Rep Power: 434

I was driving on some twisties today to test how well my car responded to the 19mm rsx rear sway bar, and oh buddy. that was some scary/scarily fun ****. There's a turn I like to take at 30mph when I was stock, but I can take the turn without any effort at 50mph now. My friend was following me in his Merc CLK430, so I thought I'd give him a little show of how great my civic could keep the wheels planted instead of understeering like a little hoe like it used to. To keep it short, I oversteered, over compensated for the oversteer, and almost veered off the road. Good thing I read all those posts by zzyzx and robbclark (and that other suspension guru) about how you shouldn't touch the gas when you oversteer in a FWD car.

 
Rep Power: 303

find a front sway from an EX 01 OR 02....they got 24.5mm instead of 16mm (03).

 
Rep Power: 434

oh and it wasn't some little ***** oversteer. it was like, instead of turning 90 degrees (the turn's degree), i did a 180, then negative 180 (compensation), then another 180 (compensated again....). finally got it back onto the tires after the 3rd time trying to compensate for oversteer. must get used to this sensation.

EDIT: ^^ i have a 01 EX

 
Rep Power: 293

I thought it was the other way around. During an oversteer situation in a front wheel drive car, you shouldn't lift and/or brake. You should keep power applied.

This is the technique I've used to save my six.

 
Rep Power: 434

hmm. i thought it was just, don't touch any of the pedals and you'll be fine (if you know wtf you're doing...which i don't). I did a search and found that the civic with a 19mm rsx rear sway will have a tendency to oversteer if you release the throttle during the middle of a turn (which is what I did...never knew it could happen).

 
Rep Power: 0

yeah, try it with a 16mm front sway bar, then you better learn how to handle your car because IT WILL handle you. Haha, and yes, applying throttle will bring understeer, but will also accelerate you in the middle of a turn you are probably already going too fast into.... best thing is to NOT trail brake and do not unsettle the car in the middle of the turn.

 
Rep Power: 293

Since changing out my rear swaybar to 22mm, I have been pushing harder and harder to bring my rear end around. I started out with this 90 degree right turn from the main road to my street (usually coming around at about 40+ mph). Powering out and countersteering when it feels like I am losing rear grip. Great rush.

I've also been taking a familiar off-ramp and subsequent set of curves from work at increasing speed (about 5 mph each time) for a week. I am up to about 65 (from 45 mph).

It's all about getting familiar with your car, not pushing too hard too fast and knowing your limits, as well as the cars. Gaining confidence as you go.

Autocrossing, as it has been said by others before, is the best way to improve your driving technique. I have had the opportunity to try it before, but that was many, many years ago. I am a family man now with other responsibilities and do not have the funds, time or courage to ask my wife to take our car (that we are still paying for) out for a day of thrashing on the track. So I just hone my skills on the streets. Every time I change a variable on the car, i.e. swaybars, tires, strutbars, brakes, etc. I go to the two testing points and push, incrementally. I apply this knowledge to my everyday driving.

Good luck and have some fun.

 
Rep Power: 338

In a RWD car, applying too much gas will make you oversteer more, hence drifting.... but in a FWD car, it shuold be apply some gas to kind of get the car to understeer some... I think the reason why you spun so much is perhaps you turned the steering wheel agressively and dropped the throttle at the same time and then didnt do anything with the pedals which made things turn out the way it did.

 
Rep Power: 338

I also have a few testing points... but I think it's dangerous to know the limit on stock is lets say, 40MPH, then get the sway bar and push it to 60MPH on the next trip down...
in terms of trail braking.... that is 1 very difficult move... but mastered, will give good apex position resulting in great lap times. But I'm wondering why is it not good to trail brake?

 
Rep Power: 0

If you're decelerating in the turn you're taking traction away from your cornering abiity. Since your car is doing 2 things at once, you'll have less traction in each action.

 
Rep Power: 0

Trailbraking in a neutrally balanced (i.e. F & R swaybars) car will shift weight to the front tires and pull weight off the rears and induce oversteer.

 
Rep Power: 434

thanks for the info guys. and yeah i didn't touch any of the pedals during those countersteer attempts so that was probably my problem. anyways, my car is stuck in maryland right now trying to get the suspension fixed.

 
Rep Power: 0

you're extremely lucky you saved it but man, I wouldn't want to live anywhere near you guys

pushing a car to oversteer on the street (especially when you don't know what you're doing) = bad news

take it to the track ... or an empty parking lot

Stories that start with "I wanted to show my friend" usually end with "then I crashed"

 
Rep Power: 380

You need to change how you drive. Let me guess, You were on the brakes while turing, right? If you were.. Thats bad, as stated above your are shifting the weight off the rear tires, lowering the rear tires traction, causing oversteer. if you are rotating the rear, you need to apply a little gas and shift some weight to the back.


Me, I downgraded to the 16mm front and the 19mm rear, and the car still pushes. To get it to oversteer I need to Get some serious weight on the nose, Mostly by Heavy trail braking.

and just to note, at this point I can say that no matter how hard I try to push it on the street, its No were near as hard as I can on the track, There just isnt enough traction on the street. (also there are WAY to few corners....)

 
Rep Power: 304

I oversteered my car today and slid a bit with the back end scewed out. Was going fast into a turn applied brakes while turning, the tail end came out then I throttle it straighten out. I wasn't smooth, I oversteered and the car and it wobbled in back a bit(side to side) when I was straightening it out with the throttle.

My car is stock, with stock fron 25.4 bar and stock 13 bar in the rear and I could still oversteer it. I have my winter tires one though, but the conditions are dry.