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Last night I drove from California to Arizona 450 miles and it was crazy. It started raining and my car became a surf board. I could barely drive it. I landed up going 35mph in 75mph zone and soon gave up and spent the night in a hotel till the storm past. I have never been in a car that was that bad in the rain. WHY? Is it because FWD, light, and I'm slammed on coilovers? Or is it just my alighnment, I'm running arbout 2.5degree of negative camber on all four corners. I hope I can fix this problem.
Mario
__________________ 04Triple Black 17% Alta, MM Air/H2O, CAI, OBX Header, FBT Head, Shrick Cam, Emil DimSport, M7 Strut Bar, M7 400cc injectors, 61mm TB, Detroit BPV&tensior lock, JE 20 over Pistons, Quaife Diff, TSW Dampener, Borla Sport, Hawk Pads, EBC Rotors, CROSS COILOVERS, 22mm R Sway, Helix SS, Whalen Ball, 225/35/18 5 Zigen, Clear Corners, Ipod Interface, Full Dynamat, 5%tint and tail lights, Boost/Volt dual gauges, Auto up, GBMINI DSC & Fogs, Rear Seat Delete, Brake Mod, 234whp
Last night I drove from California to Arizona 450 miles and it was crazy. It started raining and my car became a surf board. I could barely drive it. I landed up going 35mph in 75mph zone and soon gave up and spent the night in a hotel till the storm past. I have never been in a car that was that bad in the rain. WHY? Is it because FWD, light, and I'm slammed on coilovers? Or is it just my alighnment, I'm running arbout 2.5degree of negative camber on all four corners. I hope I can fix this problem.
Mario
What size wheels/tires do you have? What suspension? I live in the midwest where it down right pisses on a regular basis, and I've never felt "unsafe" going at or above the speed limit.
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'04 Indie Blue/W MCS } '03 Indie Blue/IB Justa (retired)
Alta CAI // M7 Strut Re-Inforcement Plates ---> more mods on the way...
Last night I drove from California to Arizona 450 miles and it was crazy. It started raining and my car became a surf board. I could barely drive it. I landed up going 35mph in 75mph zone and soon gave up and spent the night in a hotel till the storm past. I have never been in a car that was that bad in the rain. WHY? Is it because FWD, light, and I'm slammed on coilovers? Or is it just my alighnment, I'm running arbout 2.5degree of negative camber on all four corners. I hope I can fix this problem.
Mario
I'm in phoenix and it was raining all day yesterday and today, had no problem with the rain, even went out drifting.
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Black '03 MCS with sunroof, love it to death.
camber is the issue.....you're not riding on the full surface of the tread while driving straight.
Is it just the rearI need to worry about? I need some negative in the front to clear the fenders because of the drop. What setting camber and toe would you do on front and back?
Mario
__________________ 04Triple Black 17% Alta, MM Air/H2O, CAI, OBX Header, FBT Head, Shrick Cam, Emil DimSport, M7 Strut Bar, M7 400cc injectors, 61mm TB, Detroit BPV&tensior lock, JE 20 over Pistons, Quaife Diff, TSW Dampener, Borla Sport, Hawk Pads, EBC Rotors, CROSS COILOVERS, 22mm R Sway, Helix SS, Whalen Ball, 225/35/18 5 Zigen, Clear Corners, Ipod Interface, Full Dynamat, 5%tint and tail lights, Boost/Volt dual gauges, Auto up, GBMINI DSC & Fogs, Rear Seat Delete, Brake Mod, 234whp
What tires are you running? Have any tread left? MINI handled FL down pours without issue and was steady and streaight as a rock at unpostable rate of travel in the middle of hurricane Wilma, with a very significant crosswind.
What tires are you running? Have any tread left? MINI handled FL down pours without issue and was steady and streaight as a rock at unpostable rate of travel in the middle of hurricane Wilma, with a very significant crosswind.
I'm running 215/40/18 Yokohama S drive and they are about 2 months old. Lots of tread left. Something is wrong. The car is undrivable the way it is now.
__________________ 04Triple Black 17% Alta, MM Air/H2O, CAI, OBX Header, FBT Head, Shrick Cam, Emil DimSport, M7 Strut Bar, M7 400cc injectors, 61mm TB, Detroit BPV&tensior lock, JE 20 over Pistons, Quaife Diff, TSW Dampener, Borla Sport, Hawk Pads, EBC Rotors, CROSS COILOVERS, 22mm R Sway, Helix SS, Whalen Ball, 225/35/18 5 Zigen, Clear Corners, Ipod Interface, Full Dynamat, 5%tint and tail lights, Boost/Volt dual gauges, Auto up, GBMINI DSC & Fogs, Rear Seat Delete, Brake Mod, 234whp
A few Qs:
What tires?
Current tread depth?
Was this the first rain in the area for some time?
Being from LA, have you ever seen rain before?
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'04 IB/W MCS w/all the goodies, Ian's auto-up/GDO, MMC#I69/MID CURV169; power folding mirrors
"You can't save the world unless you're willing to make other people sacrifice." - Dogbert, via Pendergast
Have you checked the air pressure in your tires? I'm sure the camber isn't helping, but if your tire pressures are low that'll make the car hydroplane at lower speeds.
I'm running 215/40/18 Yokohama S drive and they are about 2 months old. Lots of tread left. Something is wrong. The car is undrivable the way it is now.
your tires suck in the rain (and your camber hurts too). true story. don't believe me - EVO mag did a review of summer tires and S.Drive finished dead last. I'll post the quote I wrote out about them in another thread.
Quote:
Comments about the S.Drive: "Lowest rolling resistance and a set of low to middling scores in the dry tests were the Yoko's high spots. It came dead last in all the wet tests, generating so little grip that in the straight-line braking it took a massive 12.1m (38ft!) further than the best tyre"
Wide tires aren't the best in the rain. My guess you were experiencing hydroplaning. The only thing you can do in that situation is to slow down, which you wisely did.
Some tires are better than others. Sounds like the ones you have aren't very good in the rain.
with your camber problem for the rear i know if you drop more than 2 inches you need differant control arms i think.
when you fix your camber in the front you will most likely be rubbing tire when turning so you can either roll the inside of the bonnet or try a smaller back spacing on the rims. with a proper alinignment and decent tires with tread your mini should be fine.
even in the rain i try to push my S to the limits and i just think with my toyo proxes 4's it handles great i still cant find a weak point of the car in the dry. but i get around great in the rain ........ snow is a differant story.
this is all IMO and previous experiance being a car tuner. i am an autobody tech not a mechanic
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[SIGPIC][SIGPIC]2002 Mini Cooper S 45,000 miles :: stock for now :: on the way 15% pulley and colder plugs
My old kumho 711's were so near bald after a 1500 mile road trip they hydroplaned a lot in a rainstorm on the way back. Might have been an inch or two of standing water on the road. I had to go maybe 25mph on the interstate, but this was typhoon like rain...in kansas I think. Everyone else had to slow down just to see/avoid hydroplaning.
When I got back I ordered new tires.
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9/29/2002 EB/W MCS Broken - temporarily retired
Original owner since 2002.
brand new S.Drives suck in the rain. Or dry. Or anywhere. As good as the Parada Spec-2 is, it's amazing how bad the S.Drive is given it's brand new. What's the target market? People who want summer tires who don't care about performance?
i drove around that whole day with no problems...and i was puttering around the mountains...the problem lies in your camber adjustment...you need to readjust to get the best contact patch...i have fuzion zri tires in 215-40-17 on R90's and bumbles just plows through the rain...even the other day when it was pouring rain it just right motored along...they even work well in snow as told by my parents when i was gone to iraq
Last edited by yellowbritishrocket; 12-01-2007 at 10:24 PM.
the problem lies in camber and the tires. in the test I mentioned, they stopped 38ft longer than Goodyear F1's in the rain. Add to that a less than optimal contact patch and that = trouble
i feel ya on that one. i got summer street tires on and when it rains (like it did yesterday) i let the mini sit and drive the X5 instead. trying to drive in the rain with the mini feels like driving on ice, but the X5 feels like its not even raining, even with the beefy 4.6 wheels and low pros.
__________________ ///Alta 15%pulley.Alta intake.Alta Short Shifter.Performance engineering airbox.Magnaflow exhaust.JCW Software.H-Sport springs.Competition Rear sway bar.Competition Front sway bar.Brembo front rotors.Powerslot rear rotors.Ferrodo DS-2500 pads.ATE Superblue fluid all around.Stainless steel brake lines.RoJa LT-5 wheels.BF Goodrich G-Force sport tires.Customized Whalen shift-knob.Boost guage.IB Suede Interior.+ More///
04Triple Black 17% Alta, MM Air/H2O, CAI, OBX Header, FBT Head, Shrick Cam, Emil DimSport, M7 Strut Bar, M7 400cc injectors, 61mm TB, Detroit BPV&tensior lock, JE 20 over Pistons, Quaife Diff, TSW Dampener, Borla Sport, Hawk Pads, EBC Rotors, CROSS COILOVERS, 22mm R Sway, Helix SS, Whalen Ball, 225/35/18 5 Zigen, Clear Corners, Ipod Interface, Full Dynamat, 5%tint and tail lights, Boost/Volt dual gauges, Auto up, GBMINI DSC & Fogs, Rear Seat Delete, Brake Mod, 234whp
incredible for the desert.
