Accident Avoidance...

[AliasJerk]

So yeah this is a story, but I want to express at how impressed I am with my contour's handling even at 160K miles...

The other night I was heading home on a back road doing about 60 mph. It was kinda windy out but I thought nothing of it, There was an extremely large Tree branch blowing in the wind onto the road. Since it was late at night, I was the only one on the road, I used the whole road to my advantage, I let off the gas pedal and flicked the steering wheel to the left then back to the right a second or two later, feeling the back end break loose for a couple of seconds, the tree branch literally brushes by the passenger side of the car. I pulled the steering wheel back to the left again (this all happened in like 3-4 seconds), the car perfectly straightended out and continued on its merry way. I just sat there thinking to myself "WTF just happened?" I could no believe how well the car handled itself in that situation, Worn out suspension crap brakes but good tires (Fuzion ZRi).

My corolla couldn't ever compare, every time I needed to make an emergency maneuver, even with the upgraded suspension it had nothing for handling. The steering was way to limp in it, on the freeway you could literally jiggle the steering wheel and the car would hardly go anywhere, and nothing was wrong I had driven a couple of other corollas and they all were like that.

It may only be a zetec, but I am really starting to love this car. Anybody else got similar experiences?

 

[Smalls]

i was driving back home from cleveland during the famous WNY october storm this past year. it got pretty bad right as i was about 20 min out from home. about 5 hours later i made it to my street. driving without defoggers(melted fuse panel... dont ask), going 5mph i came upon a tree in the middle of the road. i nudged the steering wheel to the left and nothing happened. rolled right over the tree and was stuck. i walked the rest of the way home and left the svt there overnight until help arrived the next morning. it wasnt the cars fault, i had brand new blizzaks on there. just the combination of leaves, snow, and ice made me lose all control

 

[zorrex]

Not this past winter, but the winter before, we had a big snowstorm that left SO much snow on the roads. It was a Sunday, and I had to be to work at 6:45 AM. Whoa. I started out driving, plowing my way through the snow. I looked in my rear-view mirror, and I actually saw lines drawn in the snow FROM MY UNDERCARRIAGE. The snow on the roads was an inch higher than the undercarriage of my car. It plowed right though and I didn't even come close to getting stuck. To this day I am amazed how my little Contour did that.

 

[AliasJerk]

Not this past winter, but the winter before, we had a big snowstorm that left SO much snow on the roads. It was a Sunday, and I had to be to work at 6:45 AM. Whoa. I started out driving, plowing my way through the snow. I looked in my rear-view mirror, and I actually saw lines drawn in the snow FROM MY UNDERCARRIAGE. The snow on the roads was an inch higher than the undercarriage of my car. It plowed right though and I didn't even come close to getting stuck. To this day I am amazed how my little Contour did that.

IVE got a snow story for you

My pre98 tour with the steelies was godly in the snow. I remember making a trip after a huge snow storm to Novi for a meet, I drove a bunch of back roads doing 55, in snow that was at some points hitting my front bumper. Didnt slide once. Combination of insane luck and what I like to think is good driving, BUT! if anything would have ran out in front of me I would have been terribly screwed. Of course, if there hadnt been snow on the road and something had run out in front of me doing 55 then I probably would have been screwed anyways.

 

[cnewton44]

Well just a few weeks ago i wason a back road doin 45-50 and came around a curve. Well i didnt see right away that there were HUGE potholes in the way so i jerked the wheel so as not to bend my rims. I went around having fishtailed and my car returned to normal driving (still at at least 40) like nothin happened.. As for winter driving... My car does better in the winter with my sucky tigerpaws than my friends Zx3 and his firestones.:blackeye:

 

[98SVTC]

So yeah this is a story, but I want to express at how impressed I am with my contour's handling even at 160K miles...

The other night I was heading home on a back road doing about 60 mph. It was kinda windy out but I thought nothing of it, There was an extremely large Tree branch blowing in the wind onto the road. Since it was late at night, I was the only one on the road, I used the whole road to my advantage, I let off the gas pedal and flicked the steering wheel to the left then back to the right a second or two later, feeling the back end break loose for a couple of seconds, the tree branch literally brushes by the passenger side of the car. I pulled the steering wheel back to the left again (this all happened in like 3-4 seconds), the car perfectly straightended out and continued on its merry way. I just sat there thinking to myself "WTF just happened?" I could no believe how well the car handled itself in that situation, Worn out suspension crap brakes but good tires (Fuzion ZRi).

You were fortunate. Making any kind of harsh maneuver without power on the drive wheels is dangerous because you have virtually no traction. Front drive, rear drive - it doesn't matter. That's why in racing you are told to brake before a corner and then power through it. The operation varies slightly depending on front or rear drive but the outcome is the same. In order to have grip, you have to have some throttle on.
Karl

 

[Kremithefrog]

I've left 20 feet of tire marks going over 60mph in a curve staying within one lane in my zetec with crap tires. That pretty much says enough about how good these cars can handle and be controlled.

 

[Desiato]

My 95 has saved me a few times with its handling at high speeds when I've been cut off on the freeway or had people try to merge into me. (check blind spots!)

I've only had all seasons on during the winter and my 95 has handled incredibly well in winter conditions. One winter night I was halfway between Montreal and Ottawa when a blizzard began out of nowhere. The highway was busy and I had to dodge skidding cars and trucks while maintaining a decent speed because of cars behind me with almost no visibility. The Contour handled amazingly well, much better than other cars on the road.

 

[TourDeForce]

Just last night the old stock 205/60-15 wheels were put back onto the Mystique with new touring tires. Smooth as glass, but UNGHHHH, the steering response is DEAD with standard touring tires...:blackeye: The car wallows on the freeway like a panel truck.:nonono:

 

[frenchblueC2]

My GL loved the slop.
It never handled or acted better than during rainy or snowy weather.

 

[elraido]

Once, while driving in the SE I hit a deer. No accident avoidance for me there.
But this past weekend I was in the SVT and it was downporing and another deer jumped out (I think it was the other deers angry cousin) and I was able to hit the brakes for a sec and missed it by about 1 foot. At least the SVT has full covrage and if I would have hit it, it would have been on the hazed headlight lOL

 

[catfish]

You were fortunate. Making any kind of harsh maneuver without power on the drive wheels is dangerous because you have virtually no traction. Front drive, rear drive - it doesn't matter. That's why in racing you are told to brake before a corner and then power through it. The operation varies slightly depending on front or rear drive but the outcome is the same. In order to have grip, you have to have some throttle on.
Karl

basic laws of physics: your tires only have so much friction to go around: if you are accelerating than thats wasted friction thats not helping you turn as tight. Same reason why you don't break during a turn (trail braking aside).

The reason you are supposed to power through a turn though has absolutely nothing to do with making a sharp turn, its how you make it around the turn to keep the fastest laptime.

Now a slight bit of throttle to counteract any engine braking effect could be desirable, but by no means should you ever really lay it on when your trying to dodge something (and don't need to accelerate for some other reason)

 

[98SVTC]

basic laws of physics: your tires only have so much friction to go around: if you are accelerating than that's wasted friction that's not helping you turn as tight. Same reason why you don't break during a turn (trail braking aside).

I was using the racing analogy as a simple way of describing how a car handles in certain situations and the fundamentals of how a car reacts to input from the driver or the lack thereof. With no power on the drive wheels there is less traction than with (some) power. That means, all the traction a given tire brings with it without any external stimuli is all you're going to have. That's as basic as you can get. Even braking imparts more "grab" to the tires than a no throttle or brake situation. Try rolling through a corner in neutral and no brakes and see what happens. Depending on your speed, even if you don't skid, it's going to feel really funny and un-natural.

The reason you are supposed to power through a turn though has absolutely nothing to do with making a sharp turn, its how you make it around the turn to keep the fastest laptime.

While I didn't state the sharpness of the corner, it does have something to do with traction though and any corner, no matter the sharpness, would be navigated better with more traction versus less. Again, try my test above and see which way gets you through a corner tidier.

Now a slight bit of throttle to counteract any engine braking effect could be desirable, but by no means should you ever really lay it on when your trying to dodge something (and don't need to accelerate for some other reason)

I didn't mention any throttle position. Obviously you wouldn't "floor it" (or stomp on the brakes) in any circumstance. But you might in some. One of the nice things about front drive is that the car generally goes in the direction it's pointed when the front tires are scratching for traction. That happy coincidence will turn the same car into an under steering pig in a no traction scenario because of the excess weight on the front tires.

That is why it is important to "know" your car and the fundamentals of driving. I don't know what driving schools are teaching these days but I doubt that they get very deep into the physics of driving. I'd rather learn how a car handles from a racing perspective than not know anything at all. Karl

 

[catfish]

acceleration has the opposite effect to adding traction though, it shifts weight off the front wheels reducing their grip (which induces understeer), and uses up valuable friction.

brakes of course have the opposite effect, which is why a minor amount of braking/engine braking is useful.

To make the sharpest possible "dodge" you want maybe some brakes but certainly no gas (assuming after that dodge you don't need to do anything else) It feels natural to give it gas though because thats how you make a smooth transition from the turn to a straight line and maintain speed, but neither are really important in the given scenario.

In all fairness though i neglected the "pulling" effect of the fwd, but im reasonably sure that in most cases its negligible to the loss or turning radius due to speed/weight distribution.

I don't know what driving schools are teaching these days

Not much I'm afraid...

 

[PeppermintPatty]

I pulled out onto a slippery highway this winter & the trooper went sideways a little...

 

[98SVTC]

acceleration has the opposite effect to adding traction though, it shifts weight off the front wheels reducing their grip (which induces understeer), and uses up valuable friction.

Absolutely agree here. I think in a low adhesion situation the weight transfer effect is reduced a bit though. At this point all we're trying to do is steer in a certain direction so even a little adhesion created by tires trying to grip is better than just coasting. I watch the BTCC whenever possible and during one race, several cars ended up in the grass but these guys never let off the gas. They scratched and clawed there ways back to the track. This would likely not happen with a rear drive vehicle.

brakes of course have the opposite effect, which is why a minor amount of braking/engine braking is useful.

To make the sharpest possible "dodge" you want maybe some brakes but certainly no gas (assuming after that dodge you don't need to do anything else) It feels natural to give it gas though because thats how you make a smooth transition from the turn to a straight line and maintain speed, but neither are really important in the given scenario.

Balance is the key as someone has as their sig on this site!

In all fairness though i neglected the "pulling" effect of the fwd, but im reasonably sure that in most cases its negligible to the loss or turning radius due to speed/weight distribution.

Yes, and my ideas would work better with an LSD too but again, even a small amount of grip is better than none, I believe.

Not much I'm afraid...

Amen. As I mentioned in another post, my street is used a lot by driver's training outfits and I always muse that all they're doing is supplying more fodder for the cannons. And upping my insurance premiums!
Karl