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I have a 2002 civic EX coupe, and I've had some after market 16" wheels with 215 width tires on them. These improved the grip and overall performance dramatically over the stock wheels, but the characteristics of the car have changed alot. I rarely have been getting understeer out of the car unless im hard braking or putting a lot of power down at low speeds. Usually the car is pretty nuetral which is really nice, but it has radom fits of oversteer. The thing that worries me the most is that when trying to link two turns the when the weight transfers its causing pretty extreme oversteer considering its a FWD and the back kind of pops out and its really hard to control since it changes suddenly from a mild understeer to oversteer which is hard to correct. I have already sideways once with this (correcting imediately stopped it from doing a full 180 and it just slid sideways to a stop). Has anyone else experienced this in their civic?

That said I am looking into upgrading the suspension, but I dont want to drop that much money into it right now, but im thinking of putting coilovers on it eventually. I was wondering if putting more aggressive sway bars on it would help. I dont know much, but it seems to me like the over steer is happening as more when the car is swaying more. but it seems counterintuiative to have a stiffer rear sway bar to prevent this. I was also wondering if the increased grip is just getting more compliance out of the chassis and strut braces or tie bars would help solve some of this. If anyone understands whats going on with the suspension and has any suggestions to fix it, that would go along with coilovers I want to go for eventually, it would be appreciated.

 
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You need to stiffen the front with a stronger sway bar to eliminate your over steer.

i put a new rear sway bar on with a stock front sway and i felt like i was going to spin out on every turn. i just about got seasick driving that way.

 
Rep Power: 380

Random oversteer?

what are you doing as a driver when the car starts to oversteer? On the brakes entering a turn or mid turn? Lifting off the throttle mid turn? ect ect ect...

Also, whats your cars alignment look like? Specifically its toe settings.

also, Transitional cornering problmes as you describe are ushually a damper issue, either the car is over-dampered (unlikely as you are on OEM dampers) or the car is underdampered.


And one last tip, Oversteer in a FWD car is pretty easy to control. Simply add throttle. you wont need much, you just need enough to transfer some weight to the rear of the car to give it more traction. It may seem counter intuitive and pretty much the exact opposite of what your gut tells you, but it works.


BTW, anti-roll bars and spring rates alter the cars mid corner oversteer/understeer balance... corner entry and exit are influenced by damper valving (you tweak which end of the car transfers weight faster, front or rear, to alter the cars corner entry oversteer/understeer balance.)


Happy tuning!

 
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well it could just be a combination of things. If I put no power down and no braking it will want to oversteer a lot, but its fairly easy to control, because it happens naturally, more like im used to in a RWD oversteer. But, thats really something that I can deal with, its easy to correct and kind of fun. I got the car completely sideways doing something like chicane and the weight transfer was just really harsh. So, i guess from what you are saying that it more underdamped, and I guess I could see that maybe its just a general unbalance since its shocks in the rear and struts in the front. If thats the case ill just start saving for coilovers and camber adjust.

 
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While you are saving I would check your driving habits to see why you are causing "random oversteer." Most likely it is your driving style that is causing this, rather than suspension setup.

 
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Struts Are shocks.... Your thinking Strut Vs double wishbone.

Oversteer on transitions ushually means that either the front is under-dampend and/or the rear is over dampend.


Really, all you need is a good set of adjustible dampers... Especially if you like the cars current ride quality and mid turn oversteer-understeer balance.

 
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Well my driving habits arent always the smoothest of motions, but I can still drive smooth and can still be fine dealing with a RWD cars oversteer. Im really the worst and slalom, but the problem the randomness of the whole thing seems to be more coming from the back sort of poping in weight transfer, its hard to describe. But, I was messing around with again earlier and try to be more specific on whats happening. If I take a turn thats a small curve, probably at like 45 mph second gear, the car will be fine in the entrance in then slowly the backend will slide out, not much with the pedal down in second. All that is fine for me, but when I come out and try to straighten up and as smooth as I possibly can with still staying on the road, its fine for a split second and then when the back end starts to straighten itself it jerks pretty hard. There just seems to be a ton of springyness in the back end sway, so maybe thats just underdampened rear. Overall justsounds like ill need to get the coilovers or springs/sturts. Thanks for the help so far.