Shuddering while turning sharp in the rain

Happy Thanksgiving guys!

In SoCal for the holiday weekend there’s a nice big storm, and I got to drive my car a bunch in the rain. Something that I noticed is that when I’m doing a U-turn in the wet, the front tires seem to scrub a lot. There is a big shuddering that goes through the steering wheel and the chassis, and I can feel the front tires slip-grab-slip more than any car I have ever driven. Has anyone else noticed this? I’ve felt nothing in the dry.

It’s because you’re losing grip. Drive gently in the rain.

Gansan said:

Happy Thanksgiving guys!

In SoCal for the holiday weekend there’s a nice big storm, and I got to drive my car a bunch in the rain. Something that I noticed is that when I’m doing a U-turn in the wet, the front tires seem to scrub a lot. There is a big shuddering that goes through the steering wheel and the chassis, and I can feel the front tires slip-grab-slip more than any car I have ever driven. Has anyone else noticed this? I’ve felt nothing in the dry.

Click to expand...

The stock wheels do this (though I've only had the stock wheels with the stock Contis and Nitto NeoGens) when they lose traction, this is partially due to the fact that the tirewalls on the stock tire size is small and can't torque much so they will skip instead of spin. Due to the rigid nature of the car, this causes the front end to physically go airborne somewhat and bounce up and down. You can reproduce this in the dry by going full throttle in 1st and 2nd gear without being smooth on the throttle.

TLDR: you're short of traction and that's how the stock wheels react when they don't have enough traction.

Thanks for the replies. The thing is, I’m doing a U-turn. At like 3 mph. No gas, just the lightest touch or coasting as I make the turn. It feels like a steering geometry problem. Like the Ackerman angle is wrong.

Ok, as long as what I’m feeling is not a problem, that I guess that’s just the way it is.

this same thing happens to me too when the tires are cold.

Gansan said:

Thanks for the replies. The thing is, I’m doing a U-turn. At like 3 mph. No gas, just the lightest touch or coasting as I make the turn. It feels like a steering geometry problem. Like the Ackerman angle is wrong.

Ok, as long as what I’m feeling is not a problem, that I guess that’s just the way it is.

Click to expand...

I rarely go full lock in my CTR, so I haven't experienced anything like this in the CTR. However, with the Camry I had before it, if I made a turn full lock in certain parking lots, one of the wheels would travel further than it should and it kind of felt like it would drag/spin. This could be something similar to what you're experiencing.

My stock tires did this when Temps were below 45-40f

The Contis are horrible in the cold

I had that issue in cold weather as well and after I replaced the tires that issue went away. Also, the stock continentals would spin upon hard acceleration on a hot dry day. After replacing my tires with BF Goodrich summer performance tires I no longer get wheel spin upon hard acceleration.

Could just be a byproduct of the LSD. It can make some weird noises at full lock. Perhaps exacerbated with the low traction of a wet and cold surface. It reached high 30s this early morning.

Gansan said:

Happy Thanksgiving guys!

In SoCal for the holiday weekend there’s a nice big storm, and I got to drive my car a bunch in the rain. Something that I noticed is that when I’m doing a U-turn in the wet, the front tires seem to scrub a lot. There is a big shuddering that goes through the steering wheel and the chassis, and I can feel the front tires slip-grab-slip more than any car I have ever driven. Has anyone else noticed this? I’ve felt nothing in the dry.

Click to expand...

It's the helical LSD working because the turning radius of left tire and right tire is way too different during U Turns. That's normal.