Say what?

[QUOTE]dont drive the s in rain if u dont have to.

 

Doh!

 

[QUOTE=dyhppy,Sep 27 2005, 02:13 AM] dont drive the s in rain if u dont have to.

 

I'm not sure if the VSA will help much in most cases (it might help a little in this particular case a little?).

Personally I think traction controls are more of a gimmick than practicality most of the time. Tires are made of rubber. No matter what you do with them, they are made of rubber.

A lot of times when people slide/spin out, they do so because they are going too fast. Perhaps traction control will help if one "accidently" gives too much gas from a dead start, and it'll simply cut down on the fuel supply and throttle opening. In that case, most drivers can probably correct that themelves. But when the car is skidding while your car is in motion because it carries too much momentum, it doesn't help too much ...

I'm saying this because I tried to experiment this myself using a E46 3-series in a wet empty lot with traction control turned on and then turned off again doing the exact same "moves". It didn't seem to save the car much, unless it's from a dead stop. (note ... it attempts to save the car, never prevents it, and wasn't too successful) Correct me if I'm wrong though (Maybe I really don't know much about traction controls/physics or I wasn't stress testing the system enough)

In any case, glad to hear that the driver and passenger are okay ... that's some serious damage there!

 

There IS a difference between traction control and Stability Assist. Anyone can defeat a system like this if their mind is set to do so. Take your fancy(not intended to be condescending) ABS system and try to get that Anti-lock action in gravel.

In the same respect...ABS works very fast right? Well in Drizzle's case, VSA would have responded at the first sign of wheel slippage (possibly with the help of ABS sensors). A properly trained human can react fast enough to control the slide that Drizzle induced, there is no doubt in my mind that VSA or traction control would have reacted faster than any person could.

Sadly, as mentioned most people will turn it off before it has a chance to help them.

 

VSA is more than just traction control (as others have mentioned). The system consists of wheel speed sensors, throttle position sensor, steering wheel angle sensor, and a yaw sensor. There are times that VSA cannot help: ie. going too fast for physics to allow you to make a corner. But in this case (from what i've read here), it would have prevented this accident.

The wheel speed sensors would detect that the wheels were spinning faster than the vehicle speed and immediately signal the Drive-by-Wire throttle system to reduce power. The Yaw sensor would compare it's data with the steering wheel sensor data and signal the ABS system to apply the brake to the appropriate wheel to keep the car going straight.

Assuming the system works like all the other in the Honda/Acura world, it will be always on unless you actively turn it off. This must be shut off each time you restart the car if you want it off for that driving session.

 

Whoa man that sucks

 

To tell you the truth, I haven't been driving it that much lately. I do have two extra set's of OEM wheel's for my S all with OEM tire's. One set is trashed, one set is so so and one set look's pretty good. Regardless of mile's on a set of S-02's, you have to be careful in adverse condition's as well as perfect conditions.

I do look forward to driving in the rain, but I'll be extra careful. Sometime's a perfect condition can be a recipe for disaster as a driver will tend to push the limit's at speed's that could not be achieved in the wet.

I alway's say to myself, "I'm gonna take it easy" then I wind up pushing 8-9 tenth's

Just some input of my experience's in adverse condition's in my S2000. At around 13k mile's on my original S-02's, I was going up Hwy 12 just North of Sonoma. It had been raining pretty hard. On certain section's of road, (type of asphalt, groove's, dip's, puddle's, ect.) I could barely maintain 40-45 mph without the entire car just literally slithering all over the road. Certain section's of road i could reach 50-52 mph The thing is, when I would hit a particular section of road in which my car would start to slither, I would have to immediately drop the speed back down to 40-42 mph. It seem's that my tire's got progressively worse after I reached 8-9k mile's.

I almost lost it going just under 100 mph (I know, I'm a dumbass) during threshold braking in a straight line on a dry road. Funny thing was, I had done the same exact thing over and over without consequence, but this time, the tire's had progressively worn out to the point were I could not achieve the same level of stupidity as I had several week's before on the same isolated road at 3:00 in the morning

At 2k mile's, (2k mile's driven on my original set of OEM S-02's) I fishtailed in the rain while going uphill doing 70 mph. When going uphill, more power has to be applied to the drive wheel's (rear in this case) to propel a vehicle. Apply more power + standing water = wheel spin which = fishtailing. The car seemed fine at 60 mph in a downpour. At 65, it seemed nervous. At 70, BINGO!!!

So you see, whether your tire's have 2k mile's or 13k mile's driven on them, don't be a dumbass

My car has never been scratched.

*knock's on wood*

 

somebody mentioned in this thread somewhere that all tire's have rain groove's. It is true, all tire's have groove's, but I believe that some perform better in adverse condition's than other's.

It's not whether or not a tire has groove's that dictate a tire's ability to displace water, but the pattern in which the groove's are positioned as well as other factor's. Why do you think the Potenza S-02 is listed as a "summer only" tire?

To answer your question, no, I'm am not running anything differen't in wet weather.




But I would like to be