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In what direction does you car generally spin in when you lose traction?

J

jtvang125

Diamond Member
Say you're driving straight and hit a puddle of water on the right side and you lose traction on that side. Will the rear of the car generally slide out towards the side that loses traction or into the other direction?
 
Depends on which wheels loses traction (rear wheel drive or front?). Turn against the slide if it's front wheels and with the slide if rear.
 
The rear will try to continue in whatever direction it was travelling before the slide. So if the car's front slides to the right, the rear will try to continue going straight causing a clockwise spin. To the left would be a counterclockwise spin. Doesn't really matter whether the car is FWD or RWD, except that RWD will continue to try and push the rear straight which would accelerate the spin.
 
Originally posted by: jtvang125
Say you're driving straight and hit a puddle of water on the right side and you lose traction on that side. Will the rear of the car generally slide out towards the side that loses traction or into the other direction?
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If you hit a deep puddle the side that is in the water is going to want to pull the car in that direction. You will want to turn the wheel to keep the car pointed straight if it starts to slide to try to bring it back in line with the direction of travel. I would just ease off the throttle but not touch the brakes and just steer the car through the hazard.

I always watch for standing water and try to avoid it if at all possible or at least slow down before entering it. I've watched dumbasses in trucks think they can plow through anything...because they're in a truck and trucks are tough and invincible. :roll: I watched a guy blast past me in his pickup truck once as I was merging onto a freeway in the rain, there was standing water along the side up ahead and this guy hit it, spun out, and bashed his truck front and rear into the guardrail because he was driving too fast. This literally happened right in front of me after he had blown by me. Karma can be a beautiful thing to behold. :laugh:

It was the same thing when it snowed where I grew up. First vehicles you always saw in the ditch were usually 4WD pickup trucks.
 
Depends on a lot of factors...which side or end of the car loses traction, how the road is crowned, etc.

Example: My Jeep had a Detroit Locker in the rear. It locks both axles when power is applied to the pinion.

If I was sitting still in the snow, it would kick the rear end out to whichever side the road was crowned or leaned to. If it leaned to the left, the rear would go left, etc.
 
Typically whichever end loses traction goes to the right because of the crown of the road. I can make the rear go the opposite way if desired.
 
My truck slides off the road when it loses traction as it has no lateral stickyness.

Ie, it is equipped with front and rear lockers.
 
All things being equal, mine likes to kick right a bit if I'm on the gas.

Solid rear axle means that the left wheel is loaded more than the right wheel under power, so the right tends to let go first.

You can actually notice it pretty well, turning left out of a parking lot with a heavy foot is much less likely to spin the power out of the inside wheel than turning right.
 
Originally posted by: swtethan
Limited slip diff baby!
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FTW!

Driving in the rain can be a lil fun once in a while going around street corners if no one is around 😛 Still a stupid idea but it can be fun once in a while to drift around a corner.
 
I generally slide to the right with my 04 Silverado Z71 with the auto-locking differential. I imagine it's b/c the road slants the right to move water away.

LSD is cool, but a auto-locking differential is pretty fun too, although the Eaton G80 unit can't take a lot of street abuse. Basically when one tire gets a certain RPM over the other side, inertial causing the locking mechanism to link both back tires together. I hear a thud sometimes when this happens offroading. In the rain it seems to happen quicker. It will stay locked until 25mph or so too.
 
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