I was driving my girlfriend back from class today around 8:40. On the onramp to get on 18 South, the car kicked out (normal under my driving). It was damp out, but nothing that would really affect my handling too much. I mean, I was barely doing 35. So I countersteered, then all the sudden i'm real freaking wide (I think I nudged the right curb) and I'm full lock and still going and then it kicks back HARD (nailed the opposite curb prolly) sending me into a spin, bashed the nose and the tail into the same wall in the middle of a 360. The car is pretty much a loss I think. The pictures are on a disposeable, so I don't have any right now. I'm fine, unfortunately my girlfriend was on the side that most of the impact was on, so she's a bit bruised up. The side curtain airbag deployed though, so she was saved from most of it. We're both a little shaken up, and very thankful that we could walk away from it.

 

Was your VDC on or off? What tires do you have? What was the temp outside? (Just curious)

Don't mean to ask all those questions, just trying to figure out what happened. I know my car was real tempermental when it was on the stock pilot sports this time last year in the cool wet weather.

Sucks what happened tho...

 

Wow . . . Thankfully, you and your girlfriend were able to walk away from your ordeal. It may not mean much now . . . But the G is replaceable. Pleased to read that you are okay.

 

wow, sry bro hope you guys are ok and get another G

 

glad to hear you 2 R ok

 

glad to hear that its a fortune in an unfortunate situation.

 

Thanks everyone. I'm a moron though, it could've been prevented. VDC was off (force of habit now, thing is damned intrusive. Mine bogs on left turns almost every time) and it was what Clarkson would call "mildly moist" probably about 55/60 degrees out and I was on fairly hard driven Pilot Sports. Car had 15k on her.

 

terribly sorry about your loss. good thing nobody was seriously injured! could have been worse by the way you describe it. my worst fear in a rwd car is countersteering too late and too much causing the kickback. this happens to me during drift events, so i know how it feels. totally helpless. another bad habit i have is abruptly letting off the gas during a drift.

 

Sounds like VDC was OFF... Care to explain why?

If it was off, it's actions like yours that will cause insurance rates on the G35 to rise...

turn it on... leave it on.

 

+1... why is there such a huge fetish with young inexperienced drivers on these forums driving with vdc off and then trashing their cars. i drive my car fairly hard sometimes and never find the vdc kicking in for me at all, ever. it makes me wonder sometimes what u guys are doing in these cars to promote such awful oversteer. are u just flooring it too hard on turns or over-revving the rpms on a shift change? it really boggles my mind. i apologize if my words sound harsh... but it seems like these threads are popping up like once every week now and the typist is usually in college or *sigh* high school.

 

I guess we speak in relative terms. What you consider hard driving likely isn't considered the same by others, especially if your VDC doesn't consider it hard enough to step in.

I only have about 1200 miles on my '05 6MT so far, but I have noticed a decrease in grip from the rear tires. What was once a slightly tail-out corner is now be an easy tail-out corner. ONLY NOW do I consider using the VDC at times. I've been pretty hardcore about turning it off too.

I still contend that's it teaches poor driving skills. If you have to tip-toe the G in a given situation with the VDC off, yet you can lay into it with the VDC on in the same situation, all you've done is learned to drive beyond the limit and relied on the VDC to keep you in line.

 

VDC off on damp roads? Are you nuts? I'm a Rutgers NB alumni, so I know exactly where you did this. What were you thinking man?? RT 18 was slick as hell last night....

Glad you and your girlfriend are OK.

 

sorry to hear...glad you and your GF are OK.

 

glad to hear that you and your gf are ok. it's sad that we have to use your case as an example of why VDC should always be left on in adverse weather conditions (although i personally think it should ALWAYS be left on PERIOD and that the option to turn it off should only be used on the track).

best of luck to you.