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driving tips for people that are sliding the car

Ok, so you want driving tips, this is all I know

remember these are only ideas, meant to me a starting point for practice in a safe location, most work on gravel at under 30 MPH.

Use good judgement, it will determine the outcome of trying any of this, good judgment can save you in an emergency situation (I have done this twice successfully and failed once), bad judgment can end in twisted metal and broken people, where there was no danger had you not read this.(I have done this twice, yes the person was me)

be safe, when learning these tricks, I ended up sliding sideways to a stop, almost hitting dirt banks that were hundreds of foot away when I started, and it really hurt the tires and paint when on gravel, do not try this in something that will turn over when slid sideways, my cars can handle high speed slides and not flip over, and only one came this way from the factory, I have had 2 cars upside down in my life, and it is not fun in any way.

first lets explain some driving conditions, then I will explain how to overcome some of the conditions.

Under steer, this is when you turn the wheel, and the car does not turn as much as it should for that angle of the wheel, meaning the front wheels are sliding when they are turned.

over steer, the car turns at an angle larger than you turned the steering wheel, meaning the rear of the car has slid in the direction of the outside of the corner

front engine front wheel drive cars usually under steer

front engine rear wheel drive cars usually oversteer

front engine all wheel drive cars usually under steer going into a corner, and oversteer coming out of the corner.

Rear engine rear drive cars scare me, so I do not know what they do.

Mid engine rear drive cars cost to much, so I do not know what they do.

Anti sway bars affect under/over steer

larger bar in the front tends to cause more under steer

larger bar in the rear tends to cause more over steer

to save money some cars come with an anti sway bar in the front, but not in the back.

In a front engine rear drive car, like most 1960's American cars this helped cause more under steer to counteract the nature of a front engine rear drive car.

In a Honda civic, this practice just causes the car to under steer lots.

A car can usually be balanced with the correct anti sway bars, I did this to my Mitsubishi eclipse.

Things that can help with under steer,

1. (This works on Front wheel drive cars) hit the gas some, this can cause the car to be pulled in the direction that the wheels are pointed

2. (This works on Every car I have driven) Flutter the gas, this shifts the weight to the front tires so that they get better grip to turn you with, I think more is going on here, but I do not know quite what.

3. Hand brake, this causes the rear wheels to stop making them slide, if you are turning at all, the rear of the car will slide in the direction of the outside of the corner, be very careful with this one as it can spin your car 180 degrees really easy.(this is how I know my ABS works in reverse)

4 (this works on rear drive cars) hit the gas very hard, this can causes the rear wheels to slide toward the outside of the corner, like with the hand brake you must be turning some initially for this to work, but depending on speed and engine power output, it can be more or less controllable.

5 turn the steering wheel more, or less, it could be just the wrong angle to get traction, this usually works better in combination with the other methods.

6 pray, this has only worked for me once, the usual result is my car off the road.

Things that can help with over steer.

1. Turn the steering wheel more out of the corner

2 (front engine rear drive) let off the gas some, why did I have it to the floor anyway?

3 (front engine rear drive and all wheel drive cars) flutter the gas, it helps the rear tires find traction

4 (all wheel drive cars) your going to have to live with it, steer correctly, and gas down or flutter the gas, or somewhere in between. By the time you have under steer, if you let off the gas you will be right out of the corner.

Remember these things react differently on different cars, and can be much different on the same car, given conditions ore age, etc...

an example, some unnamed American rental car, you slide it around dry pavement, and it reliably under steers by 15%, you get it on gravel, and it over steers. What was happening you may ask, it was most likely the frame was bending on dry pavement corners due to the high cornering force, when on gravel, the cornering force is lower, and the frame bends less, causing a very different dynamic, but then why was it inconsistent on the gravel, ok the frame of a car acts like a big spring, when you turn the frame twists, then the car starts to turn, when you straighten out, the frame bends straight, then the other direction, then your car straightens out, then the frame returns to straight. What a mess, right? Gravel is not very consistent, so the frame was bending lots in different directions, making the car inconsistent in the gravel.

Frame bracing make the frame bend a lot less, and it is relatively cheep, but remember the bracing can change the affect of your anti sway bars act, usually it make them act stiffer.

A single strut brace bar for the front can really make handling much more consistent, and they are usually cheep.

Some rally race drivers pump the brakes while hitting the gas to get a similar affect that I get from fluttering the gas, I just cant get this to work, and in one of my cars when you hit the gas and brakes at the same time, it destroys the clutch, the real advantage to this pulsed braking is that acceleration lag on the part of the engine is not an issue, all of my cars throttle very quickly.

Straight line braking on poor traction surfaces from high speeds where stability is an issue, like stopping from 140 MPH on gravel.

What I found works is leaving the gas about 1/4 to 1/3 down and pumping the brakes very fast.

If you just let of the gas at speed, on gravel, you can spin, if you do not, and start hitting the brakes you will probably spin, and if not, your rear brakes will fade first, and then you will loose stability and spin, and if you do not spin, you got lucky, or are more skilled than me. My trick slows the car when the brakes are pressed, then regains stability when you let off the brakes, with a net affect of slowing the car without spinning out, best to try this one in a simulator first as the result of messing this one up can be death, remember more brakes = stop faster, more gas gains stability.

Last a fun (very fast) way to take a corner in the rain in a front wheel drive car, steer the car about double into a corner needed if not sliding, if you start going into the inside of the corner, hit the gas, if you start going toward the outside of the corner let off the gas.

Steering with the gas peddle can be unnerving at first, and quite scary, as you slide off the road, but can be quite effective.

Keep in mind your engine RPM, as low RPM can be very bad, as it usually will not get you enough power to use any of the tricks I have described. Also plan your corners well, as shifting in the middle of a corner can really mess with a slide, but low RPM or over redline can be much worse, sometimes it takes me a half a lane of sliding to shift, but with the correct RPM I can usually pull out of the corner much better than had I not shifted.

The most important thing to keep in mind, there is only so much you can do if you enter a corner to fast, and it usually ends in bad things happening. My best trick for that, if it happens, is to hit the brakes till I slide near the edge of the road (or my lane), then hit the gas enough to gain traction, ( I once ended up sideways at the end of the corner having not hit anything trying this).

I still do not know if it is a good idea, but it has saved me 3 times.

I hope you liked it, email be if you want something cleared up, the chair I am in is uncomfortable, and I can no longer think clearly.

Adam