oversteer

[Khufu]

twice tonight my A3 oversteered on two seperate roundabouts. I wasnt hammering it, say about 30 mph. The roads werent too bad, perhaps a bit greasy. The 1st time I guessed maybe it was diesel and I managed to correct it. 2nd time it has spun round 90 degrees before I even tried to correct it! Left me sitting like a twit on the roundabout. I couldnt believe it was diesel in both cases.

question is, if it was purely down to greasy roads, why didnt it understeer 1st as FWD tend to do. It didnt occur on lift off either though I'm fairly sure A3's dont tend to do this.

When I got nearer home I went to an industrial estate and threw it around and it was fine so I'm a bit confused.

Will check tyres/pressure tomorrow but any other thoughts other than my driving sucks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Drill]

Dude, it pretty much HAS to be road conditions /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif Were the roundabouts off-camber? Angle of the road could then be a factor. Do you have newer tires on the front vs the rear? If all was well when you got closer to home then I'd think you were good to go... now if it happens more often... I guess ARB's could affect this, but if you haven't made any changes... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I realize that that was NO help whatsoever, but figured I'd toss my 2 cents in /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif

 

[beaker]

Mine also done this just yesterday but I know my front tyres need replacing. I'm going to get them done this week.

Could have been greasy roads but this has happened in the past when my tyres were on the limit. You don't even need to be pushing it.

 

[Khufu]

no worries lol, I'm guessing it was roads, will take a close look at the tread in daylight. Maybe its a warning to slow down /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[benk]

I didn't ever get this on my A3 sport, but I get it a lot on my Octavia Mk1, especially on certain roundabouts. I put it down to a combination of the turn getting tighter (i.e. an oval r'bout), a rougher road surface (less contact), and it's definitely worse when a bit wet/greasy. I imagine that in the summer I won't have a problem on these same annoying r'bouts.

 

[cybrey]

[ QUOTE ]
Mine also done this just yesterday but I know my front tyres need replacing. I'm going to get them done this week.


[/ QUOTE ]
This'll give you understeer... you get oversteer on FWD car when your front tyres grip more than the back tyres..

Oversteer is pretty easy to get on an off camber roundabout if you lift off the power at the wrong time as the weight of the car is on one edge.

 

[rgb8888]

Agree with this - it is the back tyres that could be the problem.

Sounds a bit like lift off oversteer - which you get when you enter a roundabout and lift the power off.

I had this a couple of times on my VR6 Golf when it had cheap tyres on the back. This was curred by putting good tyres on the rear.

Tests have shown that for increased stability in these conditions it is better to have the best tyres on the back axle - but of course with FWD the fronts wear out quickest!

 

[danej]

I find my car tends to oversteer when im understtering and the esp kicks in to straighten me up, its as if the outside brakes are put on too much! ah well fun fun

 

[ALISDAIR]

prob just the roads rounabouts are terrible at the momment ,never getting a chance to dry and all those lorry tyres scrubbing off tread and never getting a good wash off,i did 120 miles today in my s3 and found that evey roundabout was slippy, i would just put it down to time of year just have to be extra carfull

 

[fasteddie]

apart from poorer back tires the other solution is where the diesel was in relation to your turn, just under the rears when you were pulling some "G's" and around you go.
Conversly I have been suffering understeer which was fixed by some new F1s on the front, now with the older bridgstones on the rear I can drift the 4 wheels nicely!

 

[Khufu]

I checked the back tyres, not too much life left really but still well legal. Maybe ESP should be my next project LOL

 

[Broken Byzan]

when my B5 A4 did this on a few occasions, it turned out to be sloppy rear axle bushes. The 2nd time it happened it cost my insurance 1500 squid :-(