Tyre choice / understeer in wet

[g_attrill]

Hiya,

I have a '94 Super S I have had for over a year now. I got it as a cheap runabout for a long commute but have decided to keep it until something breaks or I get bored since it is pretty decent for what it is.

Anyway, it handles and runs fine EXCEPT I get what I believe to be bad understeer on wet roundabouts and sharp off-camber corners. I'm not exactly thrashing it at the times it happens, but I am "making good progress". The slides are controllable and mostly predictable, it's just rather unnerving!

Now, I haven't driven a FWD car in ten years so this might be completely normal on such a light car - my last car was a Chevy Caprice (RWD, 5.7 V8) which only slid the back out if you pushed it hard.

Is this what I should expect or are the tyres crap? On the front are Maxxis UA-603 with plenty of tread, the rears are some Falken's I had put on shortly after I got it (all 175/60/13). I would be happy to replace the fronts with something else if there is something recommended.

Cheers,

Gareth

 

[pollyp]

my first set of tyres were avons cr322 175/70/13. gripped quite well when dry and good when wet and lasted 22k miles of hard/normal driving over 2 yrs.

 

[g_attrill]

Sorry for the late follow-up.

I had the Falkens swapped to the front and new Falkens on the rear and it helped quite a bit. It is still understeering a little more than I would expect, although I think it's just me having never driven such a light car before and pushing it too hard!

 

[gtsnissanb]

Fwd cars as a rule understeer, rwd oversteer which you'll be quite used to as am I with my s14! The problem is stock camber, suspension, wheels, you cannot expect to get rid of understeer without making changes to these. My integra tr understeered in the wet it can't really be helped plus it's probably a good indicator that you may be going a little fast for the conditions. You need to research into the type of tyre that give best water dissipation and grip. To make my s14 more controllable I'm running 18x10j rear and 18x9.5j front I'm using pzero corsa's they seem to rein it in

 

[Arnold]

Also it depends how much power you're applying or how tight you turn the wheel at roundabouts etc to get understeer. If you're smooth on the power and control you shouldn't slide, but sharp yanks on the steering could cause it to go straight on!

You're also likely to understeer more if you've made the suspension/car alot firmer. The bodyroll can assist with going round corners better.

AND, if you've got summer tyres fitted then don't expect them to handle great in the wet.