Just had an oops moment!

[mikearwas]

As you all may be aware I recently bought a new 130i to replace one I managed to crash.

Returning from work today I obviously noticed the cold temperatures and was taking it very easy. However even on the backroads I didn't have any problems with ice..until I was about a mile from home.

Descending down an A road I passed a place where water usually corrects and of course I went through very slowly but didn't encounter any ice. About 100 meters further on out of nowhere the rear of the car stepped out quite significantly, thank god I had the DSC on which reacted before I did but it still required a quarter turn of oppo' to bring the car back in line. It was very much an oh st how did that happen moment because I wasn't anywhere near the throttle or the brakes and it happened in a completely straight line.

I will admit it was particularly alarming because I felt the exact same sensation of the sliding car that I felt when I lost my old car- thankfully this time I didn't over correct.

I will await the cool story bro comments but just maybe see this as a warning that even though there may not appear to be ice there could always be one patch that can catch you out. Thankfully the car and I are home safely.

Anyone else had an heart in mouth moments with this weather?

[davepoth]

Not this year. But a few years back I got into a tank slapper with a fully loaded Sprinter while accelerating onto a motorway. That was a bit lively.

[Caulkhead]

Metres.

[Eighteeteewhy]

Caulkhead said:

Metres.

Collects

[CraigyMc]

Eighteeteewhy said:

Caulkhead said:

Metres.

Collects

Is this a word association game?

[Bohally]

Happened to me before, thankfully was driving the snotter. Was doing <40 though, road seemed fine, straight, didn't think it was THAT cold, remember being pretty sideaways thinking "Oh fk". Woman ahead of me managed to do a complete 180 degree spin and come to a stop about 50 feet ahead. Was sheet ice.

[CraigyMc]

Bohally said:

Happened to me before, thankfully was driving the snotter. Was doing <40 though, road seemed fine, straight, didn't think it was THAT cold, remember being pretty sideaways thinking "Oh fk". Woman ahead of me managed to do a complete 180 degree spin and come to a stop about 50 feet ahead. Was sheet ice.

I once booted an e39 5-series in a straight line on about 3" of fresh snow, on a really wide (4 lane) road with nobody behind and nobody in front. I was expecting it to drift around, but actually it span up precisely one rear wheel and after the car finished doing its 180 (in a straight line), I set off again.

Snow is odd.

C

[Mr Wolf]

mikearwas said:

I skidded on some black ice.

Cool story bro

[McSam]

CraigyMc said:

I once booted an e39 5-series in a straight line on about 3" of fresh snow, on a really wide (4 lane) road with nobody behind and nobody in front. I was expecting it to drift around, but actually it span up precisely one rear wheel and after the car finished doing its 180 (in a straight line), I set off again.

Snow is odd.

C

This is why you need a limited-slip diff

Not yet had any ice-based pant-wetting in the car this year. Almost wish I had after stacking my mountain bike today on an incredibly (and stealthily) icy pavement at about 10mph, managing to sprain my wrist pretty brutally at the start of exam season

[mikearwas]

McSam said:

This is why you need a limited-slip diff

Not yet had any ice-based pant-wetting in the car this year. Almost wish I had after stacking my mountain bike today on an incredibly (and stealthily) icy pavement at about 10mph, managing to sprain my wrist pretty brutally at the start of exam season

Sorry to hear that mate. On ice four wheels is definitely better than two. Hope it heels quickly.

[crosseyedlion]

If you where completely off the throttle, it'll be the engine breaking causing the rear to loose grip.

In something like a 130i the engine breaking can actually be a lot more than you'd expect, the decent weight of the car normally compensates for this (so its not so noticable). But when the surface is reaaallllyyy slippery on a rwd car, it starts to become a factor - its the same as having a bit of handbrake on, so its not surprising it can step out.

I've ended up in (planned) slidey moments just from engine breaking.

My advice if you want to stay on the straight and narrow on ice is - Drive in top gear as much as possible, slow down with gentle braking if required (reduces the effect) and more importantly, drive with just a dab of throttle when you would normally coast.

Although you where probably aware of this...it's amazing the amount of people who aren't (eg my mum)

[McSam]

Thanks Mike. I was definitely longing for four wheels - I've never yet hit the floor by failing to catch a slide in a car

re. engine braking, yes it can become a significant issue on ice, and driving in a high gear or with some slight balancing throttle helps get round it. But that's not to say you'll avoid any rear-end slides by taking deceleration out of the equation, sometimes only one rear wheel will touch an exceptionally slippy surface and then you have the same problem. This is what did for me!

[mikearwas]

crosseyedlion said:

If you where completely off the throttle, it'll be the engine breaking causing the rear to loose grip.

In something like a 130i the engine breaking can actually be a lot more than you'd expect, the decent weight of the car normally compensates for this (so its not so noticable). But when the surface is reaaallllyyy slippery on a rwd car, it starts to become a factor - its the same as having a bit of handbrake on, so its not surprising it can step out.

I've ended up in (planned) slidey moments just from engine breaking.

My advice if you want to stay on the straight and narrow on ice is - Drive in top gear as much as possible, slow down with gentle braking if required (reduces the effect) and more importantly, drive with just a dab of throttle when you would normally coast.

Although you where probably aware of this...it's amazing the amount of people who aren't (eg my mum)

Thank you for the advice. I think I was in 6th but i'm sure the EB still has an effect in top.

I am aware of what you're saying but given that I hadn't encountered any ice until then I thought I was safe- this is what made it a particularly scary moment as it came out of nowhere!

[mat777]

I once managed to 180 a Series 3 Land Rover by trundling slowly up to a junction in freezing conditions, and downchanging to engine brake just as the rear wheels encountered some black ice. Its gracefully performed its half pirouette before coming to a stop backwards in the middle of the t-junction, much to the amusement of the woman in the car behind us - and much to my relief, it didnt hit anything!

[dowahdiddyman]

Rover sd1. snow. ditch. OOPS.

[robinessex]

I seem to remember a famous rally driver saying, if you start to loose a car on ice, dip the clutch, and it will often sort itself out.

[civicduty]

Thats great but how do you do that in all these flappy-paddle-button-changing all singing all dancing amazing gearboxes we have now (and automatics) really seems like manufacturer's are going out of their way to make driving a car a remote experience! IMO

[Jaroon]

I seem to learn very slowly as again this year I partially lost control brake testing the traction conditions. Sliding slowly (but definately fast enough for serious car damage) towards a curb I had to gently get back on the power and acccelerate towards my doom in the hope of finding traction.

My four wheel drive scooby did hook up and I avoided a totally avoidable accident that I nearly managed to engineer. Just poor driving.

[schmalex]

A fair few times I have got the back out on my Landy either by accident or deliberately. The look on people's faces when 2 tonnes of truck is elegantly drifting at 10 - 15mph is quite a picture.

The other good thing is you can do'nut it in it's own length on slippery surfaces

[s p a c e m a n]

Try to go sideways everywhere, then you'll never be caught out