My friend and I were driving around last night looking for somewhere to eat, when a silver 98+ Eclipse pulls up and revs his engine.. My friend works with him and says, "That kid thinks his car is quick, he always is talking trash" So I figuere what the heck, my friend said he has a CAI, exhaust, and the other basic mods.. O yeah and it was a stick, so the light turns green and I ease on the gas, seeing that he is taking off and getting ahead, I floor it at 2000rpm, and spin almost all the way out of first gear, we are like neck and neck when we get to 35mph, after that it was OVER, I took him with no problem.. He passed shaking his head and waving, and I collected my first win with my new 2k2 auto.. But i was a little dissapointed, I am surprised he took me off the line, I know it was due to my wheel spin, but I will be the first to admit it, I have no idea how to race, or launch a car properly.. I have read in several post different methods, but I was wondering specifically with the 2k2 Auto, is there any way to eliminate the wheel spin.. If so give me some advice.. I would really apreciate it..

 

I have Traction Control, and it seems to make me launch like snail. So I always turn it off, and just launch with your head, not your "B@LL$ !!!

 

I also turned off the traction control, so basically just take it easy until I get good traction then just nail it? It makes sense.. any other advice??

 

2k2Automagic in the house!

In a nutshell, foot on brake feather the gas pedal until you reach 1800-2k rpm. On green, ease off the brake and just as quickly floor the gas. It's tricky to find the line between a good launch and bad wheelspin so you'll have to practice doing this elsewhere before an actual race so you'll get used to it.

Environmental factors also affect this technique, during colder and/or wet days just flooring w/o brake torquing will give you wheelspin galore. On warmer days you should have good enough traction and a teeny bit less low-end power that will help you launch better.

Another good way to get good off the line traction is to swap out your Potenza's

 

Should have gotten a 6 speed, autos are no fun Nice ride Sam, are you gonna put a system in it?

 

JP: You know that autos rule. Especially HIS auto!!

On topic: Since I don't own a 2k2 I'm not entirely sure, ,but I would suggest that do what soundmike suggested.

 

...Get wider tires. Seriously, The 225/50/r17 tires are alright, but even in an auto if you pop your gated shifter into 1st and let her rip you are gonna get mad wheelspin. Thats what we get for buying a car with 246 (probably more) peak torque! I hear if you have the financial position to plus size your best bet is to go 18"x8" on the rims and 245/40/r18 on the rubber, they are an almost perfect circumference match to our stock tires. So your speedo calibration shouldn't be affected. Just make sure you don't increase your unsprung weight a lot by buying really heavy wheels and tires. Adding weight on the ground hurts acceleration a lot more than adding weight that is supported by your suspension, but you probably already knew that.

 

Any recomendations as to which tires to get.. I am looking at the MODA R6, in a size 18, do you know if they are heavy, or good quality.. Any thoughts on these rims or which tires I should choose..??

 

Check out this thread i posted yesterday.

 

Nice kill! Automagics rule baby

 

"LAUNCH" a 4dr family car???!! Listen to yourselves......sounds so freaking stupid.........
But once i took mine up a twisty mountain road, i could not believe how well it handled, and beat some more sporty "imaged" cars as well. Quit worrying about if u r fast in a straight line, ur 255hp spec on paper already proved that. Take it up some twisties and u'll be extremely impressed.

 

You have a point about the twisties but i can easily say your post also sounds freaking stupid. A stock Maxima, at the least, isn't "extremely impressive" around the twisties.

So quit saying our points are stupid. It is a given fact that the Maxima is a hard beast to launch.

 

If you are looking to replace the stock tire with a all season tire, there is a great article in Road and Track about the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. R&T says they're as good as any summer tire in the dry, better than any summer tire in the wet, and as good as any all season in bad weather. Sounds like the perfect tire. I am not usually a Michelin fan, but if these tires are really that good, how can you not get them? You should chesk out the article, it's in the most recent R&T, but couldn't find it online.

 

Wider tire does not equate to more traction. The same tire in different widths will all yield that same frictonal values. The tire compound is what will increase traction. I.E. softer compound tires offer better traction.

 

The expression 'contact patch' was coined for a reason. Yes softer compound tires offer more traction, but if you put a 195 width tire and a 245 width tire with the same rubber composition on our beloved 02 Maxima SE, guess which one is gonna give you more wheelspin??? Anyone? Class? Of course width matters, the more rubber you have touching the road the more traction you are going to get, and less wheelspin off the line. That is what I was saying. If you can get some 245/40r18 tires on your Max with as good or better rubber composition as your Potenzas (which isn't hard to find) Then you will reduce your wheelspin problems.