Hey guys,
I was driving around with a few of my friends two nights ago. I had a full car & I was going around one of the many circles we have in Jeresy. As usuall, I take the circle a little faster than most people would. About 1/2 way around the circle, my back end came out at 50mph! It was a little scary, because I wasnt expectin it. My back end has never came out on me on dry pavement like that. Anyway, I compensated and got the car straight again. My friends were all excited thinking I did it on purpose. (hehehehe what they dont know wont hurt them.) I am thinking that the combination of my new 3.73 Gears & my worn out suspension caused the problem. Its a good think I have about 1/2 of the parts I need to redo my suspension sitting in my house right now.

It was a fun ride,
Mark B

 

how tight was the "circle"? maybe it wasnt the suspesion....just going to fast.

 

Well, I obviously was going to fast if the back came out on me. But the car should have been able to handle it. I can only assume its due to the worn out suspension components. The circle wasnt that tight.

My car has 130,000 miles
It still has the orginal springs
The springs are sagging so much... If I put the EiBach Pro-Kit on it... My car will actualy raise up 1/4"!!
Shocks & Struts haven't been replaced in over 60,000 miles
My Panard bar has some play in it

 

how are the tires on your car?

lol i agree that the suspensions needs upgading/replacing, i just dont think that this situation has to do with it

 

Tires probably play a part in this one.

They are cheapo Kumho ECSTA's with about 1/2 tread left on them. Not the stickyest tires out there.

 

There's your problem. The more load weight you have on a tire, the less lateral grip you will have on that tire.

The rear of the car was much more heavily loaded with the passengers back there and the slip angle increased on the rear tires as a consequence of the heavier load. This caused the rear lateral grip to decrease. The tire distorts more and loses traction sooner.

 

Have you done any sort of weight reduction?


BTW, yeah tires are your first upgrade. V. easy to do, and cheap, and they make all the difference. I put on my winter tires not too long ago, and now with 200 lbs of sand in the trunk I can still light 'em up in second gear with ease. And this is a stock 305 LG4.

 

When I installed my ES bushings I noticed a dramatic reduction in body roll. I just replaced my last piece of stock rubber last week with Polyurethane motormounts. You won't regret it.

 

I would add steeper gears (more torque multiplication) and probably a hair too much throttle into the cuase/effect list.

 

Nope, He was "half way around the circle" and was not into the throttle more yet. Car was setting in a stable cornering attitude, not entering, not exiting. The tires heated excessively in the rears due to the excessive weight from the passengers. This again creates more load weight on the tires forcing them harder on the ground while trying to track to the direction the front of the car is going. More load weight in a corner increases the slip angle which causes friction and heat then loss of traction. If the load weight on the tire is less, the slip angle will be less also so the car will have better lateral grip through the corner at that speed. This is why lighter cars corner faster- hence why I built a V6.

His car will go through that corner at that same speed and conditions faster without the heavier passenger load on the rear tires. If he were to do a test (Which I do not condone- especially with passengers in the car- and a convertable at than- I will bluntly say: stupid kids, they are lucky we are not reading their abbituaries right now) if the car losses grip in that corner @ 52mph with the heavier passenger load, it will not loss grip @ 52 mph without the passengers. Regardless of gearing.

This is a perfect example of an inexperienced driver behind the wheel showing off and has no clue what effects the extra weight at the moment is causing to his ability to control the car.

Sorry to debate you so strongly John but there are just somethings I want somepeople to hear how stupid they really are and that its not the cars' fault- its driver fault.

 

I'm not argueing that Dean. I completely agree with what you said. I was not there, I don't know the inputs he gave the car. But he also indicated a reasant gear swap, that couple with trying to apply some throttle mid was one more 'possible' reason for this. I do agree, the whole situation comes down to going too fast given the situation, and the car reacting diffrently due to the changes in the conditions (read: extra weight). But I will stand behind my stance, that diffrent throttle and steering inputs during the corner may have played a roll. lifting the throttle, too much throttle, too much steering inpute, etc. There are a lot of factors that play into a car loosing traction, you know that as well as I do, and the driver is one of those factors.