Almost became a statistic today

[ice445]

Code brown for sure coming home today. Was in the left lane of a two lane left turn onto the highway. Girl to my right. Right at the tightest part of the curve she starts merging into me. I notice, kind of freak out and get practically into the shoulder to avoid her. We're still turning, she stops almost crashing into me, and it starts straightening out into the merge area where it becomes single lane (this section is also downhill). I gave it only a little bit of throttle in second to make some noise because I was pissed at how inattentive she was being. Next thing I know, my ass is coming around in her direction. Traction control was full on (I hadn't touched it). I had my right hand on the shifter ready to grab third once I got some momentum, so I had to correct with just my left hand. Corrected quickly enough to keep it out of the wall. Traction control was definitely way too slow to help me. I saw the lights flashing but only after I had pulled it through. If I didn't know how to correct without thinking, I would have been toast.

So what went wrong here? "Cold tires" and lower temps? It's been in the 50's lately and I'd only been driving for about 5 minutes or so. I thought "Mustang loses control for no reason" was a meme, but now I'm not so sure, lol. Like, I get that I upset the car somehow, and maybe some debris or something was in the shoulder, but it just seemed 100% out of proportion for the inputs being given at the time. I've never had the car do that, and even when I try to slide the ass end out I really have to work for it most of the time with TC on. Has anyone else had an experience like this? Is it just the Pirelli Zero Tractions? Maybe my car picked up 200HP when I wasn't looking. It was completely dry out by the way.

Sponsored

 

[mike3105]

Two things I've noticed (being in the UK so maybe a similar climate?) is that the P Zeros are rubbish, and traction control does nothing. I think it's fairly normal for the car. A lot of people put Michelin PS4S on and it transforms the car.

 

[IrishStallion]

Be careful out there. Yes, these cars are dangerous with drag shifts and cold tires. I run unplugged all year around and know what my car does via zero nannies. Car is more consistent this way. In the end, it is all controlled by that throttle pedal...

 

[DrumReaper]

Code brown for sure coming home today. Was in the left lane of a two lane left turn onto the highway. Girl to my right. Right at the tightest part of the curve she starts merging into me. I notice, kind of freak out and get practically into the shoulder to avoid her. We're still turning, she stops almost crashing into me, and it starts straightening out into the merge area where it becomes single lane (this section is also downhill). I gave it only a little bit of throttle in second to make some noise because I was pissed at how inattentive she was being. Next thing I know, my ass is coming around in her direction. Traction control was full on (I hadn't touched it). I had my right hand on the shifter ready to grab third once I got some momentum, so I had to correct with just my left hand. Corrected quickly enough to keep it out of the wall. Traction control was definitely way too slow to help me. I saw the lights flashing but only after I had pulled it through. If I didn't know how to correct without thinking, I would have been toast.

So what went wrong here? "Cold tires" and lower temps? It's been in the 50's lately and I'd only been driving for about 5 minutes or so. I thought "Mustang loses control for no reason" was a meme, but now I'm not so sure, lol. Like, I get that I upset the car somehow, and maybe some debris or something was in the shoulder, but it just seemed 100% out of proportion for the inputs being given at the time. I've never had the car do that, and even when I try to slide the ass end out I really have to work for it most of the time with TC on. Has anyone else had an experience like this? Is it just the Pirelli Zero Tractions? Maybe my car picked up 200HP when I wasn't looking. It was completely dry out by the way.

You entered the apex at the wrong angle and forgot to apply the right foot as soon as the rear seated... lol.

Just messing with you.

its just SLC Utah, man. There’s some funky juju there. While I was at track attack in 2016, it snowed, hailed, rained and then turned to sunny again, all in 45 minutes. I knew I was not at home after that.

 

[mindo389]

Well, it's always good piloting to pull out of a stall when you're flying. Or as Obi Wan said: "Another happy landing!" It's not my driving that concerns me, it's the others on the road who would rather tend to their social life than pay attention to what's going on around them. Y'all be safe out there.

 

[Norm Peterson]

... I had my right hand on the shifter ready to grab third once I got some momentum, so I had to correct with just my left hand.

Just a track-day hint here, only reach for the shifter when you're going to shift right then. No sooner. Balancing right hand grip against left hand grip is a far more stable arrangement than, say, balancing some of your left arm/shoulder muscles against some of the others.

Maybe think of street driving as being a (much) slower version of track day driving . . .

... I saw the lights flashing but only after I had pulled it through. If I didn't know how to correct without thinking, I would have been toast.

I suggest not even bothering to look there after you've saved one situation - it's already over and done with and it really doesn't matter any more whether you saved it all by yourself or if you had electronic help. You'd be ripe for any new situation.

So what went wrong here? "Cold tires" and lower temps? It's been in the 50's lately and I'd only been driving for about 5 minutes or so. I thought "Mustang loses control for no reason" was a meme, but now I'm not so sure, lol. Like, I get that I upset the car somehow, and maybe some debris or something was in the shoulder, but it just seemed 100% out of proportion for the inputs being given at the time. I've never had the car do that, and even when I try to slide the ass end out I really have to work for it most of the time with TC on.

The 'snap' in 'snap oversteer' describes it quite well. Everything is fine . . . until all of a sudden it isn't. Even my relatively weak-a$$ 4.6 is capable of putting me in that situation if I attempt a near-optimum-conditions maneuver under conditions that are decidedly non-optimum. I've seen this in the wet (on the track), and at least a couple of times on the street under temperature conditions not too much different from yours. Some amount of cornering plus a little too much throttle was what they all had in common.


Norm

 

[BLUE DEVIL]

Summer compound tires start to become sketchy at ambient temps below 60, especially on pavement that has not been heated by the sun. Some are better than others in these conditions, but all are in that "WTF just happened" zone. P Zeros are among the worst in mildly cold situations. If you are gonna drive the car in these conditions or colder, get some all season tires for colder temp driving.

 

[Hack]

So what went wrong here? "Cold tires" and lower temps? It's been in the 50's lately and I'd only been driving for about 5 minutes or so. I thought "Mustang loses control for no reason" was a meme, but now I'm not so sure, lol. Like, I get that I upset the car somehow, and maybe some debris or something was in the shoulder, but it just seemed 100% out of proportion for the inputs being given at the time. I've never had the car do that, and even when I try to slide the ass end out I really have to work for it most of the time with TC on. Has anyone else had an experience like this? Is it just the Pirelli Zero Tractions? Maybe my car picked up 200HP when I wasn't looking. It was completely dry out by the way.

You got it in one. Traction Control and Advancetrac are working, but they can only do so much. If the car goes from having enough traction to having almost none very quickly, it will get out of shape quite a bit even with the nannies on. Bumps and imperfections in the road, cold temperatures, throttle input.. the electronics in modern cars are really good, but they only react after the fact. You still have to pay attention and revise your driving style based on conditions.

And yes, it's partly the Pirelli Zero Tractions. Pilot Super Sports (or 4S, whatever the new name is) will do a lot better in cool and wet conditions than Pirellis. Even when the Pirellis are new they aren't great. If you are careful with Michelin summer performance tires like the Pilot SS, you can use them down in the 20s. That's what I used to do with the GT350 when we started having cool mornings but still in the 50s and 60s in the afternoons. Then I would transition straight to the Blizzaks for when the temperatures were highs in the 20s or thirties. I don't really like to use "all seasons". To me they are more like "no seasons", or "all season suck".

 

[Norm Peterson]

And practice finer throttle modulation than just "a little", "a lot", and jumping quickly between the two. That's what will save you when a sudden cold snap catches you on the "wrong" tires.


Norm

 

[vanquishvzla]

the main issue i notice is pressing the gas "to make noise" instead of pressing the horn... i mean... that's the idea of having a horn that you can activate from your steering wheel...

 

[ice445]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I'll have to be more conscious in the future and use the horn instead lol

 

[Elp_jc]

You still have to pay attention, and revise your driving style based on conditions.

That is the key. I tried to make a deal with Michelin to change the P4S tires (at 75% value) for A/S3+s when car was new (somebody else did that in Europe), but didn't work out here. So will have to wear them out first. And that means driving super defensive when cold, like if I was in my motorcycle. You'd never win with a bike vs a car, and same thing having summer tires in cold weather/pavement. Oh, and don't even think adding 'wet' to that recipe.

Finally, remember the nannies are REACTIVE, as somebody said. And they're designed to work fairly well when losing traction slowly, not suddenly. So yes, just drive more defensively, especially when conditions are not optimal to take more aggressive actions .

 

[Dfeeds]

In hindsight, since you have a stick, just put it in neutral when you're going to blip the throttle at someone. Or even just press the clutch.

 

[br_an]

Yep, the stock Pirellis suck. I run MPS4S for spring/summer and Blizzaks in the colder months. Great traction year round.

 

[Qcman17]

My car gets twitchy pretty easy and won't hook worth a damn. The stock Pirelli Neros blow. I'll run them out but I'm buying something better when they are done. They do make things exciting at times though

Sponsored