Launch control is a bad idea on cheap tires!

[ccondo]

I recently purchased a used set of M5 wheels to use as a set of track wheels and they came with some VERY CHEAP tires called Nankang NS-II. They were in good shape and I decided to keep them and use them up for a little while. After putting them on (I had them mounted and balanced) my car I immediately thought I had put them on backward (they are directional) because they were so loud. It turns out they were on properly. After driving on them a couple of weeks I decided they were to cheap to be on my car and was nervous driving on them. I ordered in a set of Potenze RE-11s for my track event coming up this weekend.

My new tires literally come in tomorrow and I thought to myself - I haven't used the launch control yet - and I am about to toss these tires, so I might as well light them up.

Upon launch all that happened was I was smoking the tires, so I let off the gas and then all of a suddenly they hooked up and sent me into the curb. I scrapped up both tires and did a little damage to the front spoiler! (See attached pic).

Some advice - make sure you have plenty of room if you are going to try launch control and DO NOT DO IT ON CRAPPY TIRES.

[MKE_M3]

Sorry 'bout the damage OP, that sucks.

[HeartMD]

Those are some sweet looking wheels. Sorry about this misshap OP.

[X2Board]

That will buff right out.

How were you holding the wheel when it got away from you?

[ccondo]

I was holding it at 9 and 3.

I am wondering if I should have started to lightly let my foot off a little at a time instead of all at once?

[ccondo]

The wheels I got off craigs list - they were off an old M5. I then had them powder coated.

[m3an]

while the tires aren't great, the hitting of the curb was totally avoidable. Sucks to hear but:
A. how did you lose control?
B. who peels out that close to a curb?

[malter2.0]

100% user error.

[OC3]

^^+1

[Transfer]

Bummer. Sorry about your damage. Too bad you didn't read all the other 10,000 launch control, no DSC crash stories on here.

As a side note, it always perplexes me why people post up (including photos) of when they do something not smart and damage their car.

[ccondo]

WOW I love this car too and can admit when I made a mistake and I did, but the car is not infallible.

I didn't setup launch control pointed at a curb, nor was I near a curb when I started. Where I was setup was on a road where my lane is about 3 car widths wide.

I have been inseveral autocross events and have done 2 HPDE events. I have owned about 8 sports cars in my life, and this isn't the fastest.

These tires suck ass. I can tell you that. They sound like knobby tires driving at 30 mph and over. When I launched the car it spun so bad it was like the ground was wet. I went back to look at the ground and it didn't even leave any rubber on the road.

I am not looking for sympathy - the spoiler can be painted for a few hundred bucks, the wheels are my track set, so I probably wont even have them fixed. Just sharing my experience.

[bnombe]

Originally Posted by Team Plutonium

Brutal crowd....

Yeah, that's too bad. Sharing experience from a brutal error then receiving honest opinions tend to be also on the "brutal" side. C'est la vie. :

If it's more "tender" aww and ahh reactions OP seeks, I am sure there are others to come along and provide that but then OP may never realize that "oops... I made an error in judgement indeed, I should learn the lesson...". We ain't even looking for his thanking us for giving him free advise we are doing him a favor for pointing out the obvious (to us) that he somehow just missed.

[bnombe]

Originally Posted by ccondo

WOW I love this car too and can admit when I made a mistake and I did, but the car is not infallible.

I didn't setup launch control pointed at a curb, nor was I near a curb when I started. Where I was setup was on a road where my lane is about 3 car widths wide.

I have been inseveral autocross events and have done 2 HPDE events. I have owned about 8 sports cars in my life, and this isn't the fastest.

These tires suck ass. I can tell you that. They sound like knobby tires driving at 30 mph and over. When I launched the car it spun so bad it was like the ground was wet. I went back to look at the ground and it didn't even leave any rubber on the road.

I am not looking for sympathy - the spoiler can be painted for a few hundred bucks, the wheels are my track set, so I probably wont even have them fixed. Just sharing my experience.

Ok thanks for clarifying that up.

Since you are so very much experienced but still got caught out, something in the launch control software must have gone horribly wrong aside from the no grip no traction tires then... Coz unless I missed some other details that you hadn't included before, it sounds like after you lifted throttle power was still on and caused you to lose control or to somehow made you drive toward the curb that you were 3 car widths away and parallel from.

I didn't say or imply the car or its software is infallible... I just said common sense seemed to have failed in this case but what do we know, none of us was there when it happened.

Enjoy your new tires.

[GIdriver]

Sorry about the damage, OP. Tough crowd tonight.... again.

[C|3R1C]

Sorry to hear OP. One this car breaks loose it can be hard to control sometimes.

[py0413]

I have heard of the brand/tire but never saw/heard them mounted on high performance cars such as m3/m5. They are more likely to be used with cars with less performance comparing to the Ms? Had a friend who ran those tires on his civic Si and nothing horrible I ever heard from him.

[NikB316]

OP,
If everything happened as you described it sounds more like an issue with the launch control. If your foot was off the gas and then the car launched it probably wouldn't be an issue with the tires. I've launched my previous M3 on some quality tires that were bald as hell though. I sat there spinning a bit more but it sounds like you reallllly lost control. Care to elaborate a bit more on how exactly the car hit the curb? Did you go sideways? Anyway glad to hear you and everyone else on the road is okay. Cars can always be fixed!

[BMW Fanatic]

Jeez louise the crowd is tough tonight. OP, I do have to agree with some members though in assuming it was partly your fault. I rinsed out my first set of PS2's that came with the car in 2 weeks and even at bald, launch control never made me spin out or feel like I didn't have control of the vehicle. Anyhow, sorry to see this but the damage isn't bad at all so won't be an expensive fix. As for not taking care of the rims cos they are for the track, that's more reason to fix em, wouldn't wanna be taking a turn out there with 2 possibly bent rims.

[ccondo]

After the launch the car was just spinning - literally for what seemed like about 3 seconds with very little forward motion. The car started to twist to the right (towards a curb) so I let off the throttle, and then it hooked up a bit and lurched forward. I then turned the wheel to the left to try to avoid hitting the curb. The front right hit and spun the back right into the curb to where it hit flush.

Here it what was my fault - where I chose to do this.
I partially blame the tires because they didn't hook at ALL - now that I think about it - the guy I purchased them from (they came with the wheels) said they had been sitting in his garage for a few years - maybe OLD tires?

I also partially blame the launch control - if it is supposed to launch you to 60 as fast as possible I would think that it would detect excessive wheel spin and correct it. Kind of hard for the car to do 60 mph in 4 seconds when it is spinning 2 of the seconds.

If I am to blame that is fine - my ego can handle it. I just am trying to find out more about what happened, since this is the 1st time I ever attempted launch control.

I think I will do it again with the new tires in a large empty parking lot next time.

[tibra1]

Originally Posted by ccondo

After the launch the car was just spinning - literally for what seemed like about 3 seconds with very little forward motion. The car started to twist to the right (towards a curb) so I let off the throttle, and then it hooked up a bit and lurched forward. I then turned the wheel to the left to try to avoid hitting the curb. The front right hit and spun the back right into the curb to where it hit flush.

So you were on it ..spinning the tires and the car start sliding right ..when you let off the throttle you grabbed traction and then you cut the wheel to the left? ..that would almost certain break the rear end loose in a fish tail...sorry I am convinced now .. not the tires.. not the launch control.

Chalk it up to driver experience..

[Edjay]

Pointer when your doing a burn out. (which you were practically doing since you were spinning the tires). Never let of the gas completely all of a sudden. The tires will grab and go directly where the car is pointed, at that point if you try to counter steer, it might just jerk violently to where the front wheels are pointed. This will happen very fast with very little time to react btw. What you want to do is slowlly left of the gas, the car will move forward then slow to a stop or keep on the gas steady and the car will move forward accelerating till your no longer spinning the tires.

[ccondo]

tibra1 - what in your opinion should I have done when it started to fishtail towards the curb?