And asked about my qualifications, I just gave them to you.

And read the post. I didn't say you were an idiot. I said you were driving like an idiot.

Really, there are only two differences between the mods you have and what most are driving. you and the mynes tune. The Mynes guys are very good at what they do, and have figured out the throttle maps of the car. There are posts about modifying these maps to be more agressive. Even if you think I'm a total jerk (won't be the first person who's said this), there is content here that I'm actually trying to be helpfull. If you don't think it's you that has the issue, call up the Mynes guys and ask if they made your pedal response more agressive.


Also, to be more helpfull, there was a thread on some handling problems that basically came down to very short sidewall tires making all the other problems worse. While it was discussion some unsettling behaviour in turns (cars stepping sideways), there are some similarieties between that and this. Very short sidewalls and stiff supensions don't really allow for much compliance and will result in a very squirily driving experience. That might be contributing here as well. At an attempt to keep being helpful, see if you have a local Mini buddy where you can do a fast swap with some taller sidewall tires on a smaller diameter wheel. this would only take a couple hours of time, and some work with a jack, and may show quite an improvement.

On my mustang, I went to a better suspension that was softer all around and I could put much, much more power down before I broke free. And this is with gobs of torque (more than I had before) and more agressive gearing than I had before (3.0 rear gears to 3.55s). This personally opened my eyes to the benefits of going as soft a suspension as possible to improve traction.

Anyway, take it for what it's worth.

Matt

 

At 5000ft above sea level you will be making much less power than at sea level like you are now. The thing is your driving style hasnt changed to reflect that....

 

dropping 5000 feet in altitude will increase your power for sure. More oxygen = more power. On some turbo cars with boost controllers pegged to absolute pressure this isn't he case, but with our blower cars the higher the ambient pressure the more gets stuffed into the combustion chamber. You WILL make more power with colder temps and higher atmospheric pressures till you hit the knock limiter. Colder temps will effect the tire choice as well.

Matt

 

Running summer tires in 45-degree weather will seriously reduce any grip you have. The rubber of summer tires hardens below about 50, and it will get worse as the season gets colder.

Get used to it - Bellingham is cold country, and will be so for the next six months, so get some high-performance all-season or winter tires for the cold season - the rubber compound is made to stay soft when the temps go down.

Also in Bellingham, summer is now officially over, and the rains have recently brought all the oils to the surface of the pavement - I noticed it here in Portland big time in the last two weeks.

And finally, if you don't want to take advice on your driving, don't ask...

 

tires tires tires. I'm open diff and making decent power and wish I had even more power to have to complain about traction.

Modulate the clutch or leave dsc on.

 

It makes a lot of sense about the temperature, tire and road conditions.

One thing, if you read my first post you can see that I was asking about what mods I can do to help with traction. It was my fault that I didn't explain that the issue of completely losing traction only happened once as I explained in a previous post. The car normally lacks traction in 1st when pushed hard since it doesn't have good tires, suspension and maybe an LSD. I can perfectly modulate the gas but I see no fun doing so. Also is no fun not moving.

My only objection or complain was being told that I drive like an idiot. That is no form of advice. I can agree with you on everything but your last statement. I have no problem admitting that I may lack experience driving FWD since I come mostly from RWD.

I just choose my words more carefully. That's it.

 

Now we are talking!

I am first going to explore the tires and LSD. If it doen't help I may go with the smaller wheel and taller tires. Come to think of it I think I had better traction with the previous wheels (17") and tires.

Thanks for the advice!

 

Seriously, after reading the first post, if you drove an American muscle car, I would imagine you being one of the guys at the drag strip that do the John Force burnout with their street tires, launching at way too high RPMS where it would be difficult to hook up with M/Ts (without breaking something), bouncing off the rev limiter through first, not waiting for traction to come before shifting to second, still bouncing off the rev limiter, again not waiting for traction, finally shifting to third and running a 15.1.....complaining about traction.

Now before you get all pissed, I'm just making a point about people writing something and it being taken one way when it may have been meant in another.

When you write a post like the first one of this thread, it's fairly hypocritical to jump down Dr. O's throat when he's posting a lot of sensible information from quite a bit of experience.

 

( I like to think it's distinguished, but my wife just laughs at that). An yes, even with the wisdom of my years, I act like an idiot some days. It's part of the human condition.

There is a saying in performance driving. The best bang for the buck is to tighten the nut behind the wheel. No matter the skill level, this is always true.

There is also a trend is "sporty" cars to take what works to an absurd extreme. So car get lowered to look like they handle well and loose all compliance and handle like crap. Race cars have wide low profile tires, so street cars go to huge wheels with ultra low profiles and then handle like crap. I spend some time talking about this with someone who knows cars really well (probably having forgotten more about cars and performance than I'll EVER know), Reeves Callaway, and he says that he likes the aesthetics of well engineered parts and cars because you can see how they make speed and power. This is the form follows function world. Many forget this and go for the look of what works without remembering what really does make a car work well. This is how we end up with huge rotors to fill a wheel (increasing unsprung weight) huge amounts of negative camber on street cars, suspensions with no travel and faux carbon fiber!

Personally, I think the large wheel, short side wall on many a street car are more look than function. These combos tend to work well on smooth tracks but not so well on real world streets.

Anyway, I may be a crusty farrt sometimes, but when you come to know my posts, you'll see that there is usually content and I'm trying to help, even with some questionable choices in vocabulary.

Back on topic. It's a lot less cost to try swapping a tire/wheel combo. Like I said in my first post, getting a limited slip into a car isn't cheap at all.

Matt

 

Like "you drive like an idiot", very sensible I must say!

By the way mostly all of my cars have been European. About 32 give or take one or two. Never liked muscle cars. The sound of an American V8 is hideous.

I only jumped on Dr. O because, read three sentences above. Nothing else. I always welcome constructive advice.

 

I am narrowing them down to Yoko Paradas and BF Good T/A KDW. All are summer tires. I suppose I can park the car and use the Audi.

 

I dont find that the yoko pradas are very sticky. I have had many friends with them that like them, but i was always cornering faster with a "worse tire"


Anyway, I hear the BFgood kdw's are very nice, but once they wear down they are very loud.

I have been running the BFgood's g-force sport and have found the they stick well and dont wear out to fast, nor are they loud when old. I also liked the fact that the formula cars at skip barber run them. Just my 2 cents

 

I have those SAME exact tires on 18" rims as well. I am also quite disappointed with traction.

I'm using the 215/35/18 and I was thinking that switching to my Racing Hart 15" rims w/ 215/50/15 tires. They should be the exact same size height-wise. Plus about 10lbs lighter per wheel.

I think low profile tires just can't get the same off the line traction as those with a little taller sidewall.

 

I have exactly the same issue as 'mininuke' but from totally different angle. Winter is already here.

After reading more than 40 Quaife/LSD/ATB threads I couldn't find answer to how does Quaife work on low grip surface. I am not worried about lifting inside wheel, but how about snow, ice and gravel surfaces?

1. How much more traction you get with Quaife on wet tarmac when launching out of low speed corner? In theory, Queife's design requires traction on both wheels to transfer torque.

2. Does Quaife work on snow/ice/gravel covered roads? Does it help with traction or should I consider a clutch type LSD? (And yes, I already have winter tires with studs for grip.)

3. Can you still left-foot-brake on slippery/loose surface with LSD? Does it effect on handling?

PS. I already asked these at another thread, but got only one comment (thanks to THEFISCH).

Jan Lat62N

 

Seems the stepping out in turns is a combination of too stiff a suspension with too little side wall and too much unsprung weight.

As for the Quiaffe, I think that the early ones need some traction to work, I'v read of some Torsens that don't have this problem. I think you'll be better off getting in touch with Quaiffe directly to see what the latest versions do.

And I'd be no help on the ice stuff. I live in CA near the coast.

Matt

 

Note: I run the Quaife here in New England for 100k miles under all conditions and reckon it transformed the car. When I start the car I switch off the DSC, and that's been true since the diff was installed. The Quaife has been completely reliable, and also unobtrusive. All it does it give you both front tires, all the time, and under all conditions. On the street it's a life saver, and under competition conditions it permits all 180 WHP to be applied sooner and with far less drama than the OEM setup.