Got on it today along a straight road. Must have gone about 2/3 of the way down the gas pedal in second. Car fishtailed about 45 degrees in each direction going over the divider on a two lane road. Took active handling or my steering about one/two seconds to correct. Road was perfectly dry. Really surprised the hell out of me. I know this car is a torque monster but is this normal? How can we safely accelerate this beast?

 

COLD TIRES.

Cant avoid fishtailing. Its a freakin' Vette.

 

Know your road conditions and know your car...

 

I don't understand. Other posts to the contrary I've never had a vette fishtail on me when I was pointed straight to start with. The only time there has ever been fishtailing is when I have told the car to take off before I told it what direction to take. Can there be more to the story?

 

Full throttle acceleration is an art with this car. With traction control on, I can get some fishtailing or "wheel hop" depending on the road surface. With traction control off, the tires will just spin (silently) and throw the rear end out. I'm still learning the intricacies of getting a smooth and straight launch with this car. Of course I've never had a car that developed 400 foot pounds of torque before.

 

Slowly

 

with the cold tires mention. You have to gradually accelerate in a car like a Vette, especially in cold weather. You just cant give it all its got and expect to go straight even if you are pointing the car straight. especially with runflats

 

Remember the C6 has a positrak diff so if you over power the rear tires then there is nothing that will maintain a straight line so it comes down to the driver..as in every case
Michael

 

I concur!

 

It sounds to me like a combination of the tires, power, and Active Handling programming is making C6 a lot more loose than C5. Either that or people are disengaging traction control and expecting Active Handling alone to keep them pointed straight ahead.

My 2001 C5 was never a handful with Active Handling on, and I had to be pretty stupid in Competitive Driving mode for Active Handling not to catch me.

I haven't yet probed the C6's limits in this regard. I wonder if they loosened up Active Handling a little too much considering tires and power? Or are you folks all goofing around in arctic conditions?

.Jinx

 

The C6 has about 50 more horsepower than the C5. There is nothing wrong with the car.

When the weather turns colder, the tires will slip more easily (both front and back). That applies to braking and acceleration.

Drive carefully until you understand how the car will behave with different road and weather conditions. Use an empty parking lot if you need to practice.

Today was Lesson One.

 

Driving to work at 7:00AM, with the temp at 30deg. I nailed my C6 in third gear on the interstate entrance ramp. The tires broke lose causing a fishtail to the right. About a half second later the traction control kicked in and snapped me straight. After that I didn't need coffee that morning.
The combination of cold tires and road, 400hp, and a newbie vette owner, in my humble opinion cause this.

 

I don't understand what the problem is here. We all have paid good money in order to have a car that is capable of doing this. LOL

 

You must not know how to drive then,good thing you don't have a ZO6.

 

Hey now you know the car has lots of power and torque. Take it easy at first until you get the feel of things. This is not grandma's Dodge Dart with push button shifting.

 

I'm doing the mall parking lot on a Sunday morning. Its scary to learn in traffic.

 

Ain't it fun!

 

If you are having this problem in the dry, please be extra careful the first time it rains.

 

Fishtail occurred after about 4 minutes of drive time so cold tires might just be the cause. Still, I never expected it on a straightaway.

 

Technically, it isn't posi. It's limited slip, which doesn't do the "switcheroo" like posi and is much more controllable. My suggestion is to practice. Once you've practiced enough, you won't call it "fishtailing" any more... you'll call it 4 wheel steering.

A few beginner tips. The worst thing you can do is white knuckle it when you start to fishtail. Be calm (not loose, not tight) on the wheel and smooth. With everything you do, do it almost in slow motion. Don't jerk the wheel. Let up on the gas slowly and steadily. The key to coming out of it smoothly is to modulate the gas so that you time the point where the rear wheels grab and regain traction to a point at which the car is pointing in the right direction.

Then when it grabs, make sure your hands are loose on the wheel! If your hands are loose and it grabs traction with the car pointed the right way, your steering wheel will jitter real quick left and right a couple of times and the car will track straight as an arrow. Trying to correct at that last moment, or even trying to hold the wheel from moving, is the biggest newbie mistake and it'll put you in the ditch on the side of the road more times than not. If you are fishing left and right, don't pop your foot off the gas while you are sliding sideways at a 45 degree angle. Correct a little and let the rear slip back and when the car is almost straight, lift smoothly off the gas while you loosen your grip on the wheel. With a little practice, it'll work every time.

YMMV of course, and do this at your own risk. Of course, if active handling comes into the picture, it will have more say than you as to when the rear wheels regain traction.

Mike