Jaisin

Simple question to be answered. The other thread got locked.

If I had magnesium rims, would they have shattered instead of braking off in big pieces?

EyeBall Fixer...(o)(x)

Ouch!
That hurts!
How 'bout a little more info...
Did you hit a curb while drifting???

chrism

good god!

zoom44

same thing would have happened- end result busted rim.

Gyro

I don't think any type of rim would have faired too well.


Think of it this way.....


You hit a curb lateraly with some good force. If you had a stronger wheel, more of the lateral energy would have gone right into your suspension. More costly and harder to repair than a shattered alloy wheel. I would rather a shattered rim.

Looks like you might need a brake rotor too. :o

Jaisin

Nope. Coming home from a study group at Barnes and Nobles. I turned the DSC off because I heard that it saved gas. I had never had the DSC intervene with my driving before, so I really didn't know what it did. The dealer didn't explain to me. I just read about it. I hadn't been driving stick for long and I was awful at shifting. I was shifting midway through a curved road and I dropped the clutch a bit. I also, looked down at my tachometer and started to wander into the left lane just a tad. Instead of continuing over, I jerked the wheel a little bit too much. The back end proceeded to step about a bit. I paniced and jerk the car the other way. I fishtailed 4 or 5 times before I hit the curb. I never braked because I didn't want to slide. I didn't know how to correct my car so I lost it. I ended up on the median and the wheel came off. Some people were in their back yard across the ditch and saw what happened. I told them I was alright, but it was too late. They called the firetruck and police for me. The cop came and wrote up the accident. He didn't give me a ticket. He called a tow truck for me (I didn't know Road Side assistance wouldn't tow wrecked cars). Tow truck came and I had a friend take me to the dealer. Dealer said DSC wouldn't have saved me, but I know it would have. I had plenty of time to correct the cars motion, I just didn't have experience with a situation like that; therefore, I had an accident. There were no other cars around when it happened either. I am glad it happened though. I don't regret it at all. It opened up my eyes and helped me understand the physics of a car. It also kept me from doing stupid things down the road which I probably would have done if I wouldn't have had the accident.

jsh1120

"I was shifting midway through a curved road and I dropped the clutch a bit..."

That was the first mistake. All the rest follows naturally.

Far from flaming you, I think you deserve an award for the most honest recounting of an accident from an inexperienced driver. Kudos. Now, leave your DSC on until you learn to control your car on the track. And slow down.

BTW, your overcorrection was the most common mistake among young drivers. You're fortunate you were in an RX-8 rather than an SUV. You'd probably have ended up hanging from your seatbelt (which I hope you were wearing.)

Again, happy to hear you're ok. It was a very cheap lesson in the long run.

therm8

Yup, except you'd be out a couple grand for a new magnesium replacement. :D

Jaisin

I hate SUVs. I'd never get one for that reason alone. I like cars better. Especially the 8. We have the 5Star rollover rating! :D :D

Red's Faster

I agree completely man.

That sorta accident isn't all that uncommon. With rear wheeled vehicles, the dynamics are completely different than front wheel drive cars. It takes practice to control the *** end when it breaks loose. You should probably leave the DSC on like already mentioned, but I suggest you find a HUGE parking lot and set up some scenarios like what happened and learn to control it.

Navybeardbb

The same thing happened with my old VW GTi, except my back wheel bent...my front wheel was ruined, and then my axle snapped in half. So yea you got off pretty well, i learned my lesson as i hope you did too Hit the brakes next time.

kuleto

this maybe a dumbfounded question..but what would have been the right correction to possibly avoid the accident?

takahashi

It is unfortunate, but it is a perfect example of shift lock.

Damn it is an expensive spin, isn't it?

Deslock

jsh1120 is right... kudos to you for looking at the situation objectively and positively (what matters here is no one got hurt). When faced with something like this, many drivers make excuses and are unable to accept responsibility.

RX3+5

Flame!!!

AQA101

One tip: With DSC off (in the regular "off" mode, not the seven second "total off") the ABS still works. ABS will avoid sliding as far as possible while braking and you also can steer normally. The most dangerous moment with ABS is when you actually release the brakes. Besides that, the RX-8 has a superior braking behaviour, I trust the car in this aspect like no car before.

The best way to find out about the effects is a security training where you can train the same situations with DSC on and off. This was about the first thing I did when I got my RX-8. My primary intention back then was to find out about the behaviour of the security systems of the car and it really paid off (and btw, since that training I left the DSC always on).

Jaisin

I leave my on too. I did a post about where I accidentally did a 180 (There were no cars or people... I live in LOUISIANA!) trying to learn how to correct after I had the accident. I had my accident in August, the first month I had the car, first RWD, first Manual, and now I am fine. No accidents since then. I can tell I am a much better drive after the wreck. Especially when it comes to shifting. I used to jerk all the time. Now I am smooth and people don't notice I am shifting. I used to spin the tires all the time, but now I can barely get them to spin even if I want to because I am used to driving well with stick. I can't heel toe or anything, and I'm not perfect, but I can get around town well and enjoy the car. :D

I let my friend with a 3rd Gen RX-7 drive my car. He had only been in once before and the person didn't go fast. I let him wind it our through first and second. Then he slowed down to a stop. HE LOVED our BRAKES. :D Now he wants one. :p

StewC625

I promised a forum admin that I would not flame our man Jaisin any more. Jaisin, my apologies. I will not flame you in a house, I will not flame you with a mouse - oh wait, that's "Green Eggs and Ham" ...

So therefore, I'm not flaming you.

I will point out that damage and incidents like this are often the direct result of a lack of experience that is common with youthful drivers driving cars that are way beyond their capability to control them. Not saying this one was, although our man Jaisin IS a youthful driver.

The BEST investment you can possibly make in yourself and your car is NOT magneisum wheels, or a forced induction system or the latest geegaw gimcrakery thingamabobber, but instead a course in high performance driving. Whether it is the hundred-dollar pre-season autocross clinic sponsored by your local SCCA chapter, or it's a $3500 three-day at Bob Bondurant or Skip Barber, either way, you'll come away with a healthy respect for your car, for the laws of physics, and a full understanding of what you can and cannot get away with with your particular car.

Because clearly, young Jaisin here got a mighty surprise when he dumped his clutch with too many revs in mid corner on what was likely a damp or slick road with the stability control turned off (DSC).

There's no substitute for knowledge and training, folks.

Invest in yourself before you mod your car. You will be glad you did.

See, wasn't I nice?

samsonite1

excellent advice for anyone.

Jaisin

Yes, You were nice. Now I am starting to like you. :D I want to goto Skip Barber over the summer. My dad said its fine. I just have to get out there. :D Stew, I was looking at the Skip Barber site a while back and I wasn't sure which class to take. Can you point me in the right direction? I am kinda confused on which one would be the best for me.

AQA101

Just ask them which is the best for you, or otherwise start with an easy one.

From a look at their page the two day driving school looks OK. You should at least learn things like emergency braking, emergency lane change, controlling understeer and oversteer situations. Oversteer is the real fun part of every training btw (especially in a RWD vehicle) and deals with what probably happened to you in your accident.

Skip Barber announces that don't get to drive in your own car though, which is not too great because that's the you want to learn as much as possible about.

Edit: You may want to check out the Porsche Driving School. I know that at least in Germany you can drive your own car there. Must be fun with an RX-8 between the Porsches (I'm thinking about doing that one myself this summer).

StewC625

At Skip Barber, the appropriate courses for you would be:

New Driver
One Day Driver School or Two Day Driver school.

Not a flame: You don't know enough about driving to take the racing school. Yet. Baby steps my man, Baby Steps.

But, the course I'd recommend for you over everything else is this:

Bob Bondurant's Advanced Teen-aged Driving: http://www.bondurant.com/courses/Teendriv.html

This is a course that's totally made just for you. You will learn so much that could save your ***, every single day.

BlueAdept

As somone who has grown up with the way we do things in the UK, I have a great deal of difficaulty in understanding the fact that there doesn't seem to be a distinction between driving a manual or automatic gearbox... here, you take your lessons and test in a manual... if you cant pass, you can take the test in an auto, but then your licence says that you are not permitted to drive a manual... Some of the cause of incidents like this must be the lack of training with a manual gearbox prior to getting a licence??

Anyway, You stated that you didn't want to brake to avoid sliding... but strangely, if you had the DSC in the temporary "standby" mode that you get by just pressing the button breifly... if you had braked hard enough to trigger the ABS, the the DSC would automatically have re-activated.

Jaisin

I did the 7 second thing.

RenesisRacer

Waiiiit a minute--- you mean if you hold the DSC button for 7 seconds it turns off all electronic aids including ABS??

Truth be told I'm afraid to turn the DSC off. Even with my experience in SB's racing series, sometimes I will see the dsc light flashing when I'm driving in a straight line and don't feel the car unsettle or anything. People complain about the power but it still has a good amount that needs to be respected .

As for which course to take; I'm not too farmiliar with Skip Barber's Driving Schools, but I wouldn't discount the racing schools because of a lack of knowledge. It really is amazing how much they teach you in a quick 3 days.

Even still, I guess the driving schools were designed exactly for hot shots like you :p .

Either way,always say- the biggest performance mod is the driver.