So, i'm new to rwd drive cars, and have a bmw 525 e34 manual with an open diff. And tbh it scares the fuck out of me as it just spins up and starts to go sideways at the drop of a hat in the wet. Now i know the answer is just keep off the accelerator while cornering but relisiticly are rwd cars meant to be this scary or is it just i'm not used to it? (i've only had the car six months)

Is tyre choice a factor? atm it has budgets, but i don't want to spend nearly £200 a corner on some contis (245/40/18) only to find it's still twitchy in the rain.

I can't begin to imagine what a m3 or m5 would be like.

anyone got any views? i know this is a very random post but i see nearly everyone on here raves about rwd cars and i just can't seem to comprehend why! - not in this wet country anyway!

 

cheap tyres arnt a good start to better traction

 

Agreed. They don't nickname them Hedgehunters or Ditchfinders for nothing

 

i'd go some way to say its RWD too though.

i have good tyres on my cortina mk2. but thats really twitchy in the wet, even with its stock 1600GT engine, it probably has about 60hp lol.

 

Has the car got traction control, if it has make sure its ON atleast until you get use to RWD.

 

Tyres won't help but in any rear wheel drive you have to take it easy in the wet. My M3 has DSC and an LSD and even with the DSC switched on it'll go sideways in the wet when you aren't expecting it! It's good fun once you are used to it though

 

of course it's a massive amount to do with the shite tyres

 

Don't be a pussy. Weld the diff, loads more control and predicability.

 

took me well over a year to get used to my sierra with an open diff all i say is drive with care in the rain coz if you dont it will bite ya in the ass and youll be hitting the cerb have some fun aswell when knowone is around, learn the way the car steps out then when it does go sideways you dont just panic and lose it you have a little bit of a headstart on what its going to do but imo rwd in the rain sucks but can be very fun

 

what a fucking pussy

 

Get some decent tyres!!

 

shit tyres dont help tbh

but wen u think bout it everybody that started to drive a RWD car for the first tym neva kept it in a straight line for the first few months but once u get used to it mate ul love it ave had RWD cars since a past ma test nd am now 21 nd tbh a dont c wot ppl c in FWD cars.

ave got, saph 2WD cos, cos rep saph 1.8 2WD, bmw 330tds se m-tech sport RWD, mk1 sierra 1.6l, mk1 sierra xr4i RWD, nd are all great fun in the wet or in the dry after a got the hange of drivin them,

 

As I proved with mine last winter, regardless of quality tyres you use, they will go sideways and cause damage in the wet...

 

get it sideways you fucking gimp!

 

They won't, its purely down to the driver

My mum drives a RWD MG ZT-T and has been for the past 6 years, not once has she had any problems.

 

Crock of shite pal, mine ran 350bhp on Michelin Pilots and no amount of driver correction could help it. Plus, didn't help it was through a very narrow lane

 

Driver error then, yeah?

 

Needs a slipper

 

If you hadn't have let it get into that situation, correction wouldn't have been needed in the first place. It was driver error, and that's the end of it. I've driven my friends VXR8 in the wet and been a passenger and neither of us have crashed and that's on the not so good tyres.

Benni.

 

You obviously drive like a cock. Also theres only 4 things keeping you in contact with the road. It doesnt take a genius to work out why contis etc are dearer. You get what you pay for.

 

2wd cars are crap lol, 4x4 is the way to go.

 

firstly ditch the cheap ass tyres. they are your ONLY contact with the road and make a HUGE difference to a cars handling...FACT! oh dont go and put pirrelli p6000 on, they are wank and have been nick named pirrelli ditch finders. get some hancook v12 or s1, very good tyres.

secondly, go lighter with the throttle. cars were first built rwd, the original mini was the first to be fwd. it just takes a bit of time to get used to driving rwd cars. gentle and smoothness is key to driving safely regardless of the car.

 

the width of the tyre won't be helping either. i would try and find some standard rims(15's on an e34 i think?)

 

id say get some wider wheels with wider tyres and as with any rear wheel drive car drive it slower in the wet, mines bit me in the ass 2ce in the wet, wider tyres definately help i dont care what anyone says, my shity old wheels and tyres would spin out on a dry road let alone a wet one, and now with the new wider tyres it sticks pretty good and generally the front goes before the back in the wet and all im using is cheapo nankang tires, makes alot of difference

 

Right, yeah ok i do sometimes drive like a cock, but having always driven fwd/awd it's prehaps given me a bit of misguided confidence. Now in a rwd car everything seems completly different and i'm looking at everything ahead in so much more detail, like ooo drain covers ahead, better not plant my foot down, diesel on the roundabout, better be more carful.

If i drive everywhere at 2krpm feathering the throttle it drives like a dream. no problems at all. but being a petrol head like most of us here enjoy hammering the fuck out of a car when road conditions allow it just doesn't give the same buzz as driving a scooby for example as the traction isn't there in the wet.

Which really it's the traction thats a problem, and while i know tyres are all thats keeping me on the road and the contis are better tyres, i can't help but wonder are all rwd cars this twitchy in the wet? - this is my first rwd car remember.

 

wtf why not go allout and fit space savers

 

This might sound really dumb, but why would wider tyres not be helping?
Surely wider rubber=more surface to grip?

 

[QUOTE=

i can't help but wonder are all rwd cars this twitchy in the wet? - this is my first rwd car remember.[/QUOTE]


simply yes ave found, but just give it tym nd am sure ul get the hang of it like we all hav nd ul manage

 

Have you had the geometry/allignment checked? It sounds like there might be something that needs adjusting if it is as twitchy as you make it out to be, even on cheap tyres!

 

wider tyres (assuming they fit haha) only become a problem in very heavy rain and when hitting puddles as they will have a greater tendancy to aquaplane as theres more surface area for the water to act on and therefore more overall force to lift the car off the tarmac.

 

Check out my mate steve in the wet at east brent roundabout... loses it a couple times though, not like him but check it out lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSxlwapsDEQ

 

my saff got me in the wet,spun it on a big roundabout,you just need experience with em aswell.

 

i see where your coming from but wider tyres have always gave me more grip in the wet, skiny tyres = wheel spin on pull off, with wider ones i dont get that atall and it grips better round corners

 

go round a roundabout look out floor it rag it sideway it then relax do that a few times ull be fine

 

i was agreeing with you mate. wider tyres give more grip even in the wet until you ge an huge down poor and start strying to drive through puddles. also, worn tyres dont help as they cant displace as much water so when you get bellow 3mm of tread you need to start thinking about changing them.

 

4x4 for women i drive a 2.8 capri every day on crap nankangs and it not much of a handfull in the wet once your not a twat

 

Did you read my comment above?

 

Nankangs ? i have them on the front of my 1.6 fucked mondeo and it still understeers, wheel spins and does things i'd rather it didn't and that's fwd. You are a brave man.

Something i'm surprised hasn't been mentioned is this...

your driving a manual.. try using lower revs when entering corners / roundabouts.. drive round them in 5'th...doubt it'd spin up then

 

Unless she is driving it in reverse, then ALL Rover MGs are FWD, not RWD.

That might explain why she has not had any problems.

 

There was a rwd one with a 4.6 mustang sourced v8 engine.

Been looking at tyres on mytyres, not as expensive as i had been told, goodyear f1 for £120, might be worth a try.

oh, and i hadn't really considered the tracking, will deffo look into that, cheers!