me happen. It was like the car had a mind of it's own. I dragged raced in the 60 's and 70's Balls to the wall but this was a new one on me.

Cold tires and/or some sort of a spill on the road maybe? Or an AT thing?

From my own experience, getting a naturally aspirated GT out of control is either me doing something stupid or me doing something intentional. Otherwise, it holds traction amazingly well. But I have MT and it's on 275 tires. Once it got supercharged, it's a different story, though it would still be something stupid or intentional.

Just thinking about it more, older cars would lose traction in a much more gradual manner and much sooner. All the tech and handling we have in mustangs now, allows to raise the traction limit much higher, but if you cross it, it's much more violent. Maybe that's what you observed

 

[tosha]

It's also physics with wide sticky tires. They tent to break lose without warning as once the contact patch loses traction, it really loses traction. Older cars used to run radial 215, 225 on the rear end and traction loss would be more gradual giving you warning, e.g. start to spin, then pull a little to one side, then finally if you continued on the throttle give way.

Exactly, super wide tires, super sticky compounds, very advanced traction control systems, disconnected steering feel, tons of engineering in suspension. No surprise these cars hold it until very last moment.
I did play with mine on a skidpad a bit after SC installed - spinout is an on/off button. You go just fine, turn the wheel a bit, blip the throttle pedal a bit too much and half a second later you're looking in an opposite direction.

 

[Sig556]

Wasn't it like 49F in most of N Carolina today ?

Yes! But this happened the other day when it was around 70 degrees.

Exactly, super wide tires, super sticky compounds, very advanced traction control systems, disconnected steering feel, tons of engineering in suspension. No surprise these cars hold it until very last moment.
I did play with mine on a skidpad a bit after SC installed - spinout is an on/off button. You go just fine, turn the wheel a bit, blip the throttle pedal a bit too much and half a second later you're looking in an opposite direction.

Thanks for the replies guys. But my tires are the stock Pirelli's with approximately 8 mm still left on them. The car is a 2020 delivered in December of 2019 and I only have 12,000 on the car. I in fact did go back to the area where control was lost and the roadway appears clean and dry. Whatever it was or wasn't I don't like surprises.

 

[young at heart]

Yes! But this happened the other day when it was around 70 degrees.

Thanks for the replies guys. But my tires are the stock Pirelli's with approximately 8 mm still left on them. The car is a 2020 delivered in December of 2019 and I only have 12,000 on the car. I in fact did go back to the area where control was lost and the roadway appears clean and dry. Whatever it was or wasn't I don't like surprises.

Sig, are they the P-Zero Nero? And is your car stock all over? Do you have 3.15s?

Reason I ask is I had a similar incident a few weeks ago passing someone at about 45 mph also. My car is pretty much identical to yours but is a convertible. Full throttle downshift and all hell broke loose, including the back end. Like it somehow caught one gear too low on the downshift. Both Nannie’s were on in track mode. I was a little tight on room so I had to stay in it but fortunately I was able to drive out of it. My wife calmly informed me that if I intended to drive that way going forward she would no longer ride with me-and she’s been fine before on some pretty hard pulls. I didn’t tell her it wasn’t intentional.

Lets face it: these cars are pretty freakin’ fast even bone stock. I think the answer may be partly found in a couple of the most recent posts, namely that the tires, tech and traction on these cars is so good that by the time they do get loose they’re going so fast that the result can be violent and harder to control. Somebody just made the point that the older cars lost traction much easier and it wasn’t such a surprise. That’s very true. Thinking back on it, I had at least one big block Corvette that never really got a good bite up to close to 100 mph. But I came to expect it and knew how to deal with it. It wasn’t violent and without warning.

I had thought about bigger wheels and stickier tires but maybe this makes a case for sticking with the stock black package wheels and P Zero Neros.

 

[Sig556]

Sig, are they the P-Zero Nero? And is your car stock all over? Do you have 3.15s?

Reason I ask is I had a similar incident a few weeks ago passing someone at about 45 mph also. My car is pretty much identical to yours but is a convertible. Full throttle downshift and all hell broke loose, including the back end. Like it somehow caught one gear too low on the downshift. Both Nannie’s were on in track mode. I was a little tight on room so I had to stay in it but fortunately I was able to drive out of it. My wife calmly informed me that if I intended to drive that way going forward she would no longer ride with me-and she’s been fine before on some pretty hard pulls. I didn’t tell her it wasn’t intentional.

Lets face it: these cars are pretty freakin’ fast even bone stock. I think the answer may be partly found in a couple of the most recent posts, namely that the tires, tech and traction on these cars is so good that by the time they do get loose they’re going so fast that the result can be violent and harder to control. Somebody just made the point that the older cars lost traction much easier and it wasn’t such a surprise. That’s very true. Thinking back on it, I had at least one big block Corvette that never really got a good bite up to close to 100 mph. But I came to expect it and knew how to deal with it. It wasn’t violent and without warning.

I had thought about bigger wheels and stickier tires but maybe this makes a case for sticking with the stock black package wheels and P Zero Neros.

Sig, are they the P-Zero Nero? And is your car stock all over? Do you have 3.15s?

Reason I ask is I had a similar incident a few weeks ago passing someone at about 45 mph also. My car is pretty much identical to yours but is a convertible. Full throttle downshift and all hell broke loose, including the back end. Like it somehow caught one gear too low on the downshift. Both Nannie’s were on in track mode. I was a little tight on room so I had to stay in it but fortunately I was able to drive out of it. My wife calmly informed me that if I intended to drive that way going forward she would no longer ride with me-and she’s been fine before on some pretty hard pulls. I didn’t tell her it wasn’t intentional.

Lets face it: these cars are pretty freakin’ fast even bone stock. I think the answer may be partly found in a couple of the most recent posts, namely that the tires, tech and traction on these cars is so good that by the time they do get loose they’re going so fast that the result can be violent and harder to control. Somebody just made the point that the older cars lost traction much easier and it wasn’t such a surprise. That’s very true. Thinking back on it, I had at least one big block Corvette that never really got a good bite up to close to 100 mph. But I came to expect it and knew how to deal with it. It wasn’t violent and without warning.

I had thought about bigger wheels and stickier tires but maybe this makes a case for sticking with the stock black package wheels and P Zero Neros.

Yes! Yes! and Yes! As a young man I had 4 Chevells, 2 Camaros, 2, Chevy II's, and 1 Nova, 2 El Caminos, and 2 Monte Carlos, a few Impalas, and some others. I had cars get real squirrelly and flat out, out of control. BUT YOU KNEW IT WAS COMING. This Mustang was a REAL surprise.

 

[WildHorse]

Yes! Yes! and Yes! As a young man I had 4 Chevells, 2 Camaros, 2, Chevy II's, and 1 Nova, 2 El Caminos, and 2 Monte Carlos, a few Impalas, and some others. I had cars get real squirrelly and flat out, out of control. BUT YOU KNEW IT WAS COMING. This Mustang was a REAL surprise.

Learn to counter steer.

 

[cop on my back]

When in doubt, throttle out. I have always throttled out of a "step out". Took years of learning it, but once you do, it is not a concern. In fact, it makes driving a true joy.

 

[Sig556]

Learn to counter steer.

Read my post I did.

 

[WildHorse]

Read my post I did.

Learn to counter steer with gentle inputs.

 

[Vlad Soare]

I wonder if the root cause of these sudden and unexpected sideslips may be the automatic transmission. Using one single command mechanism (i.e. accelerator pedal) to control two completely different things (i.e. engine torque and transmission ratio), one of which, to make matters worse, augments the other, is very tricky, especially at or near the limit. You press the pedal as hard as you think is necessary to get a certain acceleration rate, and bam! the gearbox downshifts, and all of a sudden more torque is sent to the rear wheels than you expected and wanted.
I have yet to hear of such events from people driving manual Mustangs. It seems to me it's always automatics that do this.

 

[Sig556]

I wonder if the root cause of these sudden and unexpected sideslips may be the automatic transmission. Using one single command mechanism (i.e. accelerator pedal) to control two completely different things (i.e. engine torque and transmission ratio), one of which, to make matters worse, augments the other, is very tricky, especially at or near the the limit. You press the pedal as hard as you think is necessary to get a certain acceleration rate, and bam! the gearbox downshifts, and all of a sudden more torque is sent to the rear wheels than you expected and wanted.
I have yet to hear of such events from people driving manual Mustangs. It seems to me it's always automatics that do this.

I agree with you as I have owned three 6speed Mustangs and never had this happen.

 

[Paris MkVI]

For our 20th anniversary, years ago, my bride and I spent a long weekend at Lime Rock attending a Skip Barber Driving Course. I learned so much about being a better driver in those few days.

One of the fundamentals was the interaction between pedals and steering. One instructor told us to tie an imaginary rope between any pedal and the bottom of the steering wheel. If we wanted to steer more, the pedal had to come up to give you "slack". If we wanted more pedal, we had to take up the slack and have less steering.

That one, along with several other golden gems, have kept me in good stead every since. I've always enjoyed driving, but since that course, it's been enjoyment times 10.

 

[Bedub76]

I've had a bunch of different mustangs throughout the years. I personally feel that this is a pussycat compared to some of the others. Maybe it's the powerband, gearing, or electronic nannies but I really do feel that this generation inspires some confidence that other generations didn't.
My 96 Cobra tried to kill me on a regular basis and my 350Z (I know not a mustang) weight transfer turned it into a drift machine regularly. I won't even get into the 86 square light.
Point is, I don't feel the S550 is a dangerous car at all unless you turn off the electronics and drive it like a crazy person. It's a very predictable car.

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