DSC helped after a car wash!
 

Hi all, just thought I would post this for interest...

I had my car washed the other day, looked all nice and clean etc. they cleaned the wheels and put the lovely tyre black on etc. etc.

After driving around 30km or so (just plain driving - no silly stuff), I then went down a road I drive a few times a week, which happens to be a nice right and left hander - meant to be taken at 30-40km/h but the RX-8 normally likes to go round it at 70-80km/h.

(Dry conditions) Coming into the right-hand corner, actually slower than I normally would (maybe 65km/h) and all of a sudden the rear of the car kicks out - DSC kicks in! thud thud thud, judder judder judder - car straightens up nicely. I would have caught it ok if I didn't have DSC assistance - but it took me by surprise to say the least!

Anyways, I put it down to the tyre black that was on it. As I tested it a little more swerving (sliding!) from side to side and the grip eventually came back to me the way it should - or normally is.

What scared me was the fact that I went through that section of road slower than I normally would, so could have been a scary moment if I was pushing it.

So a little lesson learned - be very carefull after you have had a car wash and tyre black put on. Make sure you drive it off the tyres before you really need the grip!

I had a car detailer put that stuff on the tires of my motorbike once. When I was a mechanic, I fixed his car so he cleaned the bike in return. It looked really great until it went down the road on its side and got gashes all through the paintwork!

Lesson 1 - Always clean your car yourself ;)

And the tyre stuff says not to use on bike tyres! http://www.hymee.com/smilies/sm_doh.gif

Cheers,
Hymee.

I can't be arsed to clean the car myself. Can't use hoses here in Sydney, buggered if I'm going to use a bucket - Car Lovers is a pain as you have to dry it afterwards, and you are always hurried along for space.

Arsed?? Like this ?? http://www.hymee.com/smilies/sm_ooh.gif ?

Hehehe. I washed my car in Sydney. I got my aunt to hose her garden, and somehow she kept accidentally getting the car. But it didn't matter how many hundred buckets of water I used. http://www.hymee.com/smilies/sm_doh.gif

Cheers,
Hymee.

Car washes have plenty of silicon on the ground due to the tyre shine products. Abit silly of you to take fast corners etc after washing your car as all that silicon is going to fly up onto your car body.

Silicon takes a whole heap of time to get off paint work also. I use to work in a carwash for 2 years when i was younger and i know bit i guess.

The bays for car drying always have silicon from over usuage of the black stuff. I never put it on my cars and you should fill it when you take of that your tyres are running on butter for a k or two.

Regards
Phillip

Sorry Phillip - yeah you're right, was very silly of me.

I couldn't give a fuck about the car body, it was a friendly warning - perhaps you didn't read my post correctly. I had driven the car for about 30kms or so - then went a little faster than normal around a corner.

Very silly of me indeed!

Only silly in the sense of danger to other lives/property. But every time you do that you get a better sense of the onset of skid, and also a practice for the reaction. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Like they say on the track - if you don't have a lose, you don't know how far it can be pushed.

Cheers,
Hymee.

Sorry - my last post was a little harsh, I do have some ability behind the wheel. I wasn't posting it to be critised, it was just as a friendly message to make people aware of what happened.

Ditto to what Hymee has written above.