07 5AT S:
Had an incident occur yesterday. Circular on ramp, temps in the low 50s, not wet, the rear end went out on me - fast. I corrected, but I'm still pretty baffled by what happened for a couple of reasons:
- It hadn't rained, so I know that wasn't a factor. However, in replaying in my mind, the road appeared somewhat darker than normal (slightly wet maybe, more on this.)
- VDC / Slip light never kicked on. Why? I never drive with it off.

I called highway safety just out of curiosity. Lady mentioned at first that de-icer was being sprayed in some areas, but never confirmed that the specific on-ramp had been treated. We rarely get snow here and that specific ramp does get sunlight so it didn't make sense that it was treated.

Why wouldn't vdc / slip kick on? Just trying to understand so I know what to expect.

Any info from real life experiences is appreciated.

 

How are the rear tires? Do they have good tread?thats all l can think of rear tire tread is not good and the treatment applied to road made it slick.other than that cant think of anything to make the tires lose traction.l had my vdc light come on once in a turn on wet a road.lt went off after turn was made.l didnt have any loss of traction though.

 

Absolutely sure it didn't engage? Once the car has enough inertia to spin out the rear there's only so much the VDC can do. Something similar happened to me on a wet on ramp but the dash was the last place I was focused on. My VDC did engage and the slip light came on but it didn't help.

 

When mine came on l wasnt accelerating and l didnt feel like the rear tire was spinning either.lt was the first time l had any lights come on.l guess it did what its supposed to do.l didnt even feel the car fishtail.

 

Tires are good. That's the first thing I checked.

 

I guess that's a good point; I'm not sure if the lights flashed because I sure as heck wasn't looking at the dash....but I guess I don't know what kind of intervention I was expecting.

I need to go to a track.

 

I want this experience also so I understand the limits of my ride. Seeing that you live in Oregon, do you have a winter tire setup?

SUMMER TIRES CANT TAKE THE COLD!

 

This is somewhat along the lines of what I was thinking too. I have a personal favorite little stretch of twisty backroad that I like to 'throw' the car into occasionally. Without too much effort I can easily overwhelm the VDC and drift the car a bit in a turn, in spite of all the car's little nanny systems, so I'd say it's entirely possible; especially if it was provoked by something.

 

In Southern Oregon, we're lucky to get any snow at all in the valley and the temps don't dip to freezing during the day. I have all seasons on (which doesn't count for much in ice and decent snow,) so I'm not too worried.

 

Sorry to bump a month old post, but I believe the "darker" pavement was probably sealed more recently, and likely not treated with de-icer. In colder temps, slight humidity, it would be easy to swing a G around on that. An on ramp means banked turn. It also means your tires are hot (good thing) because you drove from your start to the expressway you're getting on. If you filled your tires to max PSI when the tires were colder, and in a lower temp than the day you drifted out, your tires would have been over inflated, which changes the grip of the tires, because the max PSI would be expanded by the warmer temps. Over inflated tires wear the center line quicker because the outer edges don't contact as much ... in a turn, that means drifting is easier.

So a sealed surface, damp (humid, morning dew?) cold surface, overinflated tires, and a 300hp car? going into what SHOULD be a banked turn? It seems if all those factors are true, which is simply possible, I'm not saying that's what happened, the drift would be really easy.

That being said, the VDC is what you're asking about. Are you tires worn evenly? Slightly better fronts would help initiate a drift, and if the rear wheels kicked out for the fishtail, AND the front then started sliding, the entire car would be sliding closer to evenly. While that should kick on VDC, it may have had a little more play before engaging, which means it may have just started to kick in as you recovered. Also possible is that is did start to engage, you didn't notice, and that actually assisted you in recovering without even noticing.

Whatever happened, it doesn't seem out of reach to imagine that circumstance leading to the drift, and it doesn't seem a stretch to say that the VDC kicked in just as you recovered it, or turned off before you looked at the dash. I would say that all is well, personally.

 

I know it's an old post but important to know. Lots of factors in what happened to you. Once the car breaks loose the VDC can only do so much. Being RWD and 306hp this can happen more easily.

Mine seems to come on when I turn a corner with a little too much throttle and the tires want to spin. It reduces throttle automatically until it regains traction, then I'm off.

Here is a basic video from infinity http://ramseyinfiniti.com/2013/03/07...s-infiniti-vdc