Today on a wet road with the rain mode active a moderate application of the loud pedal at relatively low speed in a straight line resulted in the back end stepping out in quite a big way.

I was going to post that the Pirelli P zeros are really crap, but is it that or on a light and balanced car with very wide wheels is there just not enough weight per square inch on the road? Would it actually be better with narrower tyres?

 

On wet roads, it's summer performance tires of any type, not specifically the PZeros. If you switched to all seasons, you get better wet traction. But, it is also a characteristic of wider tires, which have more surface area to hydroplane.

 

This is certainly not a lightweight car... so that's not it.

 

There are many different factors that could have caused this, and it does not have to be caused by the car or the tires. Wide tires will always be more prone to aquaplaining than a narrower tire, but it also depend on the condition of the tires (how much they are worned down). Aquaplaining can also easier concure when brakeing or accelerating.

Other factors are the condition of the surface. Was it slippery (if it has been dry for a while, the surface is usually more slippery when the first rain comes)? Could there have been some oil spill or coolant spill there?

What about temperature? The P Zeros don't "like" cold weather that much, and cold wet weather is not the P Zeros best friend, and specially if you have not gotten any heat in the tires yet. And how much water it was will always be a factor with these wide tires. Standing water will always be a challenge.

Wrong tire pressure can also contribute to reduced traction.

From my own experience driving in wet with the R and P Zeros is that they perform ok. The e-diff reduces spinn (as long as you don't push too hard on the loud pedal) and the wet/winter mode reduces throttle respons in a way that increase the driveability in slippery conditions.

However you do have A LOT of power and torque awailable from rather low rpms, so it does require a lot of attention from the driver.

I drove on German autobahn in heavy rain on my first trip with my car and I was very curious to see how well the car handled those conditions. And yes - it is very easy to get the tail out when using the throttle even in wet/winter mode. But I could easilly do 120 mph in a steady pace without any problems (no standing water though).

So I don't think there is any problems with your car. But a 550 bhp / 680 Nm supercharged (low end "grunt") rear wheel driven car needs a gentle right foot in the wet - unless you have dedicated wet tires on. And even then you need to pay a lot of attention to what you ask of the car.

 

In my experience that is simply not true.

Summer tires are optimized for rain and dry. AS tires sub optimize rain because the tread is also designed for snow.

One of our cars runs Michelin Pilot Sport AS3 which are one of the best all season tires you can buy, and the Michelin PSS has noticeably better wet traction. We has both the PSS and the AS3 on the same car.

And driving the f-Type I can say the car is much better in wet since I switched to the Michelin PSS.

 

OK, I'm not going to argue with you, and I have a different experience.

 

The torque applied to the tires simply exceeded the traction available. The same can be done with any sporty/performance car under similar circumstances.

How much the car stepped out and for how long is a function of the traction control programming.

Fitting better wet weather tires might help marginally but with possible performance penalties under other conditions.

I'd just learn from the experience for next time.

 

+1 that switching to PSS has greatly improved wet weather driving, and in all other conditions as well.

 

That's a first! (Lol)

 

I would have thought the traction control should have immediately (within nanoseconds) throttled back to prevent severe slippage unless the tires were already hydro planing.

 

I don't think it was aquaplaning as such as there was no standing water, it was going up a slight hill, the roads were definitely wet and slippery though. Mine is the V6S, so not 550hp, but definitely enough. The tyres are still in good condition so it is not that they are worn it was cool ( cold for here but not by most a North American standards (possibly SoCal cold).


Ihoboy I have often wondered whether my traction control is working properly as while I have never lost control of the car, it does seem ridiculously easy to make it get out of shape, I certainly know my Land Rover traction control will kick in with even the slightest slippage but the F seems to allow slip with abandon.

 

Does the f type have a setting to partially disable traction control, but not turning it totally off like the XF? Are there any settings that may not be default that affect traction control?

 

I read somewhere that the stability control system on the F-Type is programmed to be considerably less intrusive than on most vehicles. It will let you break loose a bit before it intervenes. Mine is the same, so I don't think there's anything wrong with your car. If it were malfunctioning, you would most likely have a warning light.

 

There is a trackDSC setting and an off setting.

 

That's what I had concluded, that it was meant to be that way and that there would be a fault indicator if it wasn't working properly.

 

In my experience torquey RWD cars will do this regardless of traction control mode. There's always a bit of delay before it intervenes.

 

True to some extent, but I had a C6 Z06 with 165 more HP, about 150 ft lbs. more torque, which also weighed about 400 lbs. less than my F-Type. DSC was more intrusive on that car, when left in "full on" mode.

 

From my experience on the track the stability control of the rwd F-type is a lot less intrusive than the awd F-type when it's set to full on.

 

Is there a chance it's in track DSC.? My XF steps out when turning with throttle on dry pavement, although tires are worn. There is slight delay and traction control kicks in.

 

I don't think you can really compare the traction control system in the AWD variant to that of the RWD version. Not only do you have the TCS system kicking in, but you also have the car transferring power from the rear to the front to compensate as well. Its apple to oranges.