Long story short:
- picked up Evo from dealer
- drove like a bat out of hell - gave power through corners, car stuck like there were rails.

- checked tire pressures; found tires were only @ 18#s
- reset tire pressures to Mitsu recommendations
- Vegas got *cold* (low 40s @ night)

- giving power through corners produces scary, sudden oversteer
- reaction is to lift (lacking in guts to apply *more* power when oversteering)
- traction regained via violent fishtailing

What is the solution other than dropping tire pressures to dangerous levels again? Is it seriously to add more power in an oversteer?

Thanks for your help.

 

lifting off the throttle in an awd car is RARELY a good thing to do. I say rarely, because I have had my car 9 months, been to the track multiple times, gotten racing instruction, been up crazy mountain roads, and in the gravel, and It's never done me any good lifting off the throttle when the back end pops out; doing so unloads the suspension, and throws the car more out of control. BUT someone on here is bound to come up with an extremely out there situation where lifting helps. So if the back end pops out, giver gas, and correct your steering. It seems stupid, odd, and foreign at first, but awd is completely different from rwd. and being at 18 psi is not a good thing for street driving. Best thing to do, is 32 up front, 29 in the rear, which pushes the car more into understeer vs. oversteer. play with the psi a bit if you like, but oem values work amazingly for me. and warm up those tyres before you go flying through turns... it takes awhile. I live in AZ, about 30 minutes away from civilization, and it takes a good 5-10 minutes of driving to warm them up enough to have fun. hope that helps out a bit! cheers!

 

stock tires really lose grip in cold weather. I don't think 40's is cold enough, but those who live up north can answer better than I (I'm in Houston, we rarely freeze). evom is full of "I wrecked my car" threads in Oct/Nov, when the weather starts to turn cold up north due to this.

That may or may not be a contributing factor for your case. Depends on your spreed also. If you're back end is stepping out under hard throttle around a slow 90 degree turn, like a typical street corner, backing off the throttle is probably best because the oversteer will most likely be power induced. But if it's a 60 mph sweeper, backing off to suddenly won't be a good idea.

 

you might want to try to preload your front springs just before corner entry to get more grip on the front tires, then get on the gas to rotate the car...

 

I drive FWD (which acts similarly to AWD) and I use lifting the throttle to oversteer. If you going like hell through a corner and the car is gripping, do not lift off the throttle. You're asking if oversteer. Just keep nice steady throttle. Even if the car feels a little twitching with full throttle, keep on the gas. This could ALSO be that you're simply just try to go to fast through the corner. I only use lift off when I feel understeer when I add power to the exit of the corner, I'll let off a little and the back will rotate around nicely.

So if you're alredy oversteering, don't lift off, add power and countersteer. Get to a track and practice.

Always remember, slow in fast out. I'm not sure if you're a beginer at this of it's just a car you're not used to. Just driving around farmilair back roads and go at a normal pace and practice being smooth. Slow in and accelerate out. Late apex's, and gradually go faster and faster. It would be better to do at a track for you can use the WHOLE track.

When I first started driving, and I found all tis stuff out, it didn't make sense to me until I tried it. Biggest things are to stay as smooth as possible, no sudden jerks. Late apexing also depends on the corner. Just go out and practice and get used to the car is important as well.

Also, almost anybodys reaction would be to lift and others would also think the brakes is a good thing. No, both of those give the front tires traction and the rear LESS traction which = death. Of course wonce you learn the car a little, it's fun. People think it's crazy how I oversteer a FWD without the e-brake. Though my rear sway bar helps

 

The stock tires always seemed to lose grip when the temps got cold like that. I live up in NH and in the colder months, even on a dry road surface it it much easier to spin the tires, and get the car to slide around. I have only done this at lower speeds though. The few times I have gotten the car sideways however, I did not lift off the throttle. I stayed on it and the car straightened out.

 

hmmm.. oversteer on a stock evo.. that sounds weird. You 'should' be experiencing understeer on a stock evo... ofcourse running 18#'s of air on the tires will always help the car do weird things. Try settign tires pressures to 2#'s less in rear tires compared to fronts....maybe start at 36 front & 34 rear....see how ti feels and go from there.

I am in Vegas & I/Robispec can help you sort the car out to handle the way you want it....

n

 

i get a little off that under hard acceleration when cornering. but mostly when the tires arent warm or its a little cold out. remember there are oils and stuff in the road aswell. so cold and tire pressure and road condition are parts of the equation. but as for lifting. only you can decide to lift or not. i do on occasion on tarmac or asphalt sometimes i stick it out and see what happenes. mostly on more loose surface. it always corrects it self but it is hard at times to commit to it. 30k and time and energy kinda makes you think sometimes.

 

You just picked up the car from the dealer?
not only was it cold outside but the tires havent even come in yet, it takes a few hundred miles for the tires to break in.

 

Two things,

First I would also check your pressures with a different guage, if the one you have is bad and you just raised your pressures to the stratosphere, the smaller contact patch is going to make them do strange things. (much like being too low will)

I would take it back and get the alignment checked, I have seen screwy alignments on cars fresh out of the dealership. Don't tell them you are driving it hard, say something like.. "when I am driving on an on-ramp or long corner the car wanders"

If the guage is ok and the tires were at 18psi from the dealer, tell them about that, and that you thought maybe that's what it was at first but now it's acting up differently.

If they say "well the car was aligned" point out that an alignment on low pressure will not be a good alignment, and that you want to at least check it and get a print-out.

By showing that you were trying to be proactive with finding the issue, that you did find one problem, and that you are not just saying "it's broke" then they should be pretty cool with working with you to fix it if there is a problem.

If all of it checks out, I would look to see what you might be doing to induce it.

If this is on-throttle oversteer then yes you need to steady-throttle or lift (a little). However, untill you figure out if this is a car issue or a driver issue, I would be very very careful where I risk getting any kind of oversteer.

 

Wow - thanks for all the help, folks.

I'll definitely check out the pressures w/ a different gauge. The car isn't brand new (about 4K miles on the car & the tires).

It is a power-induced oversteer; i usually go into the corners pretty slowly and get on the gas a little.

When the tires were @ 18#s (without my knowledge, of course - the sidewalls are so stiff you can't tell they're underinflated) and it was hot in Vegas, throttle into the turn would always produce more grip.

Thanks again!

 

good info... thx!

 

i always find in awd when the ***-end get squirely, throttle and counter-sterring finds traction!!

 

I agree.. I use my Evo for track purposes only and I can tell you that you should be seeing MAD understeer.. As far as lifting goe :NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER lift of the throttle.. I know this because I hit turn 1 @ PIR in Arizona in october 2006 because i lifted for one second.. Like somebody else said.. It seems unatural but do it anyway..

Have fun bro.. This car is awesome

 

you got some help from the top couple guys out there... nils = top suspension tuner racerjon = top evo racer

i suggest you follow their advice

cheers!