I know the 01 WRX is known for understeer, but can it normally be provoked into oversteer too ?

I've had my WRX for 3 weeks and today was the first day I really got out of sorts in it. It was pissing down with rain and I accelerated hard at 40mph on a fairly tight bend on a dual carriageway to pass another car and ...... Wo-o-o-o-ah ! The tail end swung out wildly !! I managed to correct it but I got a bit of a fright !

The car is standard and the tyres look ok. Has anybody else experienced this
- do you reckon there's something wrong with the car ?

I'm having Whiteline ARB and droplinks plus Prodrive springs fitted in a couple of weeks - will this make the car morelikely to stick its tail out ?

Cheers,

Andy

 

Sounds wrong to me, but then I only know my 05 wrx.

I couldn't really get over-steer at all when it was original. Now I have Prodrive springs, geometry, whiteline arb and links, and it loves lift-off oversteer in the dry. Tyres are OE bridgestones.

In the wet it's pretty neutral.

When you get that lot fitted, I assume you're getting the geometry set too? Be interesting to see what it is at the moment.

Have you checked tyre pressures too?

 

Could have been oil on the road i suppose.

Has it been raining a lot where you are? Dont they say that when a road has been dry for ages and then gets rained it goes really slippy cause all the oil and stuff comes to the surface?

Maybe you just need some new performance tires.

Adam

 

The road certainly gets slippy after a long dry spell. Caught me out 1 week after my test after learning through the dryest winter on record. Sudden thunderstorm and the road was like ice.

When my 03WRX was standard I used to be able to drift the back-end quite easily. The Whiteline ARB and links tightened everything up and it was more difficult to provoke it and less likely to do it of its own will. I now have AST's and a killer geo set-up and I can only get the back loose on severe uphill hairpins with a lot of input. The rest of the time it's just planted, rock solid.

 

Yeah it had been hot for 3 weeks then rained today for an hour before my tail tried to meet the front end ! I overcorrected a wee bit at first but caught it on the second swing !

The tyres are of 3 different brands, could that be the cause of mental oversteer do you reckon ?

Thanks for the replies so far guys by the way ~ any other thoughts ??


PS Looks like the Whiteline ARB and Prodrive springs will make the car safer !

 

The tyres won't help. I had Yoko A539's on the rear and Bridgestone RE040's on the front when I got mine, and that's what probably made mine so loose at the back. A539 were always bad in damp conditions anyway. Treat yourself to 4 new boots, it's the only part that connected to the surface and is more important than people give credit.

 

Corradoboy (was it "Rich" ?),

Goodyears a good bet ?

Also, my Whiteline ARB isn't on yet, but one guy said his resulted in better handling overall but that the tailend was a bit lighter ~ "sometimes a bit hairy" he said ! So that wasn't your experience ?

Andy

 

Nope, David

I found that the extra composure given to the whole chassis by the reduction of roll to the rear both reduced understeer, by way of maintaining better front tyre to tarmac alignment under hard cornering; and oversteer, by keeping the weight transfer at the back of the car in check. I started out on the middle setting, as most do, but was sure the effect should be better so quickly moved up to the stiffest. I've never switched it back, leading me to conclude that maybe a 24mm fixed rate bar would have suited me really. There are actually 5 settings on the 3 hole bar. As it works on torsional rotation you don't have to set each side at the same hole, meaning you can have one side on the stiffest and the other on the middle to get a halfway between compromise to. I am currently contemplating the front bar, which may reintroduce some understeer, but I am feeling the sensation of roll again and want to keep it in check. I must be cornering faster

 

David (sorry !),

~ Was out washing the car in the dark !!

So is there any noticeable difference in ride between the middle and stiffest settings on the Whiteline ARB ?

Andy

 

Ride no, handling YES. In a straight line the bar is under no stress whatsoever, and your normal suspension simply does its job. Turn into a corner and the centrifugal forces try to throw the car out compressing the outside suspension and lifting the inside, ROLL. The ARB is then put under torsional rotation and it's thickness dictates how easy the weight of the car can do this. On an adjustable bar it is also dependent on the leverage afforded by the setting you have it on. Less leverage and a thicker bar will give reduced body roll and vice-versa.

 

There is your answer mate . . .You probably flicked it without realising it . .And also , for the first 3 months of your WRX, you will feel "trigger happy" . . So careful out there!

There's a lot of pedantic people, that will focus on yr suspension and tyres . . .Prodrive springs et's . . .If in doubt, take some driving instruction with the HPC!

Enjoy!

 

cheers dave and WRX300chappy !

Am glad I decided to get the suspension mods the week before I get Andy F to remap the ecu !!

yep, i'll definitely enjoy !!!

Andy

 

Hmmmm, sounds like a number of reasons:

1. Enthusiasm exceeded ability Or more often known as the bit between the steering wheel & the seat !

2. Tight corner, wet road & applying lots of power

3. Once it started to slide, making the common mistake of lifting off.

If you keep you're foot in and point the wheels where you want the car to go, it will pull it's self throught the slide. They only really tend to swap ends if you panic and lift off, because it causes the back end to grip suddenly. Lots of arm twirling causes over correction, making the situation worse and usually ends in wipers going flat out

The best way to learn what your car will or wont do, is to get it on a track. And if you do a track day, stick the crappiest tyres on it to MAKE it slide.

I speak from personal experience and have had my wipers flat out everytime!!

 

Of course it'll oversteer - Usually on power during exit on bends. Lift off and it'll tankslap the other way (i.e the "bite" ).

Go too fast into a tight slow bend and it'll understeer.

It's common Subaru characterics.



NSX was fun tonight, the backend is so "catchable" compared to a scoob, it's a complete hoot, no nasty bite, it just grabs and corrects itself or drifts progressively..lovely.

 

Not at all, in fact I was a bit disapointed in a way!

Generally, the rear end now tucks in nicely in bends - it's hard to explain, but it almost feels like the rear is steering. Not in a loose way, but compared to how it was before (where the front would start to wash out) it's great.

It will still understeer (I haven't tracked it, so this is mainly on (private!) roundabouts etc.) when pushed really hard, but backing off on the throttle either causes the behaviour as above, or if you're not gentle then the back end steps out.

This feels totally controllable though (great fun!), a tiny bit of steering correction and some (or lots, depending on how you're feeling) power and it either corrects or starts to go into a small power slide.

In the wet it doesn't seem to do this (possibly the front-end grip is reduced) and will just understeer as before. This is probably a good thing, to be honest.

I'm no driving god, I just wanted to put some more fun into the way the car handled - the mods have certainly done this. I guess in an ideal world I'd have got an STI with DCCD, but that was impossible. The mods have put the fun back into the handling now.

It's also increased the handling capabilities - the above behaviour is only when you're beyond the limits, and it handles much better than it used to.

I've got the arb on the 'middle' settings, but I'm tempted to go to a harder setting to see what that's like!

 

This could well be the post I was looking for to back up my thoughts to go to the stiffer setting. Cheers corradoboy!

 

Just do it, it only takes 5 minutes with a 16 & 17mm socket (so kind of them to realise that most people only have 1 of each size ). If you don't like it, switch it back or try one of the possible intermediate settings by only switching one side. There's no point having an adjustable bar if you're not gonna adjust it. Having said that, I always thought I'd use the stiff setting in the dryer months when there was lots of grip and maybe go softer in the wetter months, but once I'd driven it with the stiff setting I couldn't see any point going back. The adjustability for me was to simply find the setting I like and now I'll stick with it I do however adjust my AST's very regularly, having them on 2's for 'round town, 4's in the wet, 6's when I'm a hooligan and play about with them all over the shop when I'm on track

 

Do you have to jack the car up or anything? Is there any tension in the bar normally which I'd have to fight to change the bolt hole used?

You can guess by these questions that I didn't fit it myself originally...

 

No, don't jack it up. When sat there is little/no tension on it. Just crawl under and do the work. In case you're in any doubt, the stiffer setting is the hole furthest from the end of the bar, softest is the end hole.

 

Just sounds like 'power-oversteer' to me. Full throttle, on a bend, in the wet....... doesn't sound anymore complicated than that.
Same happened to me in the dry, one day last year. Was in my old sti 4.
Come off motorway onto a slip road which develops into a very nice long, flowing corner. Easily taken at 70mph. Was at the apex where I applied full throttle and .......wahaaaaayyy!!!!
Didn't really expect it, even after 18months of ownership!

 

Great, cheers corradoboy. I know what I'll be doing at the weekend then (if not sooner...).

 

Cheers for all the opinions.

What's the consensus re having 3 different brands of (cheap eg "Linglong" ") tyres. Am I safe to chuck the car about as usual until these tyres wear out and then replace them at that point, or should I try to find the cash to replace them before the winter ?

 

£35 worth of Korea's finest Wanli tyre after 9 laps of Blyton Park, or less than 10 miles

Cheap tyres are a false economy. They are the only thing connecting your car to the road. Cheapest I'd get would be Hankook Ventus, although some say Khumo are OK for the price. At £68 each (if you know where) Vredestein UltraC are one of the best for the cash, and RE070's are awesome in the dry, but pricey.

 

Hey Dave,

R you on this very night ?!

Andy

PS. Bought the car with the cheapies on it. Like Goodyears for their wet handling myself.

 

I'm supposed to be w*rking right now, but I keep breaking off watching a DVD to browse on here Off for a pizza soon

 

about to watch a DVD i intended to watch last night but got pissed on red wine instead !

where about are you from ?

(I'm in Edinburgh)

 

Yorkshire

 

Nearer york or leeds ! (Scottish geography !!)

 

I would replace them as soon as possible, especially with different tyres on the same axle!

 

Can't help noticing that when you post a thread admitting that you stuck the tail out on your impreza you clearly can't drive for toffee !!

Schuey i aint, but i've done a decent amount of karting and I know not to lift off mid bend!! (that's not to say I didn't overcorrect ~ my old Prelude 2.2 VTEC needed heftier correction !).