Sliding on wet roads? Options

[bufferdan]

Whats the deal with these cars steering? Its like when you go around a corner on a wet road and the wheel is turned to a certain point the car wants to slide. Its also very hard to feel the road with these things, the steering is pretty tight but its hard too and you cant feel when your tires are starting to break loose. When my g/f got her GT she almost crashed it getting off the highway when the roads were wet. She just turned the wheel alittle and the thing started sliding and the rear end broke loose also. You cant feel the road at all with this car, i even have 17's with low pro performance tires and you still cant feel crap. Anyone else find this out about yours? It does handle really well but the steering is alittle funky...what do you think?

[Digndoug]

I would first tell you an your g/f to learn how to drive. Second, get new tires, well for your g/f.... I can feel the road perfect, i try hard for the rear end to slide, i get it, but when i do, its because i try... These cars drive very well, and have a great feel, if your looking for better, go buy an m3..... an really learn to drive, im not trying to be an ass..

[subsolo_21]

I have the same prob and I have 17's w/ low profs too . Teh handling is great but I cant feel how well the car is gripping. Ive almost lost it a couple o times. Its hard now since we've had 5+inches of rain in the past 3 days.

[bufferdan]

First of all..Both I and her have 6G celica's. I have also owned MANY other cars and driven tons also. She has new Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus tires (They run over 100$ per tire for 15's!!) They are excellent tires. I have Kelly HPT Charger Performance tires on mine and they have less wet traction than hers but thats besides the point..Its not the tires on the car, its the steering. If you think you can feel the road perfect in these cars then you have never driven a real sports car. You cant feel crap with these things. I have drive about 10 of these celicas and they have all felt the same during cornering. On dry roads you dont have much of a problem but as soon as it gets wet and you turn the wheel alittle too much there goes your front tires. Never had this problem with any other car ive had or driven.

[bufferdan]

[shid]

I have never run into this problem.

[turboinduction]

well i've driven REAL sports cars many times. and i'll say this... its the tires. I've driven AWD (like my talon and STi's) on low pros and they will slip on wet surfaces. yes they have water channels, but they're meant for dry pavement. The celica is a great car for steering compared to others in its class. Yes, i'm probably sure a corvette handles a little better than a Celi.. but for the car we have its great. I dont know about the "not feeling the road" part. I feel my car 100% of the time and force it to understeer and slide. I'm the only one in my city to pull off the 5 sec FWD drift, and it was in the Celi on my stock 15's. (FYI- i had to start the drift around 60-65 and i'm not saying it didn't take many many many tries).

Maybe since you're used to driving real sports cars, you're not used to a FWD setup. Figuring REAL sports cars are normally RWD, your probably breaking the front tires loose too early in the corner and causing understeer. In your g/f's case - tell her to not accelerate until the corner is done thus keeping some traction on those expensive tires.

This post has been edited by turboinduction: Apr 24, 2004 - 2:04 PM

[bufferdan]

She wasnt accelerating into the corner..her foot was off the gas and she was making a slight turn and the tires started sliding sideways. These cars just have wierd steering and the break loose point is real soon. Maybe because its such a light car also...I dont know but i feel much safer taking turns with wet roads in my FWD 3000GT with wore out tires. I would have to turn the wheel twice as much to get the same sliding effect with my 3000. And at least i can feel when they are right on the verge of breaking loose and i can lay off. Different car and different setup is all it is..but im not too fond of the steering on the celica to tell the truth.

[Junior]

[Sirius]

Perhaps there is some excessive play in the steering rack or surrounding bushes.

Whilst my car has a totally different suspension setup to the GT's I find that the car gives excellent feedback. Just out of interest I use Goodyear Eagle F1 tires, at the current exchange rate they work out at about $180 per tyre for me but the grip is excellent in both the wet and the dry.

[x_itchy_b_x]

haahaha this happend to me today. screwed um my car.. sucks. but i think it just a matter of not cutting the wheel so hard maybe?

[bufferdan]

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

I ran my dads old '87 Mazda B2200 off a wet road into a guardrail once because he had 10% percent of his front brakes left and totally bald tires. I was only in second gear doing about 5-10 mph because its a very sharp turn that i knew would be slippery. Wet roads are nothing to mess around with though, and the sharper you turn on a corner...even if its slow....the tires lose their composure much easier due to the angle of the wheels, not to mention the outward momentum your car experiences while cornering anyway....you have to understand the limits of the car before you expect it to cling to a corner like its on rails...

Ive never run across any problems in my celica though. Only time the front tires ever let loose was going around a sharp corner late at night from a total stop at a stop light. I also had 3 people in the back seat plus a trunk full of sh**, so it didnt suprise me. Other than that ive had nothing wrong with the handling....i think that it handles great and provides great control due to the wide 15 x7 wheels and tires, so its a total injustice to say it handles bad.

[Junior]

[Sirius]

[playr158]

its called UNDERSTEER, typical of all front wheel drives, too much gas/fast = front slides out...personally me and my car are really close and she tells me everything.. every crack, bump, vibration, or tire slide that is wrong she tells me...the front of my celica only goes out when i want it to...all comes down to if you can drive or not

[ghostdog]

I know what he's talking about. I used to have problems in the wet, but somewhere along the line of upgrading my shocks and getting new tires it is no longer a problem.

[Digndoug]

ok, guys its called learning to drive your car... not a car, your car. Iv driven plenty of sports cars, but for this class, i would say this is the best iv driven..... Learn to drive..... all cars have dif things.. you just learn them and know the points, and then you wont have problems, unless you dont figur right.. or somthing.

[bufferdan]

[Digndoug]