b00gers

Just to further my knowledge on how my car handles. I thought this would be the best forum to get the best input out of. If not, feel free to drag it to the basement.

So here is what happened. It has been raining so the roads are still wet. I was driving home. I approach the wet on-ramp. The on-ramp is a long sweeping left turn. Cars probably take it around 30mph dry. I usually do it around 40mph for no other reason than because I want to. Well tonight, I was a little heated and had a heavier foot. I reached my 40mph point but keep my foot on the gas through the whole turn. Then I felt my car sliding. It is a 2 lane on-ramp, I was on the left lane. So my car started sliding towards the right lane. I kept my foot on it, and as I pass the apex of the turn, it seemed as if the back end slid out...because I remember jerking the wheel to the right a slight bit to correct it.

And that was that. I have a 99 Integra Sedan. Suspension mods are: Kumho MXs nearing the end of its life, ITR springs on KYB AGX, ITR rear sway bar, Neuspeed front strut bar.

So there is a thread in the Integra forum about putting a thicker rear sway bar, and having relatively soft springs having to increase the chances of snap oversteer. Is this what I was seeing?

oldschoolimport

the outside rear tire loaded, and started to slide. thats the idea with putting a larger rear sway on a FF, it helps the car rotate. AND thats why honda tends to put smaller ones on, because "Joe Public" would get himself in trouble too easily and then blame the manufacturer for making the car "dangerous".

oh yeah, nice save! :thumbup:

CivicSiRacer

If it was a sweeping left turn and you went into the right lane it sounded like you understeered, especially if you have bald Kumho MXs which are already pretty crappy in the rain with full tread.

If you put a larger rear sway bar on your car you might experience snap oversteer in the rain or wet conditions. That's not fun at all. Although I have the Comptech rear bar on my Civic and so far no snap oversteer, but I also drive more conservative in the rain.

jaje

running a thicker sway in the rear can lead to more oversteer...when controllable it is a good thing for those who need to rotate a car in order to make it go faster, however on the street is not the place you want your car to be tail happy too often

as mike said you were probably understeering as you lost steering and acceleration - the simple cure is to let off the gas then when you gained control your front tires were probably turned enough (over correction) and that lead to you losing your rear end as the car was unbalanced

Nathan1234

Sounds like you were driving too fast on wet roads to me....








You definitely had a case of understeer... but as for the rear kicking out, it's possible either your front end caught traction during the understeer (causing oversteer) or your right rear actually started slipping as well (causing oversteer).