Scary moment!

H

highway1

Member
Having been away for a few days, I took the coupe out to give it a run. Onto the local dual carriageway, accelerate quite hard in second as I go to overtake an Audi A3 , all's fine until I change up to third and very suddenly lose traction which throws the car sideways , almost hitting the Audi I am passing! :o
I suppose the road was a little damp but what with all the salt on the road (even in the south west) must have made them really greasy.

I think if I used the car a lot , id probably get some winter tyres but think for now, after that lucky escape, i'll just have to go easy on that
throttle until the spring!
I hate to think what it would have been like with DTC disengaged and cheapo tyres!

Never had that happen before even with a rear wheel drive Mercedes SL500 that I had a few years back. And it definately wasn't an issue in the Impreza before that!
 
do you still have the clutch delay valve on, did you match revs when changing gear or leave foot on accelerator

I didnt like the CDV as on hard acceleration the clutch engage a bit slower and i was putting throttle down so could match, so on roundabouts it could step back end out
 
markplant said:
Is your car still on run flat tyres, as these are even worse in the cold
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No, its on Goodyear Eagle F1 A2. .

Funnily enough, I've just been away skiing in the Alps and had a Nissan Juke hire car over there,that got driven hard at times on slushy snowy roads, with many hairpin bends and had no problems- I think the Z4 would have been bloody lethal over there- winter tyres or not!

Obviously, the Z4 is much more powerful but puts it into context how you have to respect it!
 
biojo said:
do you still have the clutch delay valve on, did you match revs when changing gear or leave foot on accelerator

I didnt like the CDV as on hard acceleration the clutch engage a bit slower and i was putting throttle down so could match, so on roundabouts it could step back end out
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My car does still have the CDV.

Maybe I could get this removed as the gear change does seem a little cumbersome at times (even with fresh oil) although I know that BMW manuals aren't the best in the world.
 
Welcome to the learning curve :driving: :thumbsup: I drive my Zed like a nanny when it's cold. You can still make good progress. You just can't take the P or she'll ave ye. :oops: :lol:
 
It's road conditions like you had when you realise that you are driving a high performance car. With or without runflats or CDV the back end will break away if your accelerating as fast as you can.

I only ever press my Sport button in dry or nearly dry conditions and expect the back end to break away when accelerating hard, so I am ready to catch it before it happens. I once provoked the traction control light to come on changing into 4th, and I didn't think the road conditions were too bad. :o
 
RickRob said:
It's road conditions like you had when you realise that you are driving a high performance car. With or without runflats or CDV the back end will break away if your accelerating as fast as you can.

I only ever press my Sport button in dry or nearly dry conditions and expect the back end to break away when accelerating hard, so I am ready to catch it before it happens. I once provoked the traction control light to come on changing into 4th, and I didn't think the road conditions were too bad. :o
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What tyres are you running ? If it's dry and warm, third is planted for me , as is second. Anything cold or wet then that's a different story like OP said
 
RickRob said:
It's road conditions like you had when you realise that you are driving a high performance car. With or without runflats or CDV the back end will break away if your accelerating as fast as you can.

I only ever press my Sport button in dry or nearly dry conditions and expect the back end to break away when accelerating hard, so I am ready to catch it before it happens. I once provoked the traction control light to come on changing into 4th, and I didn't think the road conditions were too bad. :o
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Enable M-Track, that makes the car a totally different beast!!
 
-Tom- said:
RickRob said:
It's road conditions like you had when you realise that you are driving a high performance car. With or without runflats or CDV the back end will break away if your accelerating as fast as you can.

I only ever press my Sport button in dry or nearly dry conditions and expect the back end to break away when accelerating hard, so I am ready to catch it before it happens. I once provoked the traction control light to come on changing into 4th, and I didn't think the road conditions were too bad. :o
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What tyres are you running ? If it's dry and warm, third is planted for me , as is second. Anything cold or wet then that's a different story like OP said
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At the time I was on some fairly cr@p Dunlops on the rear. Now Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetrics all round, which are a lot better.

When warm and dry all is good. When older and wetter I don't push on so hard!
 
VRSteve said:
RickRob said:
It's road conditions like you had when you realise that you are driving a high performance car. With or without runflats or CDV the back end will break away if your accelerating as fast as you can.

I only ever press my Sport button in dry or nearly dry conditions and expect the back end to break away when accelerating hard, so I am ready to catch it before it happens. I once provoked the traction control light to come on changing into 4th, and I didn't think the road conditions were too bad. :o
Click to expand...

Enable M-Track, that makes the car a totally different beast!!
Click to expand...

Just read the first 3 pages of a very long post on M-Track. Sounds interesting!
 
Track mode is great. Meeko has it all worked out, and coded it for me. Works perfectly and adds to the car in the dry, lets the diff do its just job unless you really upset the car and then stability will try and help. It really should come as a standard
 
-Tom- said:
Track mode is great. Meeko has it all worked out, and coded it for me. Works perfectly and adds to the car in the dry, lets the diff do its just job unless you really upset the car and then stability will try and help. It really should come as a standard
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Did he code the CSL values in too??
 
As others have said, cold weather, greasy roads, summer rubber, low traction heaven for some, but dangerous if you just want to press on a little.

Chalk it down to experience, stay safe :thumbsup:
 
VRSteve said:
-Tom- said:
Track mode is great. Meeko has it all worked out, and coded it for me. Works perfectly and adds to the car in the dry, lets the diff do its just job unless you really upset the car and then stability will try and help. It really should come as a standard
Click to expand...


Did he code the CSL values in too??
Click to expand...

Is that the adjustments for the yaw angles , the tolerances before the stability kicks in?
 
-Tom- said:
VRSteve said:
-Tom- said:
Track mode is great. Meeko has it all worked out, and coded it for me. Works perfectly and adds to the car in the dry, lets the diff do its just job unless you really upset the car and then stability will try and help. It really should come as a standard
Click to expand...


Did he code the CSL values in too??
Click to expand...

Is that the adjustments for the yaw angles , the tolerances before the stability kicks in?
Click to expand...

Yep!!
 
Glad you got away with it unscathed OP.
I'm new to my Z4, (had it for less than 48 hours). I have to say that during my drive home yesterday on wet, muddy country roads at about 2degC I was very aware at how easy it would be to lose it with little warning esp with sport button pushed. Going to take it steady until it warms up / dries out and I understand how the car behaves.
 
Glad to hear it worked out OK OP. :thumbsup:

I can see why it didn't happen with an SL500 (a bit of a cruiser compared to a Z4) or with a Subaru (4wd rally weapon)!

Mine still has Bridgestone RFTs that are well past their best, and in current weather conditions judging it right is part of the fun! :lol:

But it is better to build up slowly than to just plant it and see what happens!
 
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