ttx350z

thrilled

davepl

I've only had the back end get totally "light" on me once. I was driving on a 55mph freeway and it started to rain, and I had drag radials on the back. No traffic so I slowed to 40, thinking that slow would always be safe. But it rained a little harder and the rear tires hydroplaned.

That is a SPOOKY feeling that induced some major pucker.

Remember, at that point physics has won the argument, and there's not much that DSC can do unless the car comes around far enough to gain traction at the tires.

Hard to know why the light was on after. No airbag, right? I don't think the -car- considers a crash event to have happened unless there's an airbag deployment, so I don't think it was a reaction to that. Just guesses though!

Plstxmd

dork

Dunno why the OP was the 'victim' of an accident, but two things are apparent from the video...

Vehicle speed in the video was no less than 75mph; the length of the lines and the distance between them are standardized--anyone can gauge by approximation how fast that car was traveling in the film. (If you doubt me, clock the time it takes YOU to traverse the lines at 75mph in dry weather and then watch the video again.) Secondly, no car(s) were 'plowing' water ahead; the video shows plainly that the water in the lane is undisturbed, there's not even a semblance of a "damp" surface--the water is "standing" undispersed. (There's even a car ahead throwing water into the driver's lane.)

On the freeway during a rain, I do my best to trail someone who'll dissipate the water ahead of me some. These tires are 'way too wide to expect them to disperse water infallibly at posted speeds +5mph in a rain. No insult intended. At least no one got hurt. An 'expensive' lesson, but kudos to the OP for posting the video for all to see--despite the best manufacturer claims, even new winter tire treads will fail to disperse water/snow when pushed beyond their inherent limits. We take a lot for granted; I know I do, and I, too, learned the hard way (years ago).

Internets_Ninja

How was the tread on your rear tires? It's possible you hit a patch of oil or something too. Doesn't look like you were driving beyond the cars limits unless either your rear tires were worn out or you ran into oil on the road.

Marcho Polo

If you did not notice the light before the impact, I would think perhaps the light was on due to the impact, maybe a sensor is damaged and ESC can't work now. Does the light stay on after turning the car off and back on again?

What Michelin tires were you driving on? The regular Pilot Sport or the Cup 2 tires? How many miles on them?

I recall hearing a Michelin spokesperson at an IMSA race in the Corvette Corral mention that the Pilot Sport are actually not bad in the wet, it's the temps that impact their performance.

Marcho Polo

oh and another important question, did you have cruise control on when this happened?

kitesurfer

the video would not open for me. anyway, hello from another jax vette.

dxbtune

I had the exact same thing happen to me but in my Z28. I was running toyo R888 and they still had a little tread left. Luckily I was in the middle of a 3 lane and had room to save it. I almost sh&$ my pants and drove on the feeder the whole way to work and bought new rear tires right away that evening.

How bad was the damage?

thrilled

KnightmareCS

1000% the tires.

dial666

no verbal reaction? i would have been like WTF