Rear end skid out in M3 this morning

nucastle said:
Quick question to any BMW/M3 owners .... are the standard Continental Contisport tyres any good on the M3? Trying to figure out if i need some new rubber ....
Click to expand...

As per the other suggestion already mentioned, get yourself on a skidpan course and/or performance driving course, particularly so if you're young/inexperienced.
Doesn't matter if you have superstickygluedtoroad X71B tyres, as eventually you'll run out of grip. There's simply no substitute for road awareness and understanding of how to deal with things when they do start to go wrong.

Bearing in mind the value of your car, and cost of insurance, this is surely a must.
 
I'm quite impressed that you managed to fishtail up the road WITH DSC ON :D
When I TRY to get the CSL out of shape with DSC ON I completely fail - it's pretty pretty good :D
 
That makes 2 of us! .... i would have thought there were enough gizmo's on board to at least have half a crack at stopping me skidding ;)

.... maybe there was diesil on the road.


.... Most probably, it was my lame, over zealous driving!
 
I had a funny one today too! Was driving up to a small roundabout, was going to turn right, was probably doing 10-15 mph when i applied a bit more braking force as a lady had decided to come turn right rather than the left she was indicating!

I blooming locked up?! First time after 20,000 miles i have locked up my wheels, in any road condition! Same make of tyres i have had since i got the car too?!
 
lol.. what did you think was going to happen slapping the power on mid corner in the wet? as Mr_Sukebe Has said get your self on the skid pan and learn to control it :)

ive been driving a lowly 318i for the past two months and the back end comes out to play on that in the wet without really having to try and thats a open diff and half the power of your car :P

respect the RWD lol

All good fun tho.. if you hadnt hit the curb.. i bet you would have had a big grin on your face lol
 
Best thing I find is to be smooth, even when you get the rear end out, otherwise you can just unbalance things, and start fishtailing. Glad you are all ok, always interesting the first time you get the rear end out. :D

I am loving these conditions, getting the rear out silly easy. Just pulling out of halfords I spun up with like 30% throttle on, the person walking on the pavement just stared at me. Don't think they were too sure what to think.
 
saitrix said:
I am loving these conditions, getting the rear out silly easy. Just pulling out of halfords I spun up with like 30% throttle on, the person walking on the pavement just stared at me. Don't think they were too sure what to think.
Click to expand...

same lol its great fun.. as long as you dont take silly risks with it that is.
 
Yep roads are appauling i've already noticed a LOT of loss of traction in my FWD especially today, Im pretty glad I do only have a FWD since I don't think I could trust myself in RWD.

Lad I know cornered to hard and rolled his car (BMW 318 Oldie) six times on Saturday night, he was told he was lucky to be alive, seen him today at college with not a scratch on him :eek: , clearly he was pushing it too hard as just a few days before he was bragging about drifting round roundabouts :rolleyes:

Lesson learnt

Have to be incredibly careful this time of the year.
 
saitrix said:
I am loving these conditions, getting the rear out silly easy. Just pulling out of halfords I spun up with like 30% throttle on, the person walking on the pavement just stared at me. Don't think they were too sure what to think.
Click to expand...

It possibly started with C and ended with K ;)
 
jamoor said:
are "winter tyres" actually worth it, or is our climate not cold and sowy enough?
Click to expand...

I've never tried them, but they do operate properly below 7c, which is about where the usual 'summer' tyres stop operating at their best.
So it's not just snow, it's the cold too.
 
So you put your foot down in a bend, in cold and wet conditions, in a 340bhp RWD car and were surprised when the arse stepped out? What were you expecting, miracles from the traction control? It's not even as if the M3 is a particularly 'snappy' car :/

Seriously, take the advice on offer here and get some skidpan training :)
 
Last edited:
DreXeL said:
So you put your foot down in a bend, in cold and wet conditions, in a 340bhp RWD car and were surprised when the arse stepped out? What were you expecting, miracles from the traction control? It's not even as if the M3 is a particularly 'snappy' car :/

Seriously, take the advice on offer here and get some skidpan training :)
Click to expand...

Yea, just keep your foot well off he throttle in those corners, when I cornered earlier and kept about 20-30% on the throttle I could feel the front wheels struggling to keep the grip, I tend to just keep well off in the wet common sense really.

On my old rubber I had the arse out in the dry it was easy to get back but i pushed my luck a bit too much luckily no one about, felt like the back end was on ice! :eek:
 
nucastle said:
Had a scare on the way to work this morning while driving the M3 to work.

Was on the outside lane at a set of lights on a long curved road with a massive artic in the other lane who was over into my lane by quite a long way. Not wanting to get caught alongside him as the curve tightened i decided to put on a bit of gas as the lights went green and got ahead of him.

Unfortunately as the road curved left about 50 meters after the lights, the back just flew out to the right and i spent about five seconds with the back end of the car fishtailing left and right about 4-5 times before i clipped the pavement on the left hand side of the road - thankfully that corrected things and i was suddenly back to normal ..... totally shook up. It was only because i was quite a bit ahead of everyone that i didnt end up slamming into someone.

I wasnt actually going THAT quickly, and im so glad this was out on country roads and that there were no pedestrians about - but it was just a total shock to just suddenly lose control like that. Usually the traction control light flashes and you get some slippage on the tyres when things are going hairy but nothing this time. Rear alloy is kerbed and scuffed a bit now but its almost a miracle thats all that happened.

As much as i think wet roads and rwd bmw's are the obious thing to blame, im still just a bit shocked it lost traction so quickly.

Lesson learned .... no more cornering at speed! :eek:
Click to expand...

mate you sound quite shocked about the whole thing but to be honest all that power going to the rear wheels and these things are always gonna happen! A few mates had M3's and the tail happy style was what they were after.
 
Tax Evader said:
I'm quite impressed that you managed to fishtail up the road WITH DSC ON :D
When I TRY to get the CSL out of shape with DSC ON I completely fail - it's pretty pretty good :D
Click to expand...

HI m8

I've found the same, maybe the CSL has far quicker traction control software?

With DSC on if I attempt to nail it mid corner it saps any power the moment it notices any kind of slip or wheel spin. In M-Trac mode it seems to be slower to respond or lets you have a bit fun. Completely off, well then it lets you do big skids. :D
 
Gibbo said:
I've found the same, maybe the CSL has far quicker traction control software?
Click to expand...

Evenin!

No, the M3 / CSL are basically the same in that dept - apart from the added M-track mode on the CSL. Both very protective!

I just think the nucastle is particularly skilled :D
 
On the a27 this morning, after taking my mate to pick up his DB9 from chichester, heading back to brighton, the first time we've been out 'together' since i picked up the M3, so you can imagine what went on. and even in the pouring rain and standing water and some corner acceleration, all i got was a bit of judder from the back as the wheels scrabbled slightly and no real loss of traction at all, i was quite impressed. essentially i'm just saying that it's quite shocking that you'd just lose it like that, as it seems (in my vast experience of one week of ownership) that it's very grippy... maybe something needs looking at?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom