Originally Posted by DANNOV

You can lose it in any car with handling/traction control. The automatic controls will not handle an extreme situation like the one just described, i.e. making a sharp left turn from a standing stop at 4000 rpm. In effect he was trying to burn rubber while making a sharp turn, it is no wonder he spun, that is a recipe for making smoking 360 degree donuts. I am not making any value judgments about the driver, just an observation based on what he wrote.

The traction/handling control is designed for situation where the car is just the edge of losing traction or just over the edge. For example, if you take a corner that has a max cornering speed of 60 mph and you are going 65 mph, the system will detect the loss of traction and attempt to save you from disaster. But if you take that same corner at 75 mph it may fail to save your ***.

With 400 HP it is very easy to get way over the limit and far beyond the limit of traction, very quickly. You have to be gentle with this car, especially in accelerating out of corners. Gradually give it gas coming out of a corner, but the car has to be fairly straight before you hammer the accelerator.

If you are on a race track in the wet and trying to go fast, you are near the edge of traction on most corners and you can feel the system kick-in. The system is nice because it gives you a gentle warning every time you are near or a bit over the edge of traction. It helps you to find the limits of traction both in the wet and dry, and those are good things to know. But if you are way over the edge, the only hope you have of being saved, is GOD.

Originally Posted by jj55

Hey,

I was unlucky enough to have been in an accident in my fully loaded Z51. Yuck, but what can I do now?

Front drivers side is jacked up and front frame bent up. Jeez, how bad is this going to be after repairs? Anyone have experience after frame bent in front?

I say a 7mm bend on the passenger side front frame max. The drivers side front frame rail is going to get replaced for sure.

This really sucks.

What's worse when it happened I was just pulling out from a stop to a left turn. Wheels spun up I think to 4k RPM and this puppy did not want to stop even after a 60 ft slide with me pouncing all over the brakes. It's like the car got traction again and just violently swung to the left which caused impact way after I released the throttle and hit the the brakes. It did not want to respond to any input I was giving it I didnt have much of a choice a pole or a brick wall. LOL, that choice sucks. I chose the wall due to it being brick and hit it with a glancing blow.

Now I'm all depressed, and all freaked out. Never had this happen in the past with any car. Just when you think you know a car well, BOOM something GOOFY pops up!

Maybe it was the road condition that caused me to slide with the sand in the middle, but I thought I would stop way before it did.

I was like sliding saying STOP!!!!! DAMN IT STOP!!!! Then it kicked to the left and I was like FREAKIN STOP you damn car!!!
I am going to eat &*(&(*.

Well...I ate it. F&&(!!!!

The whole time I felt like a cowboy on a runaway horse...LOL!

Anyone have good experience with car after frame repairs..or is it gonna be just sub-par now?

I never had any collisions before, as I have always avoided them somehow someway, but this vette really seemed like it had an appetite for destruction. It just didnt want to stop, then it just slung left and ate up that brick wall. I still dont get why II slung left so hard, but oh well damage is done.

I feel like just turning it into a track car now and rebuilding the whole damn car with kick *** aftermarket parts if I have to pull equity out of my house to do it. I love the car, but damn I might have to rename it widowmaker since it is black and likes to head for brick walls after long braking. What the hell happened with this puppy kicking to the left so violently?

Anyway...how bad is this going to be after repairs? The same?