For most of us RX8 owners living in the Northeast we know the heavy rain we have been getting. I love my car it handles itself pretty well in the rain considering rear wheel drive. I was coming home from school (I'm 17 licensed for 5 months now). I had turned the dsc off on my 2004 8 because a lot of the time pulling out on the wet i feel traction control really hinders more then it helps. My feeling personally. I was taking a turn that I have taken dozens of times and in every type of weather in my car. I had just made a left onto a street maybe 300ft long to make a quick right. I turn the right doing about 20mph. I take the turn after braking and following the normal routine. Maybe with the heavy rain the road was over saturated and I felt my car pulling through the turn after I accelerated. But, soon a certainty of confidence soon was me facing the other way in which i was headed sittin on a curb. I did atleast a 270 degree turn, spinning the whole time. The curb had stopped me, my back tired slammed into the curb and then went on top of it, shortly following my front tire. I slide with my back tire on the curb and the front along it for about a foot before completely stopping. My car stalled (manual). I got out and looked at the car cursing a storm (perfect example of a catholic high school student). No cosmetic damage. I thankfully did not hit a nearby telephone pole or another person. I was luckily unscathed. So i turned my car around and was headed home about a half mile away.


I drove home with the traction control light on the full time and shoken up. I told my mom about what happened and we were already running late for a doctors appoitment she was suprisely ok with the incident. Told me that it was a lesson and we will check the car out better when we get home.

I came home and after evaluation of my own. No severe damage other then to the 2 driver side rims. The only had been bent slightly.


So I can happily say my first accident was a learning lesson.

 

You might have messed stuff up that you can't see.

And you do realize that there is a reason for DSC, right?

I don't understand how people have accidents in the rain. As long as you think for a second that, hey, there's rain on the ground, and drive accordingly, not doing anything stupid, you will be fine.

 

why would anyone drive on the street w/ traction control off is beyond me...

 

Hence the point of my learning lesson

 

The same reason they don't wear seatbelts, because there is a 1 in a million chance of the safety device making things worse.

Traction control absolutely hinders your driving. It hinders your ability to loose control of the car.

Don't tell your insurance company, (or your mom for that matter) that you had DSC off when this happened.

 

He was trying to Tokyo Drift.

 

Yeah, there isn't really any reason to turn off the DSC (for me anyway) other than if you're stuck in snow. Glad you weren't hurt, but Gish is right, there might still be things messed up with the car you can't see.

Hope you actually learn your lesson, seems like there have been a lot of young drivers getting in accidents on this forum lately.

 

turning off DSC when it's raining because it "hinders" driving.

 

What do you think would have happened if you had the DSC on?

At least you learned a lesson. Do not turn the DSC off in the rain.

 

That's too bad.

 

Traction control can freak out if you accelerate too quickly and just give up (turning on the light and keeping it on till you restart the car). Even then it doesn't hinder anything. Aside from that issue, I can't think of any reason to disable it unless you want to get into an accident.

 

What do you mean by just give up?

 

I don't have traction control (base model) so I just learn to go easy in the wet, or my back end slides all over the place.

 

it disables itself. Same as holding down the traction control button for 10 secs.

 

Heh you and I are in the same boat. Once, after the first rain of the season, I was pulling out of a shopping center and my backend came loose. I was only going 8 mph, so I was "drifting" ever so slowly.

I was sporting some pretty crappy rubber at the time, I might add.

- Matt

 

Yeah, my tail will step out just taking a 90-degree turn through an intersection at 10 mph if I get on the gas, even in 2nd gear.

It rained last week, and on my way home I decided to get silly and stood on in 1st while taking a turn, and almost over-rotated and nearly slid into the bus stop area. Luckily I was able to catch it, but I'm sure I looked retarded

 

Hey another in the same boat as me (but I'm a A/T). I always "err on the side of caution" as a friend usualy says to me, when it comes to the rain or even in the snow. Be confident but dont be cocky, I'd honestly suggest getting the car looked at to make sure nothing mechanical is messed up. Oh and definatly dont mention how you turned off anything to your 'rents or insurance.

 

Have the car checked-out. If the rims are bent, you cost yourself $500 each. If it's just curb rash, you can probably get off much cheaper. But there may be suspension and/or steering linkage damage.

Never push it in the rain, especially with only 5 months experience. That's nothing.

Glad you're OK- so is you're mom!

 

I'm actually a new driver as well, and it was raining a lot yesterday, so I took my car to a big empty parking lot to see how the car handled in the wet. I suggest you do the same.

 

Good idea.

 

Try driving with it on an Auto cross course.

Car will shut down and go into limp mode. Not a good thing if your on the street trying to aviod something.

In California the water table is so low that when it rains there are some spots that
become permant puddles.

Try hitting that and spinning a 180 degrees into on comming traffic on the freeway.

The car goes into limp mode and you are unable to spin it around the right direction and avid a head on collision.

If you jerk the wheel to avoid something and still need contorl to avoid the situation it could go into limp mode and **** you.

Rare but it can happen. You still need to keep it on at all times on the street. I'm a firm beliver in that.

 

It somewhat seems like you're learned your lesson. With 5 months of driving experience you have no idea what "hinders" your driving. Leave the DSC on, do not tell your insurance you disabled it.