A drift gone awry...sort of : /

[Project S13]

So I was going to do a little powerslide through this slow 90 degree corner in an undisclosed location. It was raining and I had slid around this corner several times before, didn't expect anything interesting to happen. It was a slippery corner and you could enter it with practically no speed...like 25-30 or so and be fine. Well, for the first time I must have entered too fast or something because the car wanted to understeer a little (rain, mind you), but it behaved and right before the rear of the car came around for the slide there was a loud vibration, it could be heard and felt in the seats, real short though. The slide was alot wider than usual and I had never heard the vibration before. Still concentrating on the road I decided it would be easiest (and fun) to try and link that right hand turn with a left hand turn that was just around said corner. So I made it through the first corner just fine with the exception of that odd vibration. I started to straighten it out (was going to slow for it but wanted to try anyway) so I throttled it to the left and the car came around a little, but not as much as usual. I had to countersteer so I'm sure I was sliding some...but the angle was *really* shallow. I have never been able to achieve that shallow of an angle before so that was really cool, BUT: when I expected it to come around more...to the normal angle I'm somewhat used to it just stayed where it was, and continued in this shallow turn. Too shallow for the turn I needed to clear I might add, but still I was countersteering so it's not quite like I understeered. What it felt like was...some sort of drift understeer combo cause I couldn't throttle it out more to make my turn sharper.

And worse, when I tried to there was that massive vibration again. This time it lasted all through the corner and I barely cleared it. Not that it would have been a problem cause there was just some grass there, nothing hard to hit or roll off of, but geez. That vibration and shallow turn I couldn't get out of (except by slowing down of course) was really weird and it's never happened to me before. It was cool to be able to have that shallow of a slide cause my stock engine doesn't make enough power to slide around very wide turns....but does anyone have a guess as to what that vibration was? It felt sort of like doing a massive burnout in the rain....but I rarely do that sort of thing. Any guesses or has someone had this happen before?

ps: I checked later that night to make sure something didn't break and my car drove and slid just like normal, no vibration or quirks whatsoever. weird, eh? ?.?

[Ender_Zero]

im guessing you have an lsd, right? what kind?some times when i drift at very high speeds, or do 360's my front end shudders real bad cuz i have crappy tires and the sidewall likes to wrap under the rim, maybe you have crappy tires?have you felt the vibration again since that one time?

[Altiman94]

is it more of a wheel hopping sensation? If so, I'd say you have a blown strut somewhere. If not, I dunno.

[Project S13]

I'm fairly sure it isn't a blown strut, my struts/springs are almost new. I replaced the worn out factory ones with a coilover setup and I'd be really suprised if they wore out because aside from the occasional drift or autocross I don't drive my car hard and I avoid rough sections of road like the plague.

As for the lsd yea I have the oem vlsd...I do have cheap tires though so it could have been that. Normally a drift in my car feels very smooth, mechanicaly speaking. I don't slide around at speeds higher than 35-40 cause I still have a lot to learn and not much room to practice. I do have SuperHicas, I thought it might be Hicas flipping out, but I doubt it since the car has never reacted like that before, and drives and drifts the same as always after that event. I'm not too worried about something being broken, but I'm wondering what that vibration was, for sure.

[574-240sx]

I think I may have had that happen a few times to me. When I'm drifting and hit steering lock and weight tranfers hard to one side i get that sound, no its not power steering. I also got that sound when I spin out every now and again. Turned out it was the tire rubbing on the fender lining and catching part of the inner fender. I also need new front bushings bad alond with tie rod ends soon.

[justmerging]

I'd blame the HICAS system. As far as drifting is concerned it is very inconsistent. It has happened to me before on occasion but it's nothing to worry to much about. I think the worst you could do is bend one of the rear tie rods.

Basically all that is happening is while in mid-drift the HICAS system decides its at the proper speed to steer the rear end, what you end up with is the car trying to maintain traction while you try to break it, and the road not agreeing with any of it (unlike a regular drift where once traction is broken the road no longer has a say in the matter) I'm not sure exactly why it does it either, but that's what it's doing. I suggest if you are gonna drift it, ditch the HICAS. Makes life much more enjoyable.

[Project S13]

I think you may be onto something there. I know hicas isn't the greatest for drifting, but it's not given me any problems. I do wonder what it's like not to have hicas tool around with my wheels while I slide, but that's about all.

It quite likely could be rubbing the fender. I'll have to check sometime, cause a similiar sound/vibration has occurred when I spin out. I really thought *that* might have been power steering going crazy cause of the spinout. Good suggestion, I hope my inner fender isn't damaged, but I guess I'll look for some sign of contact there. You said it happened to you, any telltale things to look for? I'm using stock wheels so I should hope they aren't rubbing even with that kind of lateral gforce...but I guess it's possible with my regular tires. Big flexible sidewalls and all. Thanks

[justmerging]

I would use the chalk method to see if your tires are running on the sidewalls. Other than that I would just make sure the alignment is dead on. I never really had any extreme difficulty with the mechanics from sliding(other than a leaky power steering line). I don't go all out though but when I do I usually get the noise then it goes away after i drive it normally for a little while.

[yelnatsch517]

I think I may have encountered something similar. It sounds very much like the tires are hopping instead of sliding, almost as if they have too much grip. All this is from a completely stock 95 240.

I think I may have had that happen a few times to me. When I'm drifting and hit steering lock and weight tranfers hard to one side i get that sound, no its not power steering. I also got that sound when I spin out every now and again. Turned out it was the tire rubbing on the fender lining and catching part of the inner fender. I also need new front bushings bad alond with tie rod ends soon.

I think you may be right, at least for me. Stock suspension is probably way too soft to try difting in and the weight transfer may have caused the suspension to compress enough to allow the tires to rub against the wheel well.

BTW my car needs alignment so it could be that also. This vibration doesn't actually occur when I "try to drift" since I never really try to do so. I just don't like slowing down at corners very much since I don't like to accelerate my car back to normal driving speed (60mph local for me) after a turn so I end up doing turns around 35mph on a normal basis. Is that bad for my car, keeping in mind my car is completely stock?

[574-240sx]

I think I may have encountered something similar. It sounds very much like the tires are hopping instead of sliding, almost as if they have too much grip. All this is from a completely stock 95 240.

I think you may be right, at least for me. Stock suspension is probably way too soft to try difting in and the weight transfer may have caused the suspension to compress enough to allow the tires to rub against the wheel well.

BTW my car needs alignment so it could be that also. This vibration doesn't actually occur when I "try to drift" since I never really try to do so. I just don't like slowing down at corners very much since I don't like to accelerate my car back to normal driving speed (60mph local for me) after a turn so I end up doing turns around 35mph on a normal basis. Is that bad for my car, keeping in mind my car is completely stock?

Taking turns faster than normal with stock suspension will roll the tires a bit more. You will wear the outside of the tires out faster. I have a tenancy to set my suspension softer in the front and harder in the rear so understeer won't be so bad. I usually do that for drifting.

[Project S13]

I have a tenancy to set my suspension softer in the front and harder in the rear so understeer won't be so bad. I usually do that for drifting.

Out of curiosity, do you mean setting the strut (bounce/rebound settings) softer in the front than in the rear, or spring/wheel rate softer in the front than in the rear?

I'm sure you know this if you have any interest in drifting but 8kg f and 6kg r is really popular with rwd so there must be something to it. At least for high speed drifts eh? I know that TEIN for example makes it's kits specific to the car model and application and thier s13 drifting spec kit is basically 8/6. So if you were referring to spring rate...or wheel rate if you don't drive an s13. Got any thoughts on that?

[drifter_for_life06]

im with ender_zero on this one

maybe you were hydroplaning?