E-30 spinout concerns

My son is starting to drive. He will probably be driving my E-30 1985 318i. (same car he came home from the hospital in when he was born. Can't say that about too many cars!) My only concern is that my wife and I both spun out in it on wet or icy roads, and were facing both facing an oncoming tractor trailer. Any ideas on upgrades or anything else on reducing the likelihood of spinouts?

A good set of tires would help

300lbs in the trunk.

buying an ix

• learning how to drift
• not cornering at speeds higher than 25mph
• a rear sway bar
• an LSD will help controll the slide if you get into one

Is the car automatic or manual? but at the end of the day, it is fact that it is a prefacelift 318i with less than 100hp, it shouldnt slide unless you are making it slide either on purpose or not driving correctly for the conditions.

E30 killed thousands of unknowing yuppies in 84-93.


Practice recovering from a drift and maintaining composure and focus during a slide is the best medicine IMO.

Some better shocks and tires and an LSD will definitely help a ton though.

Join the BMWCCA and enroll the progeny in a street survival course.
Don't put him in a rear wheel drive car that has a light rear end if he simply views cars as a utility, because he won't bother to become a skilled driver.
Use snow tyres in the winter.
Your car does not have a limited slip option, so it will actually be easier to control if the rear gets loose. This is because only the R rear wheel will spin. The Left rear won't spin up so there is more resistance against the tread/rear end moving laterally.
LSD make it easier for the rear end to spin out. That;s why they are more fun to drive...Easier/better skids.


m

im surprised you managed to kick the rear end of a 95hp car out.

teach him to not speed around turns or be heavy on the gas in bad conditions.

remember, whether its FWD or RWD, you can spin out.

5 or 6 years ago me and a buddy were crossing town after a snow storm. we went around a big bend turn near my buddys house. i was first and went around in my 2400lb rwd car, perfectly fine. i had low profile high performance summer tireson my car. my buddy came around in his 3400lb fwd car and i watched in my rear view as he spun twice, side swiped 3 cars and ended up in some guys front yard. he was behind me so i was going the same speed or faster and his car had dedicated snow tires.

My dad took me to a parking lot when I was 14 in the Trans am. After a half hour of skidding around learning to string together drifts, I learned how to skid out of them. 12 years later I skid around corners for shoots and giggles. I highly recommend doing this also a great bonding experience. I hope to do the same if I have children some day.

This wasn't even going around the corner. Straight highway. Next thing you know it I'm spinning around 3 times and ending up facing a tractor trailer. The road was wet. I don't remember the temp. Maybe it was a patch of black ice.

Originally Posted by mlogrande

This wasn't even going around the corner. Straight highway. Next thing you know it I'm spinning around 3 times and ending up facing a tractor trailer. The road was wet. I don't remember the temp. Maybe it was a patch of black ice.

black ice doesnt care if you know how to drive or whether your car is FWD, RWD or AWD ..it's going to slide you. you can't teach anyone to be prepared for black ice and no car you give him will help that.

Originally Posted by 7pilot

Join the BMWCCA and enroll the progeny in a street survival course.
Don't put him in a rear wheel drive car that has a light rear end if he simply views cars as a utility, because he won't bother to become a skilled driver.
Use snow tyres in the winter.
Your car does not have a limited slip option, so it will actually be easier to control if the rear gets loose. This is because only the R rear wheel will spin. The Left rear won't spin up so there is more resistance against the tread/rear end moving laterally.
LSD make it easier for the rear end to spin out. That;s why they are more fun to drive...Easier/better skids.


m

L wheel is just as likely to spin. I said the LSD because its easier to recover from a slide. if the car is understeering power on, if over steering power off.

Originally Posted by fcsteve

im surprised you managed to kick the rear end of a 95hp car out.

teach him to not speed around turns or be heavy on the gas in bad conditions.

remember, whether its FWD or RWD, you can spin out.

5 or 6 years ago me and a buddy were crossing town after a snow storm. we went around a big bend turn near my buddys house. i was first and went around in my 2400lb rwd car, perfectly fine. i had low profile high performance summer tireson my car. my buddy came around in his 3400lb fwd car and i watched in my rear view as he spun twice, side swiped 3 cars and ended up in some guys front yard. he was behind me so i was going the same speed or faster and his car had dedicated snow tires.

if this is anstead, then your point is invalid.

Originally Posted by mlogrande

This wasn't even going around the corner. Straight highway. Next thing you know it I'm spinning around 3 times and ending up facing a tractor trailer. The road was wet. I don't remember the temp. Maybe it was a patch of black ice.

drive the conditions. if its cold out, of course your car wont handle like it does on a mid sommers day. no amount of ABS or traction control will overcome physics. Ever. My E34 is on the same tyres as my grandfathers 2011 Mazda 6, one is just as likely to slide on black ice or ice at all as the other is

Originally Posted by _Ethrty-Andy_

if this is anstead, then your point is invalid.

it wasnt him.

I live in Canada, spent alot of time in very bad winter conditions in a variety of cars/4x4 trucks.

the best advice is a good set of tires and the understanding that you have to drive according to the conditions.

Teaching your kid to handle the drift is a good call, however, he will probably just use those skills to impress his buddies. (we all do it, i love doing it)

any car will slide out, get him a car that if he crashes he stands a good chance of walking away. keep the e30 as a summer car from him.


safety first!!!

Originally Posted by E30 hobby car

any car will slide out, get him a car that if he crashes he stands a good chance of walking away. keep the e30 as a summer car from him.


safety first!!!

regardless if its an airbag equipped e30 or not .. e30's are very safe vehicles. there are pictures of accidents all over the forums where people SHOULD have died, but walked away clean due to being protected by the well built e30 chassis.

it would be nice if skid experience was a requirement for a drivers licence but i doubt that will ever happen

i realize some people view cars as a utility, i guess the have become to common now to have that level of licence testing

unfortunately, at least where i live it does not seem that easy to safely get this experience. Sure racetracks (closest one about an hour and a half away) have the occasional open days which require you to pay xx amount of $ but they seem more geared towards rich 50 year olds wanting to test out the v8 holden or people with properly built street cars wanting to test them out.

I am not going to deny it, there is more to my desire to learn skid control than safety, its hella fun but law enforcement officers and neighbors of local parking lots don't take kindly to someone 'learning skid control' in the local car park. Especially when they are young and in a rwd car which is commonly and unfortunately modified stupidly and 'drifted' into fences. (not saying i have a right to tell people what to do their car but feel some bmw's are being wrecked by the typical boy racer big cannon exhaust , dildo looking gear knob, chromes , clear tail lights , pod filter, rubbish suspension, rude gaping holes cut in the interior for speakers, black out tints etc)

Back in the early 90's it was quite common to be able to get advanced driving lessons in the USA, Europe etc.
Whathappunt ?

Originally Posted by Nick323

Back in the early 90's it was quite common to be able to get advanced driving lessons in the USA, Europe etc.
Whathappunt ?

The disinterested car owner is what happened.
They don't care about cars, so the manufacturers load the cars with gadgets to make cars look and act like a living room.
The Disinterested driver crashes his mobile living room so the Govmint is pushing hard for Autonomous cars to keep the disinterested alive.

m

^ That right there is the truest statement I've ever seen

Sad
Luckily in SA the Racing & track day scene is still healthy "Track Day booked from 4pm on Thursday. But who booked the cold front to arrive simultaneously?! Lets hope it doesn't spoil the fun..."

Of course there are plenty of real MEN who do not need to learn how to control a car, because they KNOW

Originally Posted by fcsteve

regardless if its an airbag equipped e30 or not .. e30's are very safe vehicles. there are pictures of accidents all over the forums where people SHOULD have died, but walked away clean due to being protected by the well built e30 chassis.

i dont disagree with you often if ever, but i do on this. a 30km/h (about 15-20mp/h) collision into the back of an E30 will smash the rear end right in. side impact protection is non existant. have you SEEN a crashed one?

The day i have kids the E30 daily days are over. My E34 is a lot more solid, but its still 20 years old

Originally Posted by _Ethrty-Andy_

i dont disagree with you often if ever, but i do on this. a 30km/h (about 15-20mp/h) collision into the back of an E30 will smash the rear end right in. side impact protection is non existant. have you SEEN a crashed one?

The day i have kids the E30 daily days are over. My E34 is a lot more solid, but its still 20 years old

what steve is saying they are designed to absorb the impact better then some vehicles of the same age. if you look at trucks now the frames have a designated area that is called the crumple zone, which in an accident, aborsbs most the shock so its not that sudden stop that causes the injuries.

maybe, but the rear end is essentially only a single layer sheet metal box, the front end is marginally more with the gaurds on there.

Safe for the day is irrelevant when we are 20 years into the future where you can have a more medern car that will hold up better in an accident for the same amount of coin. Volvos spring to mind, my 940Turbo was only a year or two newer than an E30, and is a far better car as far as safety goes. i saw a T-Boned one at my local wrecking yard, the doorskins and fenders all pushed in, but the frame of the car straight as 5 second before impact.

E30s are not anywhere near the safest cars in any form of the word

Originally Posted by _Ethrty-Andy_

E30s are not anywhere near the safest cars in any form of the word

At the time of production, they actually ranked pretty high on the list.....

I think what dhiller was refferring to was that cars and trucks have been made to give more than the old solid steel framed GMC suburbans and cronw vic Fords of yesteryear, hence the other cars got safer due to the opposing cars getting lighter and zones designed to absorb energy, instead of just being like a rock lol. Chevy pundit

Originally Posted by SWISS

At the time of production, they actually ranked pretty high on the list.....

I think what dhiller was refferring to was that cars and trucks have been made to give more than the old solid steel framed GMC suburbans and cronw vic Fords of yesteryear, hence the other cars got safer due to the opposing cars getting lighter and zones designed to absorb energy, instead of just being like a rock lol. Chevy pundit

that makes sence logically, but try this on for size and think again! I used to have one of those Volvo 940 Turbo Wagons