when i accelerate rapidly and get into 2nd gear going about 45-50, the car has actually fish tailed (but the loss of control feels like the front end) twice...and scared me. i didn't know you could fish tail on a dry road. No bumps in road and once when cornering, the other, going straight.. Only 1,000 miles in '06 rx8. tire pressures are correct. i didn't spin out. is there just one drive wheel and this causes the problem? these are stock dunlop 8090 225 tires. thanks.

 

If you're fish tailing from the front end, you're going way too fast in reverse

 

^ +1

fishtailing your front tires?...

 

shealbi, welcome to the forum. Please post location information in your profile.
My guess. Sounds like your DSC caught the rear end slide. It corrects a slide by reducing throttle and applying braking on a front and/or rear wheel as required sometimes giving the impression that the front of the car is involved in the slide.
With the winter weather around here the roads are slippery either from snow, salt film or just cold weather so wheelspin in second gear is fairly common as is sliding it around!

 

Sounds about right DB. Some summer tires are very slick until warmed up (cold temps out). The RE040s were notorious, not sure about the Dunlops.

If your tires aren't warm, it's likely that your car isn't warm, so stop flogging it cold .

 

I've noticed I can break the tires loose going into 2nd if I keep the revs high and "pop" the cluch going into gear. That puts you at a higher hp going into gear and popping the clutch shock loads the system to break the tires loose.

 

did you leave traction control on?

 

Did you just say "accelerate rapidly" and RX-8 in relation to one another?

 

ok, i have a stripped down rx8 w/o the dsc. I've never experienced this type of loss of control, so i dont know how to describe it, but it felt like the rear wheels were pushing the car a bit one direction and the front was going the other. i know that sounds weird, but i'm over 50 and have experienced lots of driving issues, but never one like this. i felt like the car could actually flip over due to the push from the back in a different trajectory than the front end as the front end swayed a different direction. i guess nobody else has felt like they were losing contriol as they were accelerating to the max.

 

don't be scared. the ONLY way you're gonna flip this car, is by hitting a curb or some other kind of "pivot" point. and so you know, i can leave DSC/TCS on and regularly break the rear end loose hitting 2nd gear, pretty easily actually

 

Here too. There is nothing wrong with your car. Welcome to a car with some power. lol

 

one suggestion, stop driving like mad person. if you can't drive that fast, learn how to drive more properly. that's part of throttle controlling practice. this car only has torsen lsd, so what you experienced is normal, even with 2 way lsd, it can't always go perfectly in the straight direction.

 

Nag:
Break-in period.... At 1000 miles you shouldn't be flat at high revs yet.
I know its hard to resist tho.

 

[QUOTE] i felt like the car could actually flip over due to the push from the back in a different trajectory than the front end as the front end swayed a different direction. i guess nobody else has felt like they were losing contriol as they were accelerating to the max.

I can't remember the exact source, but a test of cars sold currently in the US found that the RX8 was the least likely to roll over.

Mitch

 

The NHTSA gave the RX8 a five star rating for their "new avoidance maneuver driving test."

"Only the Mazda RX-8 received the top rating of five stars in the latest round of testing using NHTSA's new avoidance maneuver driving test. A five-star rating indicates less than a 10 percent chance of a rollover. But the RX-8 did less well, receiving four out of a possible five stars, in most of the traditional crash test rankings released Monday."

 

If you're pushing hard, you may be lifting enough up front that the fronts have just a smidge less traction. Combine that with the notorious tramlining that the car does have, and the front will float a little. Camber and elevation changes worsen the problem. You can easily break the rears loose in second if the tires are new, cold, and especially if it isn't very nice outside.

 

You're probably just pulling the wheel to the side without noticing it. Many people inadvertently move their feet/arms in unintended ways while shifting and such. Takes a bit to get used to the coordinated movements. Even when driving hard in wet/snowy weather, my car never flinches laterally unless I deliberately cause it to. Have someone watch you while you drive, and see if they're catching anything.

 

this made me laugh - sadly

 

Where are you located and what were the temps at the time? I found the stock Dunlops to have about as much traction as plastic when temps are <40 degrees F.

 

Driving lessons.

 

Make sure your tires are balanced and set true - If your dealer cant do this ask around for sport shops that do tires...

you might check and see if adding weight to the front passenger seat, or trunk helps.

If your track or road has tire humps you will notice them at certain speeds, also ruts or those awful places where they scrape the road and don't resurface it properly but you should not experience pull!

Check and make sure your steering is true - at low speed take your hands off your wheel for a second or two and see if the car pulls to one side - then brake and see if your brakes are pulling more on one side...If it is not right down the center it needs to be fixed!

Pulling is not a normal 8 thing - I can go 0-85 ( we have to boys - thats the speed limit on some sections of our hiway and our onramps are short) without anything wierd happening or any usual pull - but Dad's old Chrysler used to pull, and I considered it too dangerous to drive until I made sure the problem was corrected!

If you don't have one - a spoiler is not only stylish it actually helps with crosswinds -

 

Yup, that is a standard thing for a Base RX8 to do. Since the car has no DCS, when you stick the throttle the back end will push the front wheels to the point at which the torque into the back wheels is more than the tires can use to push the resistance of the front wheels out of the way, and the back end will start to come around on you in straight line acceleration. Happens to me all the time in the summer. I don't hit the throttle hard at all in winter. The stock tires are Summer only, and they should not be driven in below freezing temperatures because the compound hardens up in the cold. They have little or no traction then. Winter tires can be driven harder in winter, but the compound is softer, and it tears them apart. Besides, there is snow everywhere here now.

What you exerienced is normal, and I am surprised that at your age, you have never experienced it before. My first car was a rear wheel drive Volvo station wagon that used to do this all the time. Most older rear wheel drive cars would do this at one point or another, especially in poor weather. That aside, the thing to do when it happens, is lift gently off the throttle, and turn into the skid gently, and wait for the car to correct its path. Severe corrections can lead to over-correction and the car careening off in the wrong path so be careful.

Partly, if your car is really still quite new, you might have resist left on the tires that has not been scrubbed off yet. That can lead to bad traction like driving on slightly icey roads.

The thing with any sports car is to roll onto the throttle and not stick it. If you stick the throttle there is a much higher chance of breaking the tires away even if traction is maximal. If you think that this is bad, then you should try a Corvette. Those things need a great deal of sensitive throttle control.

The last thing that I would mention concerning hard acceleration in a Base RX 8 is that the stock shocks are underdamped for the car, and that hard acceleration in first or second can lead to rear wheel "hop". It feels like the back end is jumping around. This used to happen to me on any form of wet surface, when I rolled on the throttle hard. I got Koni shocks, and that fixed it.