I was driving the Vette one day and the roads were a little wet. I was passing a car at a slow speed and as I accelerated the Vette started to go sideways toward the car I was passing. I let of the gas to bing it under control and the accelerated again with the same result. I though the traction control system was supposed to control this situation and keep the rear under the car. Has anyone else experienced this. The incident has cause a loss of confidence in the car on wet surfaces.

 

The nanny can't repeal the laws of physics, it can only try to mitigate your driving mistakes within the limits of the possible. You can't just stomp the accelerator to the floor in wet conditions. No way the tires can maintain traction in that case. Even Active Handling can't save your butt if you do that. Drive like a sane person and the nanny can be helpful, but go too far over the line and you're in the hands of the angels.

 

No offense mate, but I have to agree with Shopdog...this is a driving error on your part. You can easily pass people in your Corvette on wet roads (I have done it plenty of times), you just need to not mash the throttle.

I'm gonna tell you right now, not even God is going to prevent the ***-end from kicking out if you mash the throttle, let alone traction control.

 

High performance car; low performance driver. This subject/error has been discussed repeatedly in the Forum. Please drive a bit more gently.

Peace, out.

 

Nothing's broke... you just need to adjust the nut behind the steering wheel..

 

There you go.

 

This is absolutely normal, I have had the exact thing happen in sub-freezing temps, the thing is not on rails and your rear-end will overtake your front end easily in this car. You have to be careful.

 

What shape are tires in ? It could also have to do w/ tire tread depth

 

 

Actually it sounds like you were beyond where Traction Control would try to stop wheel spin - you were into an area where Active Handling would be invoked to try to stop a skidding/sliding type of problem.

The TC tries to stop wheel spin by pulling power.

The AH comes into play when the yaw-rate sensors and accelerometers detect the tail end is turning at a rate faster than the steering angle inputs and probably some other sensors in the car are calling for - i.e., the car is trying to swap ends on you. When that happens, the AH puts on individual brakes to try and stop the azz end from passing the front end.

You say the road was wet. However, with the stock tires are high performance SUMMER tires. Even if the road were perfectly dry, when the temps are down in the low 60's or especially into the 50's or below - LOOK OUT!! The tires just don't grip well on cold pavement.

Bob

 

You guys are cruel. I can't be that bad of a driver as I am still here and nothing was hurt. I was just curious as the traction system of the Magnum I have will put the rear right back under the car in similiar situations. With the Vette there was no feel of any system trying to help bring it under control. It was ALL GOOD DRIVING SKILL THAT BROUGHT IT BACK UNDER CONTROL. LOL

 

I'm with ya buddy! I drive with "the nanny" off, but during those times when I do forget to turn if off I have been surprised at how allowing it was to let you have the back end out. The systems in our BMWs are much less allowing--which is to say much more intrusive. I for one think that the system should be much more restrictive in full "on" mode. But I thank the driving gods that we can, should we choose, turn the darn thing off. Even if I never use it, I want to know it's there for my wife. Don't tell her I said that.

 

No offense to the OP, but I will use this line again, that is great.

 

I don't think they are being cruel. Even the best race car drivers have trouble in the wet. I wouldn't compare it to your Magnum either since it may have better tires for the wet. If you are on the OEM GY runflats then it most likely does have better tires. Vette also has more power, more torque and weighs less. The electronic systems can't help you break the laws of physics.

Also what was the surface of the road like. Usually they are crowned. In the end, it was the steering wheel actuator's fault. In some older high performance cars you would have been spinning out in a heart beat. The car gave you a clue that you were losing it and you did the right thing in the end.

 

BAD idea. There's absolutely no reason under the sun to turn off AH on public roads. If the OP had AH turned off when his "event" happened, it would probably have been a bad day depending on what he hit when he spun off the road. He thinks he saved himself by letting off the gas but it was AH that saved his butt.

 

Don't pay attention to the disparaging comments.

I bet it was good skill that saved you.

I'd rather try to educate you about the systems of the car than throw crap your way.

There are some forum members that don't want any help from the "nannies". They say every time they get in the car they turn TC and AH completely off.

I run on the track in either Comp or AH off completely off.

However, I never turn everything off on the street (occasionally I'll put it in Comp mode, but not very often). The race track is a fairly sterile environment, but you never know what kind of junk you'll find on the street.

I'm not good enough to beat the capabilities of the AH. It's evaluating the situation something like every 1000th of a second - and reacting that fast too. I used to fly airliners, and I wish I could fly an approach as good as a digital autoflight system can. When the autopilot flies, the needles never move. When the pilot is flying, they've got to see some movement before they can react, so the best they can do is keep the bracketing to a real low level.

On the track you don't want the AH grabbing the brakes all the time just because you're maneuvering harder than it's programmed for. Butt....on the street it's definitely your friend!

Bob

 

The vette will allow the rear tires to spin and some sideways motion to occur when AH is on. The limited slip diff will kick you to the side a bit as both wheels spin.. I have done this on mine but it limits the lateral motion if excessive... I mostly get a bit skewed and the rear comes back in line.. I don't get the AH active message unless its an abrupt move or the rear slides too much... The system is not like a Lexus setup where if a tire slips.. everything comes on full..

 

The vette will allow the rear tires to spin and some sideways motion to occur when AH is on. The limited slip diff will kick you to the side a bit as both wheels spin.. I have done this on mine but it limits the lateral motion if excessive... I mostly get a bit skewed and the rear comes back in line.. I don't get the AH active message unless its an abrupt omve or the rear slides too much... The system is not like a Lexus setup where if a tire slips.. everything comes on full.. It's not tuned to be intrusive...

 

None of my trucks have had AH/TC. The car I will be building won't have it. All those classic cars we admire at shows don't have it. I suppose I could have my trucks stored and just look at them. We've all gotten by to this point without it. I do wear seat belts, but I don't wear my flame retardant suit on the drive to work. It's a slippery slope in your way of thinking to having HP restrictions, 55 MPH speed limits and intrusive electronic shenanigans mandated for the benefit of the people. I'm all for being safe, but I'll do it my way. And when I wind up in ditch, I'll remember to post some pics for you.

 

Its easy to say nut behind the wheel.

Fact is these cars are dangerous.

the AH is crap compared to the HP and summer tires which fail miserably in cool weather.

If you get a chance to Autox your car... do it.

It will give you a rude awakening as you do a spin out of control with all the nannies on.