lov-n-life
Well-known member
Ok, after almost a month of beautiful weather I woke up this morning to rain falling. Not very nice of the weatherman, now I have to wash the underside of my new car.
ad Anyhow, I can now firmly vouch for the ABS, traction control, and active handling working on my car! And that was just at the first intersection! So there is this very "nice" "S" corner on the highway entrance ramp I use to wake up to every morning. In my Boxster, the highest speed I hit on the straight run approaching these corners was about 80, that was all she had. Even that was impressive considering the short uphill run. The "S" corners could be taken between 50 and 60 with a little back talk from the tires. Now with the C5's power, I've seen triple digits on the short straight run... a little bit of a pucker factor, but WOW. But that was in dry conditions. The corners were still limited to 60. This morning, all that changed. While slowing (smoothly, and I wasn't moving very fast to begin with) for a red light, the front end wanted to plow a little bit and the ABS activated. That got my attention, and so when the light turned green I was very careful in power application giving just enough throttle to keep the engine running and idle away from the light. That, however, was still too much as even idle was enough to spin the wheels and the traction control kicked in. Hmmm, that's not a good sign, I still have 20 miles to work... Then came the run up to the "S" corners. I stayed at about 30MPH instead of my usual acceleration. As I began approaching the first curver, I let up on all the pedals and figured I would coast through them. I recall the HUD indicating 28MPH when I entered the corner. Here are the characteristics of this corner. Coming off of the straight there is a decline in the road, aprox 10 degrees downward, entering into the corner that then begins a fairly steep incline as it banks to the left, the road is positively cambered. The surface is smooth construction, made of coarse cement (lots of dry traction) with an occasioanl irregularity. The first corner smoothly enters the second corner, a sharper turn to the right, very little positive camber as it flattens out onto the highway. Immediatly after entering the highway, there is a 1 foot wide steel expansion joint (merges onto a bridge). Here is this mornings scenario... As I said, I was coasting into the first corner at 28 MPH. I was on the far right in order to cut the corner as wide as possible, yet make a nice cut across the apex. That plan however changed as I turned in. I was very smooth on the turn in as I was trying to be cautious, and I was slow. Almost as soon as I started turning the wheel the car started pushing. :eek No throttle, no brakes, no clutch inputs, just steering. I sawed the wheel a little bit trying to get the front tires to bite and it just wasn't happening. In an effort to force the car to correct I turned in much harder (to induce the active handling), and rested my foot on the throttle. This had the desired effect as the rear started to come around and the active handling took over from there and the car regained it's composure. I crossed the apex at about 15MPH and maintained that speed around the corner and into the second where I modestly applied throttle in order to merge. I was in 3rd gear the entire time I was in the "S". As I merged and accerated, I went into 4th to keep the revs low and then 5th right before crossing the metal expansion joint. Even in 5th with light throttle, the rear end still tried to spin on the joint, but I expected it. Traction control caught it almost immediatly. The rest of my drive to work was uneventful.
I did not have any traction problems in my C4 (Goodyear GSC EMTs), nor did I in my Boxster with Bridgestone Potenza 750s. So my question then, is my wet weather traction issue just because the tires are still new (less than 2000 miles on them), because of different compounds as compared to the GSC EMTs, or is this a chassis set up issue? Since the Corvette is my only car, I have to be able to rely on it regardless of weather conditions to get me where I need to go. I'm moving at the beginning of the month and will face steeper hills, and more of them, every day at my new place. Suggestions? Comments?
ad Anyhow, I can now firmly vouch for the ABS, traction control, and active handling working on my car! And that was just at the first intersection! So there is this very "nice" "S" corner on the highway entrance ramp I use to wake up to every morning. In my Boxster, the highest speed I hit on the straight run approaching these corners was about 80, that was all she had. Even that was impressive considering the short uphill run. The "S" corners could be taken between 50 and 60 with a little back talk from the tires. Now with the C5's power, I've seen triple digits on the short straight run... a little bit of a pucker factor, but WOW. But that was in dry conditions. The corners were still limited to 60. This morning, all that changed. While slowing (smoothly, and I wasn't moving very fast to begin with) for a red light, the front end wanted to plow a little bit and the ABS activated. That got my attention, and so when the light turned green I was very careful in power application giving just enough throttle to keep the engine running and idle away from the light. That, however, was still too much as even idle was enough to spin the wheels and the traction control kicked in. Hmmm, that's not a good sign, I still have 20 miles to work... Then came the run up to the "S" corners. I stayed at about 30MPH instead of my usual acceleration. As I began approaching the first curver, I let up on all the pedals and figured I would coast through them. I recall the HUD indicating 28MPH when I entered the corner. Here are the characteristics of this corner. Coming off of the straight there is a decline in the road, aprox 10 degrees downward, entering into the corner that then begins a fairly steep incline as it banks to the left, the road is positively cambered. The surface is smooth construction, made of coarse cement (lots of dry traction) with an occasioanl irregularity. The first corner smoothly enters the second corner, a sharper turn to the right, very little positive camber as it flattens out onto the highway. Immediatly after entering the highway, there is a 1 foot wide steel expansion joint (merges onto a bridge). Here is this mornings scenario... As I said, I was coasting into the first corner at 28 MPH. I was on the far right in order to cut the corner as wide as possible, yet make a nice cut across the apex. That plan however changed as I turned in. I was very smooth on the turn in as I was trying to be cautious, and I was slow. Almost as soon as I started turning the wheel the car started pushing. :eek No throttle, no brakes, no clutch inputs, just steering. I sawed the wheel a little bit trying to get the front tires to bite and it just wasn't happening. In an effort to force the car to correct I turned in much harder (to induce the active handling), and rested my foot on the throttle. This had the desired effect as the rear started to come around and the active handling took over from there and the car regained it's composure. I crossed the apex at about 15MPH and maintained that speed around the corner and into the second where I modestly applied throttle in order to merge. I was in 3rd gear the entire time I was in the "S". As I merged and accerated, I went into 4th to keep the revs low and then 5th right before crossing the metal expansion joint. Even in 5th with light throttle, the rear end still tried to spin on the joint, but I expected it. Traction control caught it almost immediatly. The rest of my drive to work was uneventful.I did not have any traction problems in my C4 (Goodyear GSC EMTs), nor did I in my Boxster with Bridgestone Potenza 750s. So my question then, is my wet weather traction issue just because the tires are still new (less than 2000 miles on them), because of different compounds as compared to the GSC EMTs, or is this a chassis set up issue? Since the Corvette is my only car, I have to be able to rely on it regardless of weather conditions to get me where I need to go. I'm moving at the beginning of the month and will face steeper hills, and more of them, every day at my new place. Suggestions? Comments?
