Was going around a turn the other day when I felt the traction give out on the back tires and kick the tail to the right. Well after a very quick trip across two lanes of traffic, a median and two more lanes of traffic I ended in a field with the car a little beat up . . . mostly on the underbody so I do not know the extent of the damage . . . yet. Insurance took it away today. Question I have is has anyone else had a similiar problem or know what could cause a slide like that (mechanical faulire etc.). Road was DRY and it was a gradual 45 degree turn that I take every day of the year. Speed was 63mph on good tires. Oh, I have also driven through snow and slush and had the car slide and this was nothing like that. . . once the back gave I had no control.

 

that happened to me when i first got my car...
but mine was caused by a spring spacer that was left in (i had even inspected for them and missed it)
were you changing your acceleration (either increasing or decreasing)?
once the rear goes it can be hard to get back- mine resulted in a power slide (sliding sideways with no traction)

 

If something upsets the balance of the car (bump, weight shift, throttle lift, standing water, etc.) while cornering hard, the rear can skip out. You have to anticipate this to have a reasonable chance of catching a slide. High speed oversteer is a lot scarier than low speed snow drifting.

Sorry to hear about your mishap, hopefully no injuries.

///Robin

 

I do not mean this as a flame (believe me, I lost the rear end of my S2000 in August and did $7k damage to it), but this was simply driver error.

Traction will never just "give out" unless you've done something to make this happen.

Best thing I can suggest is take your S2000 to the track and learn the limits of the car in a safe environment. Short of that, don't drive it aggresively around corners until you have warmed up the tires sufficiently.

 

No acceleration change. Pretty much averaged between 60 - 65. Was going 63 last I looked down before it happened.

 

Of course without seeing the curve in question, it is hard to assume what speed would be needed to make the car lose control. The thing is that your back end did lose traction. This would be simply a result of a couple of possibilities

-you lifted off the throttle during the corner
-your tires were too cold still
-rapid steering input
etc
(again, these are all possiblilties, I'm not saying this is what happened as I wasn't there)

Basically your speed had to of affected the outcome... just as it did when the same thing happened to me. My tires were too cold, and I went into the corner too fast... just driver error for not realizing I was going beyond my limits.

 

Not taken as a flame . . . but I have had the car for just over three years and have pushed it harder than I had it that day . . . the turn was not something one would consider "challenging" and after 35 minutes of driving I would consider the tires warmed up. Also, I would not call that turn or my driving that day aggressive.

 

If your tires were not warmed up enough they could of given out. Ahwww you posted before I did I'll still keep this up for those who don't know about warming the tires up before taking corners. Wait a minute, you said 35 minutes, I've had to drive for a good hour or so to properly warm my tires

 

Oil on the road.. possibilites are limitless

 

Pick of the road and the marks left after the car slid.