car is crap in the wet

[preacher38]

i have tried three different tyre makes but to no avail , the car is ****e in wet weather ..... in the dry its great , loads of grip no matter what make of tyre but if it rains its hopeless it torque steers even worse , it slips and slides all over the place and i have to be ever so conservative with it as it makes my bottom tighten when it does it ... does anyone have any suggestions on how to correct this problem , if it helps its a 1998 r fwd .... cheers.

[t5_monkey]

Mine was terrible on Pirellis (even in stock form)

not the same model - but I found that the strut brace has made a BIG different to traction, should make an even bigger difference in the older less Stiff P2 models I think.

What tires are you running? Vredstein Ultrac Sessantas were a revelation in the wet after running on Pirelli P6000's

More radical option - quaife/gripper limited stiff diff will really up your traction - but you're talking about a grand for that.

Other than that - driving style! Find that when I race people in the wet it's actually better to just grab the next gear up as soon as you get any spin, and ride the torque - smooth driving style seems to be rewarded.

[preacher38]

wish i could have some real control mate but its an auto , but its bloody evil in the wet , had it on pirellis but even with some of the best it just wont behave . been thinking about a brace for it but do they really work that well ..

[t5_monkey]

wish i could have some real control mate but its an auto , but its bloody evil in the wet , had it on pirellis but even with some of the best it just wont behave . been thinking about a brace for it but do they really work that well ..

I bought my brace just cause I wanted something shiny in the engine bay and didn't want to spend too much on the car, didn't expect much but it's made a huge difference.

The wheels spin but it's so much more manegable and doesn't feel as 'wayward' - I'd deffo recommend it, I was unsure before - sold on it now after driving with one on.

Vredsteins always get good write ups for wet weather - you tried em?

[Al115]

Strut brace is about £50 so worth trying I'd say. Though I find most of the FWD cars to suffer badly in the wet... I just don't even try pushing them hard any more if it's slidey weather...

[thebadger]

Just a thought, but check the camber & the wheel alingment.

If it's as poor as you're saying it may not be the tyres that are causing the problem. And I also reccomend a strut brace. (you never hear a bad report about them!)

[Dangerous Dave]

Vreds or Nokian tyres get very good write-ups.

[Clan998]

Just a thought, but check the camber & the wheel alingment.

If it's as poor as you're saying it may not be the tyres that are causing the problem. And I also reccomend a strut brace. (you never hear a bad report about them!)

Hi

This sounded like my car :-( Bought a strut brace made a huge difference , also just had new tyres got Toyo Proxes pr1's they seem good in the wet.

I had the 4 wheel alignment done and camber adjusted ...totally transformed the car . It turned out every wheel was out of alignment either toe in or camber some had both !

Car feels so much more sure footed now :-) Find a good place that has the 'Hunter' system you get a print out before and after I got mine done here

http://www.elitedirect.com/WheelAlig...Alignment.html

Im sure they are al over the country tho.

Good luck with it

[Flatout Phil]

OK so a lot of power through the front will never be that great in the wet, but make sure your tyre pressures are correct EVERY week, even a couple of pounds out (invariably at the rear) will dictate the level of wheelspin - and I think you are referring to single wheel rather than two-wheel spin (the rears are in effect the wheelie-bars that a dragster has - got to keep both fronts pressed onto the road evenly). Knackered shocks will not help either (on any corner but especially the rear again). And I agree that good tracking/camber/etc, a strut brace and perhaps a decent rebushing of the suspended components will all help.

I should add that my Rica'd, Jetexed, K&N filtered R can be slippy in the wet (but traction no worse than any car in the wet - including my old BMW 520i - which handled like custard on roller-skates in the wet), but generally is very well behaved upon receiving a dose of the beans - no huge torque steer, although I think the shocks are tiring these days as I get occasional 'axle-tramp'. All those speed humps and potholes....grrr

[mas]

If the handling is as bad as you describe and you have decent tyres on , personally I think the geometry/suspension etc has a problem. I wouldnt have thought that a large heavy front wheel drive car such as ours should not feel dangerously wild in the wet unless you drive like a loon. I have had exactly what you are feeling in a powerfull rear wheel drive car and it was down to crap tyres. I changed them for Goodyear Eagles and transformed the traction and surefootedness.

However I have never in my life had that unsettled feeling you describe in a front wheel drive car.

Best of luck
Mas

V70 T5 'pleasure'
S60D5 'work'

[preacher38]

hi have put some vreds on " ££££££ "and had the alignment done , rears were out a bit but front was fine , just had top mounts replaced for the mot and shocks etc done , had the gizmo plugged in to remove the service warning light and it was showing that there was a problem with the traction control , bulb on dash was not working so i didnt know it even had a problem . went out for a run when the lads had put things right and did the " DRIVE LIKE A LOON " that mas quoted and found that the car is behaving a lot better now , still want a strut brace for the old gal though as the comments on here have helped point me in the right direction to rectifying the problem .... so thank you all for your help .

cheers

vinny .