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Newbie here, so I apologize if this is in the wrong place.

My son's 2003 Ex is experiencing a slightly strange problem. When it rains, he loses front wheel traction when turning on an upward gradient (i.e. he's on a hill, going up, and the car skids when he tries to turn). It seems less speed dependent and more to do with the grade of the hill. It even happens when he's come to a dead stop (at, say, a light).

He has new tires on and the only thing slightly non standard is he has a fair large amount of reasonably heavy sound equipment in the trunk.

If it's any help this didn't seem to be an issue when he had snow tires on this winter.

It has occurred to me that the weight of the sound equipment might have shifted the center of gravity so the front wheels are not making adequate contact with the pavement, but to be honest, I'm clutching at straws here - I would have said that the whole lot doesn't weigh more than 200lbs and also, it looks to me like it's forward of the rear axles.


Any ideas at all? I've had the basic stuff (tire pressure, tread etc) checked but am trying to work out where to go now.

 
Rep Power: 811

i would say its the new tires. they are very slippery for the first 3000 miles before they are broken in properly. when i first got my new ones put in, it felt like i was driving on ice even tho it was dry and sunny.

 
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Thanks - it could be that I suppose, although I suppose when I say "new" I should have said "newish" - they've easily got a couple of thousand miles on them by now.

Part of the problem is that it only seems to happen when the road is actually wet, and we haven't had much rain recently, which makes testing different options a bit problematic.

I must confess - I have always liked Hondas (I have a Fit myself) but this car has had one problem after another. I also think it's got some kind of invisible target painted on it - it's been rear ended twice, sigh.

 
Rep Power: 811

it might just be crappy tires then. my $50 specials even skid on dry road around mild corners. ive learned my lesson now tho and will never buy cheap tires again. my old ones were much better and even in rain they stuck to the ground. they were bridgestone turanza the same tire that came on the TL. they stopped making my size tho.

 
Rep Power: 277

What tires do you have on the Civic now?

 
Rep Power: 290

Check your motor mounts. My front one had been torn for years and only after I put in the ES inserts did I realize my wheels should not have been spinning in the rain. I lived in Bako then so rain wasn't really an issue.

 
Rep Power: 313

Sometimes after a car has been in an accident, it is never the same again

 
Rep Power: 254

sounds like crap tires to me. IMHO tires should be the thing nobody should ever go cheap on. you buy a car that drives on a road and the only part of the car touching the road is your tires. it just doesnt make sense to buy cheap tires. kumho ecta is a good "cheap" tire to go with.

 
Rep Power: 226

I had the same isue before I got my ES motor mount incerts, or Ingalls stiffy. I was always spinning my tires and it wasnt becasue I was trying to be cool its because of the wheel hop and engine movement.

Btw ive got those tires on my car Gearbox and they are great, they just refuse to wear out, though the sides are starting to look a little weatherd.