Wet Driving

[ahl395]

No problems for me on around 700whp. I have 285/305 Michelin Super Sports and a bunch of suspension mods.

Just have to be light on the throttle. Even on wet pavement I can get mild acceleration at certain speeds inbetween shifts. Just have to know your car's limits.

If you have steering modes I always put it in Sport in the rain, gives a much tighter and more confident feeling of the road.

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[Hack]

In my 2015 GT I would turn off advance trac almost every day, but I wouldn't turn it off on wet days. The stock tires seemed fine to me. Not great for dry weather grip, but decent enough for inexpensive tires. In the GT350 the tuning for traction control seems to be different, and I use weather mode on wet days just for the extra safety factor.

In my opinion there's nothing heroic about not using the driver aids that Ford gives you. Try them out and use them if you like them.

 

[Nugatti]

Stock Pirellis are terrible for wet driving! After I changed to some cheap Kumho Ecsta rear tires I have much better grip and higher confidence while driving in the rain.

In my opinion, and this applies to summer tires in North Europe, where one is most likely to reach and exceed ones tire capability during daily driving is not during dry cornering or even acceleration, but during heavy rain. So opting for the tire with the best performance in the wet for a daily driver is smart.

 

[NoVaGT]

This isn't some groundbreaking topic...

I'm just curious - You GT (and beyond) folks;
How do you keep things glued to the ground when it's wet outside?

My turbo is as nervous as a hootchie in church if I even *look* at the throttle too hard when the road is wet. That makes me wonder how much the V8s need to be feather-footed when the ground is wet.

Do you guys use the "snow mode" to keep things in check or just exercise moderation?

I actually know how to drive, because the cars I drove growing up weren't full of nanny crapola. So I don't rely on the car to fix my driving for me.

What a stupid question; "Oh, I just go around crashing everywhere like a dumbass, foot to the floor 100% of the time".:frusty::frusty:

 

[Norm Peterson]

stopping distance seems a good proxy, although there isn't that much difference from best to worst, to deploy the word atrocious.

It may not be the difference in ultimate capability as much as the break-away characteristics (i.e. sudden vs more gradual).


Norm

 

[BmacIL]

It may not be the difference in ultimate capability as much as the break-away characteristics (i.e. sudden vs more gradual).


Norm

This is exactly the issue. The pirellis break away very suddenly in the wet, in addition to not having all that great of ultimate grip.

 

[Stuntman]

The Pirellis suck when cold and have a very abrupt and snappy break-aeay. They take a lot longer to get heat in them when worn, which makes the problem worse for driving on the street where you really can't get heat into them. Thus, on the street, they typically have zero grip.

I like the new Continental ExtremeContact SPORT.

 

[Ebm]

I don't get why people bother turning off driving aids. I get people turn off aids in situational driving. Say, if you want to purposely throw the back end out. But normal driving, especially inclement weather, for all of humanity, keep the damn aids on. I don't care how good you think you are, you aren't better than a computer. Trust me.

There is a reason why professional race car drivers use aids when possible. Aids are a product of modern technological advancement for the better of everyone. Some racing series ban aids, but if they aren't banned, you better believe they are used.

 

[NoVaGT]

I love it when people buy a car, go through their first set of tires, and then buy some other make/brand tires.

They immediately declare their new tires 1,000,000 times better than the stock tires. "Those Pirellis are crap. My new (insert tire of choice here) tires are waaaay better than the OEM tires".


Of course your new tires are better than your beat-on, worn out OEM tires.

 

[NoVaGT]

I don't get why people bother turning off driving aids. I get people turn off aids in situational driving. Say, if you want to purposely throw the back end out. But normal driving, especially inclement weather, for all of humanity, keep the damn aids on. I don't care how good you think you are, you aren't better than a computer. Trust me.

There is a reason why professional race car drivers use aids when possible. Aids are a product of modern technological advancement for the better of everyone. Some racing series ban aids, but if they aren't banned, you better believe they are used.

First; Bullshit. And I say that with all due respect.

Second; People will never learn how to actually drive their cars, if they let computers do it for them.

Good Lord, how did anyone make it through the 50s & 60s with big power and absolutely shit tires, in all sorts of weather conditions? Dunno, must have been magic, pixie dust or something.

Third; The systems real race cars use are vastly better than what is on our cars. That's why racers will use them; they are engineered and designed for the track.

Our systems are jack-of-all-trade systems, that in reality suck.

I hate this PC push for lowest-common-denominator everything attitude. No one is pushed, no one is challenged, no one is to learn anything.

 

[Norm Peterson]

My turbo is as nervous as a hootchie in church if I even *look* at the throttle too hard when the road is wet. That makes me wonder how much the V8s need to be feather-footed when the ground is wet.

Define "too hard" . . . like how far as a percentage of wide open do you think you're stepping into it?

What gear are you driving around in when it feels like this? Manual or automatic? If automatic, are you kicking it down a gear with your throttle foot? OE or aftermarket tune?


None of my cars has ever had "drive modes". But I do know what throttle response that's too fast for certain driving conditions feels like and the extra difficulty it adds. You can teach your right foot to be 'smarter', but this is one of my gripes about tunes that are all about snappy throttle response.


Norm

 

[Hashbrownn]

I used the wet/snow mode when I had my P-Zeros.
I haven't had to use the wet/snow mode since I switched to MPSS.
Not spinning tires is easy in GT. Clutch and Throttle modulation is the key

 

[Stuntman]

I love it when people buy a car, go through their first set of tires, and then buy some other make/brand tires.

They immediately declare their new tires 1,000,000 times better than the stock tires. "Those Pirellis are crap. My new (insert tire of choice here) tires are waaaay better than the OEM tires".


Of course your new tires are better than your beat-on, worn out OEM tires.

Objectively, when cold (very important for the street), hot, worn, dry, or wet, the Michelin PSS and Continental ExtremeContact SPORT are MUCH better than the crappy stock Pirellis. New for new, old for old.

 

[BmacIL]

I don't get why people bother turning off driving aids. I get people turn off aids in situational driving. Say, if you want to purposely throw the back end out. But normal driving, especially inclement weather, for all of humanity, keep the damn aids on. I don't care how good you think you are, you aren't better than a computer. Trust me.

There is a reason why professional race car drivers use aids when possible. Aids are a product of modern technological advancement for the better of everyone. Some racing series ban aids, but if they aren't banned, you better believe they are used.

Uh, yeah, no. The aids aren't perfect, nor better than a driver that knows how to control a car with decent proficiency. They're there for the non-enthusiast/untrained (in performance driving) driver. I only keep the aids on during normal driving because I don't usually think to turn them off, and for the chance of a weird circumstance (oil spot, random wet patch with traffic) happening. Plus I'm usually not driving hard enough around town to get them excited. The car is actually more predictable with the aids off, as they tend to step in around the same time as you're correcting, and it can be pretty unsettling. I've also autocrossed the car in the cold and wet with the aids off, and it was quite manageable and easy to control throttle oversteer.

Racing aids are entirely different from what is in passenger cars. They're calibrated far differently and have a different purpose.

 

[millhouse]

The car is actually more predictable with the aids off, as they tend to step in around the same time as you're correcting, and it can be pretty unsettling.

I can attest to this.

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