Fishtailing

[ok89]

Ok. Here is the deal it is really cold here in Houston(40 degrees is too cold for Houston) On top of that it is rainy. Well on my way home from school there is an intersection I get to go through where i turn right and always fishtail(when its wet). Now I don't go crazy when I fishtail, I know its gonna happen and its kind of fun, I can keep it from going 90 degrees or more. Well enough mumbo jumbo. What is the proper way to control fishtailing. Do you turn into it like you would for a skid? Also to prevent it what do you do? Do you just not accelerate around turns? And when the tires grip again is there any possibility of :roll: ? Thank you

 

[01EB5.0]

to prevent fishtailing, just don't get on the gas as hard. if you slide into a corb or off the road there is a possability of :roll: so just lay off the gas and your :redexp: should be . I know from driving mine in the 2WD setting that it is possable to not fishtail unless you want to because it's not like the X has tons of horsepower.

 

[ok89]

Yeah i like fishtailing i just want to keep it under control and not :roll:

no its not 4wd.
Also my friend(who doesnt know much about suvs) had a mustang. He refused to drive it because it fishtailed too much (he drives very crazy and i know its not the mustang's fault) but he says it was ford's fault for no traction control. he even spun it into the curb hard enough that he cracked the wheel and bent the axle. He then sold the Stang and bought a Nissan Xterra with the LSD. He insists that he won't fishtail with it. Well my question is does the LSD help at all on fishtailing?

 

[Raceit]

Nothing better then seeing a 2 ton vehicle slidding sideways on the street!

If your doing this from a dead stop I'd doubt you could flip it. The only reason it would flip is if you have a high rate of sideways momentem and then the rear tire either hits a curb or catches on something to jerk the axle back. If that happens it can be real interesting to avoid flipping, but I hope that would never happen.

I spin my back end around every so often. Pulling out into the street when it hasen't rained in a while will let you have lots of oil and goo on the street still. A couple of times I have had turn the stearing wheel all the way until it locks. It's no fun when you get it that far because you don't have any room for correction.

I only recently started doing this with my Explorer. (Only when it's safe and there are NO other cars around me. I picked up the habbit when I had my Mustang and with that you could do it on dry pavement.

Remember...counter steering is your fiend!

Now, don't do as I do, but do as I say.

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by ok89
. . .He then sold the Stang and bought a Nissan Xterra with the LSD. He insists that he won't fishtail with it. Well my question is does the LSD help at all on fishtailing?

Nothing fishtails better than an LSD equipped vehicle with the torque to break the rear tires loose. An LSD will make it harder to break the rear tires loose, however once they do loose traction, you have two spinning rear tires instead of just one. At least when you only have one spinning tire, the other one helps hold the rear-end in place. I would imagine that even an Xterra has enough torque to break both rear tires loose in the rain. He will be in for a wild surprise if he drives his Xterra like he did his Mustang in the rain. My '94 4.0L 5-speed Ranger with a 3.55 LS axle would fishtail very easily, probably more so than his Mustang since I probably had less weight over the rear axle than he did. I was still able to control it in the two Northern Ohio winters that I had it. Never did a 360 in it and only fishtailed when I got on it too hard. Only one fishtail was a surprise and that was when I went over an overpass with my cruise set on 65 MPH and hit some black ice. After the pucker subsided I tapped the rear brakes to disable the cruise control which also straightened it back out. I drove much slower until I was sure I wouldn't run into more black ice.

 

[01EB5.0]

Yeah, black ice will scare the $hit outta ya. also I agree. the LSD on that Xterra will make it spin MORE. I learned to drive on a 94 E150 fullsized van. It had gobs of power thanks to the 351 Windsor under the hood. on accel out of turns I could get the passanger side tire spinning pretty good. I was used to the way that handled. Then I get my 95 Explorer with the 3.73 LSD and IT IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT STORY. I scared the **** outta myself on a few occasions the first winter I had the explorer...almost ended up running off the road once. The LSD is EXCELLENT for doughtnuts on newly fallen snow, but is not good for someone such as your friend.
Also his comment about Traction control I find funny. EVery high performance car driver I talk to HATES traction control because it doesn;t let you drive the car. He just needs to learn the car and learn the limits. If he seriously doesn;t like the way it drives, get a new set of skinnier tires for winter and it would have done better.

 

[Hartman]

ok89, I think your fishtailing problem has an easy fix: slow down on the turns pal!

Anyway, I fishtailed my 95 on the way home from school about a month ago. The pavement was pretty wet, and there were no cars around (luckily, since I took up three lanes to get it under control ). Oh well, it's still damn fun!

 

[03ExplorerSPT]

I have a '95 also which I fishtailed. It wasn't that bad. Just by a couple of inches sides ways. I could feel it. All I had to do was take my foot off the gas and it stopped.

1995ExplorerXLT

 

[Alec]

Yup, just keep off the gas in the turn. I used to always fishtail when I was 16, but as I got more experience, I learned how to control the throttle better.

As for what was said about the LSD, that's true. It'll help you keep control, until it totally locks up and both wheels break loose. I tell ya, nothing is more fun than purposely breaking both tires loose on a wet freeway and rotating the truck. Boy was that fun!

If you're in a fishtail, back off the gas, do not brake, and steer where you want to go. Do not overcorrect. Then slowly give it gas to help straighten out.

 

[ok89]

Well if there are other cars around I go easy on the gas. But when there are no cars around I like a little fishtail. I know I shouldn't try to fishtail but I do. There are never any cars around so I can fishtail at this particular corner. Today I did take up three lanes in my fishtail. It was fun. The main thing I was looking for is how to control it. Because one time I did scare the stuffing out of me. Now I can usually tell if i'm going to fishtail.

 

[Hartman]

Just keep an eye out for the pigs, they'll nail ya with a reckless driving charge

 

[Stephen]

Its one of those subtle things you'll learn to recognize with experience, just be sure to not over correct or you could start to fishtail the other direction and loose control.

Wanna see a car that fishtails easy, drive my Lexus in the rain or snow with the VSC turned off.

 

[ok89]

Actually I have done that thing where you fishtail one direction and then the other direction. I figure its good practice. In the event I do actually fishtail with other vehicles around it.

 

[TwoToneX]

Can't lay on the brake too tough either, that won't help things...I fishtail all the time up here (co). I can control it, but when you're away from cars etc, it's kinda fun to spin the tires a little bit and make yourself think you've got a lot of horsepower

 

[expo5.0]

fishtailing! bad

its tons of fun though, in the minnesota winters i can spin endless donuts in a parking lot with my 3.73 limited slip. Theres nothing more fun than spinning until you get dizzy.

 

[Hartman]

Expo, how'd you get your Ex that low?

 

[EBInterceptor]

I was racing a friend both in Explorers,me in an EB and him in a Sport, we came to a sharp turn that horseshoes right into a long straight away which we normally come out hard to see who's fastest...With the roads a little slick we both came into the corner, which has two lanes, and came out hard...We both ended up fishtailing...I never let off the gas and just turned hard to correct it, the car slid a little back and forth, gripped to pavement again and kept on going. Coming around that corned every single day, fishtailing often when it is slick, I would just stay off the brake...let off the gas and turn opposite the way your car is fishtailing...it seems like reflex action to do it, but for some reason women don't always seem to have that natural instinct to correct fishtailing and spins...The only thing I don't enjoy about that corner is sliding into the curve, rather than fishtailing out of it

 

[Texan01]

Having driven both RWD and FWD vehicles, a RWD one such as an X to control, simply let off the gas, a FWD if you can manage to kick the tail out, you'd better stand on the gas otherwise letting off or hitting the brakes will simply make it worse.
I found that out the hard way, I spun my 6000 into a ditch sideways and backwards got it up on 2 wheels and had it settle back onto all four after knockin the 2 left side tires off the rims and bending up the rocker panel and front fender

Morale of the story, FWD cars handle much differently than the typical RWD/4WD vehichle.

 

[Alec]

Yup about different characteristics of different drivetrains. Most drivers don't even realize that a FWD will slide differently than a RWD.

Oh and Steven, I hate the traction control on my mom's LS400. I often use power to help correct situations, and it's hard to let the car do the work. However, the traction control in my Dad's SLK is easier to live with, if a bit trigger happy.

 

[01EB5.0]

I prefer a RWD to a FWD any day...I like my front wheels to not loose traction as would happen when you floor a FWD.