twitchy back end

[Dink]

out in the car last night with a few of my mates plodding along this dual carridge way when this golf git came flying past so i just pushed the go go pedal and gave chase

so this carried on and this is a bend in road (not that sharp)so i take it at a stupid speed and the f**king car nearly swoped ends on me. which made me shat myself

so just wantwed to know if coilovers would help?

or is it just somthing ive just got to becarful of??

 

[Brazo]

lts called going too fast on a bend and your ytres loosing grip!

 

[Turkish]

id put money you backed off mid bend

 

[Scribbler]

slow into the bend and fast out or learn how to lift off oversteer!

 

[Dink]

nope i kept the power on

 

[Turkish]

well im with brazo then you carried more speed than you should have either due to the grip level the tyres or road surface would allow

 

[Brazo]

If that happensd again correct the skid by gradually (not a total lift off) reducing power and steering in to skid

 

[Dink]

yeah you are probably right with the speed through the corner

(should have just let the golf beat me)

 

[Brazo]

What golf was it I have a mk 4 150bhp model which will match a valver to a ton and leave it from then on. In corners though it is a pile of poo

 

[Dink]

dont know it was a v reg and gti (not git as i put earlier)

 

[Turkish]

dink has a 1.6 16v not a valver fella (take a look at his avatar )

 

[Tom_16v]

Mine used to do this, a set of koni adjustables and a -50mm drop sorted it out.....

 

[edde]

The front of the Clio has more grip than the back as its got a good heavy engine over it the back has nothing much.

You have to be careful and make sure you have the best tyres on the back of a Clio this swopping ends was the reason I crashed my car I swopped the tyres round so the back ones had little grip and no weright on them and the front were almost new and have tones of weight so when it went round a bend at speed the centrafugal forces push the back out.

Harder suspension wont help much will stop the roll but the best idea to have good deep grip tyres on the back and put a few heavy bags in the boot to help keep the back down. Harder suspension will mean the jump from under control to lost control is smaller as well. Although the limit will be higher as lower center of gravity and less roll.

 

[Dink]

well i have got a sub in a box that weights about 35 kg

i was 3 up also

i think i will just have to calm down and stick to the speed limit

 

[Eddd]

Road hugging weight. Not really the way forward...

The more mass you have in the car the more force it takes to get the car to accelerate in any direction.

You can ignore physics, but physics never ignores you!

Ed

 

[Adams_16v]

what size wheels u got on? when i had 17s the arse end was shocking, my mums RT handled better!

now got 15s on it handles mint!

 

[Dink]

yeah i got 17s on there

ill have to fork out for some decent tyres when the fronts wear out

 

[Adams_16v]

i had decent tyres on, still handled like a dog!

try 15s mate, ull be pleasently suprised!

 

[Jonathan]

Your car looks well low in the pic and you mention its got weight in the back, On all cars from the factory the back is a lot higher than the front, Im pretty sure this is to make them more stable / safer. Could be an issue ?

 

[Brazo]

Quote: Originally posted by 172loony on 14 March 2004


dink has a 1.6 16v not a valver fella (take a look at his avatar )

I know mate just wanted to stir things up

 

[Dink]

nah its not that low (yet)

the pic is deceiving

 

[_Kenny_]

Ive had this happen to me on a few occasions. The last time I was going too fast around a roundabout and the back end decided to say goodbye!! Controlled it but nearly s**t my pants! The vectra behind me must have thought I was trying to be a smart a**e.

But even when Ive not been going that fast (so I think), I have felt the back end of the clio to be light and there doesnt seem to be much grip.

Ive got 14 inch wheels with 2 michelin on the back and 2 continental on the front. Sometimes the car handles well but wen I start getting too much confidence in it, it decided to become crap again. My mate says I must think Im driving a 172 instead of a 1.4!

 

[Mark@Ritchspeed]

Im with 172loony . I fail to see how the backend of a fwd car can swing round if you have stayed on full power throughout the corner . Even feathering the throttle slightly can cause the rear to drift around. If anything if you had stayed on full power the whole way through then the car could only understeer .

 

[Dink]

one question

i was on the power but not actually accelerating (end of power)

could that have caused it coupled with to much speed?

 

[Mark@Ritchspeed]

Yes , if you were holding it on a steady throttle then that would be enough for the rear to drift around . Im guessing it was probably a 70+mph cornering speed .

 

[JonC]

Check your tyre pressures. If the rears are over inflated, the rear will be more skittish. In general lower pressure will give you more grip, but only up to a certain point.

 

[TheJesus]

best thing to do in these situations is close your eyes and hope for the best... my m8s done this twice now

 

[RobFenn]

You cant get the tail out on a new model Clio (non sport), theyre set up to understeer what ever you do. With a complete loss of grip your car probably just drifted whilst understeering. I dont mean to cause an offence but i have ragged my car even on track whilst driving and it wouldnt oversteer for love or money, and again, dont mean to belittle you but its easy to get carried away and say the tail came round but honestly for safetys sake its understeer all the way because at the end of the day the car is designed for women driving to the shops.

Lowering will give you more grip but it just means you will push the car harder before the same thing happens.

I have coilovers and have it set up to be neutral, but has taken a bit of getting used to, oversteer in FWDs is much more snappy.

-Rob

 

[cliotuRS]

ive found that for a small car the 172 can corner very well ... but it cant corner aswell as some bigger cars i have encounterd.. this is ok with me.. its not very wide and its got 16s on. Compared to other cars in the same class its great but dont go thinkin it will come close to a boxster >>> IMO <<<

(throwing my car into corners and praying just isnt going to work with my clio)

 

[cliotuRS]

""Sometimes the car handles well but wen I start getting too much confidence in it, it decided to become crap again""

^^^

agree

 

[king.stromba]

Quote: Originally posted by brazo on 14 March 2004

If that happensd again correct the skid by gradually (not a total lift off) reducing power and steering in to skid



Or you could left foot brake. But you have to be delicate. Imagine an egg under the pedal.

 

[Dink]

haha i tried that left foot braking before

as soon as i touched the brake pedel i just pushed harder and harder

 

[edde]

Quote: Originally posted by RobFenn on 15 March 2004

You cant get the tail out on a new model Clio (non sport), theyre set up to understeer what ever you do. With a complete loss of grip your car probably just drifted whilst understeering. I dont mean to cause an offence but i have ragged my car even on track whilst driving and it wouldnt oversteer for love or money, and again, dont mean to belittle you but its easy to get carried away and say the tail came round but honestly for safetys sake its understeer all the way because at the end of the day the car is designed for women driving to the shops.

I got mine out Rob. Having low grip tyres on the back and/ little weight on the back can mean you loose the back I cannot explain why totally but Ive preved in a very costly manor that you can. Have a go yourself on a track (preferable with loads of run of ) with the worst of your tyres on the back with a little experimentation you will discover this.

I know the cars set up for the shopping run though and I was pushing it very hard (middle of no where the road is) at the time which may explain it but the car definatly was pointing the wrong way down the road and the tyre marks show the back coming round.