Hey guys just curious but has any one of you guys tried drifting in your IS? I know its an automatic so its worlds different than trying to drift in a manual car. Though I've never tried I'm curious on anyone's attempts. (been reading Initial D recently so feeling the temptations to try but don't know how)

 

yeah, just press and hold your tracation control button

 

 

I can only do it in the snow. AWD traction is hard to break unless in snow lol.

 

Ahhh it seems quite difficult to pull it off on the IS

 

on dry pavement on conti summers i cant break traction in a straight line, it takes a little Scandinavian flick.

 

It's not possible [with the 250], unless you got a 350 then maybe. They don't come with a limited slip so just trying to initiate a drift (guessing even with the Scandinavian flick) is really difficult, unless you're like doing over 30 and force the rear end to kick out. Even then, its difficult to keep it in drift because only one wheel is spinning (at least that's the case with the 250). I had a limited slip from a mark III supra in my second gen IS and on rainy days, it was easy to lose traction.

P.S. Initial D makes it look like it's easy to drift XD LOL (just finished watching final stage last week)

 

@2012IS250 yea i currently own the 3rd gen IS 250 but im trying to save up cash to upgrade to a 350 in like 2 years but yeah initial D makes drifting look so easy and really fun I just got past the first 100 chapters

 

What kind of amuses me about Initial D is that the AE86 is not really an ideal drift car. I have one and have drifted it accidentally once and intentionally a few times. The 4AG engine is revvy, but doesn't have much torque. Still, Initial D was partly responsible for making that car famous. I love my AE86, but just not for that reason. It is fun and light. It does have an LSD, but I would be concerned about breaking that into bits while drifting because the car is 30 years old.

I got my JZS147 sideways twice and neither event was planned. It was easier to save than I had expected.

As said above, I think the IS250 is not well-suited for drifting due to lack of torque.

 

you can slide around in the 350 probably stock, but if you really want to get serious into drifting...
at the very least you need to:
- fit an ISF rear diff
- fit a handbrake from the 2IS (6spd manual verison)
- stiffen up chassis in the back (under brace * strut bar at the minium)

 

not easy...but it's possible. i would say with practice it would become predictable.
car: 3rd gen IS350 F-Sport slightly modified...

things to do...

• harder compound tires
• modify the foot e-brake (easy to do and undo)
• put the car in whatever that testing mode they call it (the pedal dance)
• keep an eye on your revs and shift appropriately
• you dont NEED an LSD but it would make it easier and the car would be more consistent and more predictable.

I was at the balcony at willow springs in California a few weeks back and let it go...unfortunately i was not setup up properly...(first time drifting and i didnt do my research). lets start with the tires...i brought toyo R888 all around...lol. bad idea. they were like gum out there. we also have a foot e-brake that engages once its pressed it and doesnt come back out until you press it again. the other issue was traction/stability control which will reengage once you go past 30MPH. and lastly the LSD...if you are not balancing the left turns from the right turns, you'll just eat one tire.

i was fortunate to have with me long time ex pro drifter Taka Aono at the scene. He looked at my car and "modified" it for the day.

1) "ohhh...R888...not good tire for today" - Taka Aono. lol...he was right. i was trying half the day to get that car to just whip around and nothing doin...tires are great for grip events but not for drifting. so what did he do? he pumped up the rear tires to 75psi. i freaked out and asked the master if this was safe! haha...he said yes. "dont worry...i have put up to 120psi on R888 before" yikes....but he was right. it felt like the rear was on ice everytime i turned the wheel. "next time just bring cheaper tires." and i will. now the trade off is, with a softer compound they'll heat up faster and stay hot AND thats where you get the obscene amounts of smoke. with the professional drift cars, because they have over 800hp, they use soft compound tires BECAUSE they actually need the grip. having good grip in the front makes it easier to direct the car where you want it to go but with our stock engines we can't get the rear to slip. with the pro cars, they have no issues losing grip with those r-comps. but with our low hp engines, we're better off with hard compound tires. you'll hear a lot of screeching but you'll hardly see any smoke.

2) "i fixed your e-brake" - Taka Aono. with a small bolt and some duck tape he managed to make the e-brake a valuable tool for me that day. If you look at the pedal closely, theres a small hinge that latches onto something once you press in the pedal. when you press the pedal again, the hinge unlatches. he placed the bolt in front of the hinge(pressed it in) that sits on the pedal and duck taped it. now the hinge wouldn't engage with the latch and the pedal would pop right back out. now i had an e-brake to initiate my rear end whipping out.

3/4) the traction control (holding it longer for stability control) option works but only until 30MPH. it's made to reengage after that. so right as you start the car, do the pedal dance and poof...all nannies are gone....except for the auto shift. you'll be able to bounce off the redline a bit more in this mode but toyota will always try to save your engine...which is not a bad thing. it wasn't an issue on the course portion as you tend to ride out the line and increase speed which shifting into a higher gear isnt necessarily a bad thing, but it's the donuts where you ideally want to stay in the same gear...at least for our cars anyway. i found 2nd or 3rd was a good gear (up in the 5500rpm range) depending on the speed of your donut. I found it easier here to shift with the shifter than with the paddle...obviously. OH and obviously...this is in manual mode.

5) you'd think that because our cars have the 8 speed from the ISF that the differential would be identical...but we'd be wrong. seems that the diff is the same but the housing is slightly larger on our cars so a direct swap is out of the question. for some reason the casing is more in line with the size of the land cruiser but I'm waiting on Cusco to confirm that. anyways...seems that the 350 will need some custom work to convert our open diff into an LSD. in our vehicles i would say an LSD is the better choice(LFA has an open diff and its awesome but the IS is not an LFA ) but we have to make due for the meantime. you 250 guys can easily do a swap with the FRS diff. plug and play if I'm reading the posts correctly. I learned my lesson that day though...evenly distribute your right and left turns on an open diff...lol. i did way too many donuts to the left and i ate through my driver rear tire in minutes...lol. a 2 week old R888 shredded. it looked like spaghetti cords all around the tire. I've never seen a tire do that. Taka Aono looking at my tire at the end of that session..."that means you did good!....just cut the cords and it's safe to drive home" i had a three hour drive home...i was nervous the entire time. lol.

anyways...it can be done. it's not the most ideal car for drifting but it doesn't feel too unnatural out there with it. It's definitely a solid car and the handling is excellent. a few modifications and a small learning curve but a lot of fun. good luck!

 

Oh wow thanks for all the info when i get the chance I'll definitely try it haha as a college student with a min wage job im a baller on a budget 😂 but when i get the chance to get tires and play around with the car more ill use these tips if you have any vids of you drifting itd be great if you can share them

 

haha...i hear ya. drifting/tracking is expensive. i don't have any videos unfortunately but i have photos...i'll post those later when i get home

 

Great post. I just wanted to make a correction that the LFA does not have an open differential as it has a Torsen LSD.

It also sounds like the unique housing dimensions of the 3IS differential won't allow a direct swap to a 2IS differential which would have significantly boosted the 3IS acceleration with the 4.08 final drive ratio (which could have been a cheap mod for the community).

 

Glad to make this my first post. Drifting is fantastic in the 350. Two weeks ago, I picked mine up new at a local dealer and the next day drove it up to Sonoma for an autocross event. Had about 1000 miles so about enough for break in. Auto x can be done for just timing and speed, but some of us prefer to use it as a chance to slide the car around without getting your license taken away.

The fairly long wheelbase and only moderately sticky tires are a great combination for a FR car. I could break traction simply by turning the wheel and applying strong power inputs and then adjusting power to control the slide. No Scandy flick needed although that works like a charm too. It was surprisingly easy to hold the drift despite the lack of a LSD. Easier than the M235 I turned in to get the 350 probably because of the more linear delivery of torque.

Try the 350 on Forza and you'll find it equally easy to slide. They nailed the driving dynamics in the game.