So the most embarrassing thing in my entire 8 years of driving happened yesterday night. I was driving home from my gf's house minding my own business when this SLK 550 (I'm pretty sure it was an SLK 550 and a pretty new model too) wanted to show me what's up. At first we were both driving within the normal speed limit because it was a dangerous mini-highway filled with cops lurking to pull over some poor sucker. I've seen it happen on that mini-highway all the time. As soon as we get onto a small bridge though I picked up a little more speed and took the left lane to exit into another city...

Here's where the fun began, the SLK 550 (on the right lane) did not want to let me pass and immediately picked up speed as well. At that time, there was a taxi in front and because I was driving a little faster than usual it was getting closer and closer. I decided to take the right lane by driving behind the SLK and take left lane and as soon as I have room to cut out infront of the taxi. Obviously I wanted to test my own car's power to see whether I could catch up to the SLK as well.

At the time when I took the right lane I was in 4th gear. When I finally got onto the right lane I down shifted into 3rd gear and here's where I made my mistake. As soon as I shifted down into 3rd gear I pressed down on the throttle as hard as I could so that my revs would hit around 5-6k rpm asap. However, before I could even get to that point my car lost control By this time the SLK had sped so fast that it was already long gone.

My car immediately swerved to the left (almost felt like it wanted to do a 360 turn) so I had to counter-steer to the right. As soon as I counter-steered to the right it swerved hard to the right as well (again felt like it wanted to do a 360 turn). So again, I counter-steered to the left (at this point I could feel I was slowing down but the car was still not listening and wanted to swerve hard left). Once more I had to counter-steer to the right to balance it out and again it swerved hard right when I did this. I had to swerve hard left AND right about 5-6 times before the car finally came to a full stop. I almost had a heart attack!

During the entire time (of swerving) I was playing back this scene in my head where I witnessed an S2000 lose control and similarly swerved hard left, hit the concrete wall on the bridge, then swerved hard right, did a 360 turn and hit the right side of the concrete wall as well (with his front bumper flying off). I was thinking whether or not that would be my fate. I was also thinking about the taxi driver that I had supposedly passed and whether or not he was smart enough to realize that I had lost control of the car and stopped his car. Or did he maybe keep driving ignoring my car's crazy swerving. And if he had not stopped his car and kept driving whether or not I would hit him. If I hit him I'd be in big big trouble. He'd probably sue the pants off of me. Then I thought about what an idiot I looked like losing control of my car to both the driver of the SLK 550 and the taxi driver. And then I prayed to god there weren't any cop cars to see what just happened because that night I must have passed by about 4-5 different cop cars in different areas pulling people over. Then I also thought about how much it'd cost me to repair the car if my car hits the concrete wall (it'd probably be a total loss). And then I'd thought about what my parents would say (even though I bought the car by myself). And then I thought about how I would explain this to my gf as well as my friends and co-workers.

All in all, I managed to get out of it without a single scratch on my car. A little bit of luck with a lesson to be learned I guess. I will never try to race anyone again! But I do want to know why the **** did my car suddenly lose control like that? I've sort of lost a lot of confidence in my G. Is it because it's too much power? I had called my friend to tell him about what happened after and he said that it was probably because I had run over a small patch of oil or something wet on the road (even though the night was clear and the ground seemed to be completely dry - I NEVER speed when it's wet outside because I know how easy it is to lose control in the rain/snow). I've driven fast and I admit I've sped before (who hasn't?) on my Honda Accord and NEVER NEVER EVER have I lost control like the way I did last night. Can anybody give me any logical explanation?

 

Honda Accords don't have near the power and ARE NOT RWD.

Lesson learned?

 

damn that sux im glad you got out of it safe and damge free but WTF caused it, I myself am starting to think that getting rid of the G would be a good thing because twice something like that has happened to me. Maybe I pushed my car too hard expecting it to handle like my BMW but i dunno maybe new suspension and sway bars may solve the problem

 

Don't Speed.


Yeah I was thinking about that. That's what sway bars are for right? To help preventing swerving as easily...and I guess suspension would help too since my are just stock. I don't think I'm going to invest in these though (because I think they are pretty expensive) since I won't be "speeding" ever again.

 

Same thing happened to me but in a FWD acura.. however I was not racing at all.. On my way to work on a down hill went over a patch of black ice and the car swerved from side to side like i was drifting... Swerved from side to side about 6 times before I regained control and pulled over to catch my breath and realize what just happened.

Was VDC on or off?

 

VDC was ON. I saw VDC kick in when I switched to the right lane and down shifted into 3rd gear. Then it went away after the rear wheels were no longer slipping. And after that I started to push down hard on the throttle. And then that was when it lost control

 

lowering the car and sway bars help..

I had a GT spec front strut bar.. Eibach adjustable front and rear sway bars and I was lowered.. The car handled amazing and would take turns at really nice higher speeds.. When I went back to stock I tried to take a curved off ramp at the same speed as when I had the suspension my car lost control and went into a drift.. I honestly ended up banking the whole turn which looked like a real drift but I got very luck as I wasn't planning on doing that.

 

If someone in an SL has to try to show you up, they have serious problems. Just ignore the person next time. Better that than risking your car or your life. Glad you didn't lose your car.

 

Was the light blinking "SLIP" "SLIP" "SLIP"??

 

Are you talking about your G or another car? So a strut bar really makes that much of a difference eh?

 

Yes, that's very good advice. I've learned my lesson this time and I honestly won't risk screwing my G and my own life (as well as endanger others) like that again.


Yes, I believe that's what it was blinking. I waited until the light went away before I booked it...

 

I'm actually talking about my G35, yes.

I don't think the strut bar alone makes that huge of a difference... but I threw all 3 mods on there at once so they must have all worked together.. I had the sways set up at the most stiffest/harsh setting.

 

I'm guessing your tires must be bald or low tread in the rear then?

 

Hermm...good to know. Yeah sometimes my car feels like it's sort of "floating" when I'm driving. I don't know if any of you ever get that feeling either...


Nope, my proxies have at least a good 40% tread left (if not more)?

 

Did you rev match into 3rd or just downshift into a lower gear, let the clutch out and then mash the throttle like so many jacka*ses I know who don't know how to properly rev match? I'm thinking you may have unsettled the drivetrain by downshifting into a lower gear without rev matching and caused the rear wheels to break traction as the car bucked back and forth. A car doesn't just magically lose traction unless you hit a patch of water, ice or crap road. You did something to upset the car. I wouldn't worry too much about losing confidence in your G, more like confidence in your judgment. Lesson learned I hope. Also, there's no such thing as an SLK550. SL550 yes. SLK55 AMG yes. But no SLK550.