Rear wheel drive & Tyres / Driving out of a skid

[Mk5 GTian]

I've always driven front wheel or 4 wheel drive cars. My current Bimmer is my first rear wheel drive car, so I have 2 questions:

Tyres

In my Golf my best tread tyres were always on the rear, as I had no control over the rear if i lost it, as its FWD. So on my RWD car, should my best tyres now be on the front?

Skidding

When I've lost it in a FWD car in the past I've corrected it by steering into the skid and coming off the power. Is this the same in a RWD car?

[tony_danza]

Assuming you don't have staggered size wheels, you want the most grip on the back.

If you lose the back completely, same principle applies. Slowly take your feet off everything and steer into it, do not wind too much lock on, as it'll grip, snap and then induce a tank slapper.

Find a big, wet car park and have a play. Contrary to Internet myth, they're not that easy to unstick, just a bit trickier to correct.

[Scottymon]

If your clogging it into a bend and decide that your cooking it a bit much and the rear starts breaking away... then decide to take your foot off the gas completely or even worse brake , your going to unsettle the balance of the car even further which you will have to correct with steering / tyre friction alone.  Depending on the speed and circumstances, it should be a mixture of gas and opposite lock to settle your line out, much less likely to get into a tank slapper then as your forward momentum (gas) with help with correcting the geometry of your slide.

If in doubt flat out.

[PDT]

As tony said, go and practice in a remote area (industrial estate on a wet sunday) and get a feel fro the car, in the North East theres a perfect place in Darlington:




Rotary way is a wide and empty road with wide roundabouts and is absolutely dead on a Sunday