Tonight, as I was coming in from the city (Manhattan), I was merging onto the George Washington Bridge. I felt a little spirited and drove quite fast (50mph) going around the jug-handle curve leading upto the bridge. All of a sudden, my tail end of the car started sliding forward. I guess this was an oversteer and I was beginning to lose control. I had to quickly readjust to gain control. Everything was ok but I was a bit concerned. The road was dry.

I have a Progress RSB, H&R springs, stock struts, and a front tower strut bar. What caused the oversteer?

 

Your rear end might be tuned tighter than your front. Possibly a LTB for the front would help.

 

What tires are you running?

 

i would just say its the overall design of the car. no matter how much suspension upgrades you have your going to get some over steer. Also did you punch it before going into the turn. that could have deff been the problem. if your ever going to want to take a turn fast try punching it right in the middle of the turn.

 

[kidplayingw/mashpotatoes&Greenbean] "I thought I told you son, accelerate at the apex of the turn"..."I was Daddy" [/kidplayingw/mashpotatoes&Greenbean]

 

something tells me blotenzas. i am so happy to be rid of them!!!

 

Actually, not so. Maxima's understeer predictably stock. However, adding a RSB and running a stiffer rear suspension can produce unpredictable and dangerous oversteer. I've read many complaints of just this behavior from owners of the RSB. The problem is it makes the car's limit very difficult to detect. There's minimal body roll to give a warning and when the limit is reached the rear end breaks traction first and starts to come around (since the rear is stiffer than the front). I know of at least three major accidents that have been reported on the org by just such a situation.

The RSB is great for reducing body roll, but you need to be very careful about pushing your car too far - it's not nearly as forgiving with a RSB.

 

So are you telling us to remove the RSB? I thought about doing it after I lowered my car. I was afraid of the rear giving out and sliding around high speed turns and or winter driving.

 

um.... not knowing your cars limits and driving to fast for the conditions

 

i LOVE that commercial. i used that quote last time someone posted about going into a curve to fast and losing control

 

I think he's saying people with RSBs need to slow down a little... RSBs don't make the car a super fast cornering machine...

 

u need a RSB more than anything and make sure to get the stillen ajustible one. put it on the stiffest and have fun the only problem with that is., if u wont accelerate through the turns u will have overstear again. u cant brake on any turn's but defently worth it

 

What tire pressures are you running? You may want to experiment increasing the pressure differencial between the fronts and rears by lowering the rears' pressures. As everyone has said, you need to know the car's limits.

 

Ive posted this before in a thread like this, but got no input.

Does anyone think a staggered wheel and tire setup would help solve this problem? If you have more of a contact patch in the back, it should stick better.

Anyone have any experience with this?

 

Fezzik - I'm running Yokohama V4s which are supposedly great tires.

ABDomega - That was my concern because I was reading up on that issue about RSB too. I think I'll tinkle with the Progress because you can adjust it a bit. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Sooner - Thank you for that amazing insight. You must be a genious. But then again, my 4 year old niece could have told me that.

 

just learn to drive

 

I'm so sick of these posts...

"My car almost lost control cuz I was doing 50 on an onramp"

you almost lost control because you were driving unsafely.I hate when people blame their cars for "not handling like they should"

"my tires suck"

"My springs are too soft"

"I need a sway bar"

All excuses because some people drive like As$holes. Soonerfan had it right komax, so don't give him crap. Its true, Onrams/offramps have speedlimits for a reason. because you can't drive 50 on them. And if you do, fine. BUt if your car flips or you lose control, don't go blame your "crappy tires" or Soft supension for it. Even if you have every suspension mod imaginable, your car still has a limit. It just annoys me to see people that drive so wrecklessly and get pissed or confused when their car gets out of control.


And to answer your first question you "oversteered" because you drove like an a$$

 

He's just pissed off cause the red sox sucks lol

bahhahah



anyway... RSB should be help, but do look in to tire pressure and you should of not over steered around that turn.... my maxima without a friggin rsb took a turn better then a this porshe in back of me, porshe was in two lanes, i was sittin and going the same speed in my max..

anyway rsb should help but its not going to make a HUGE difference... its a big car...

 

"Who's your daddy?"

nah, I refuse to watch/root for them because they will always be a let down no matter how good they looked in the divisional series. I learned this last year...

 

 

agree with everything you said.... as housecor says, stock the maxima has some understeer. With a RSB, the car switches to minor oversteer. FSTB has negligible effect on oversteer/understeer. If you want to KEEP the RSB and regain the margin of understeer, I suggest a lower tie bar for the front end. With the LTB, RSB, FSTB, Springs, and struts (illuminas, which I set at different rebound/firmness depending on where/how I'm driving usually), my car is setup with minor understeer, almost balanced.

But I also agree with soonerfan et al, that blaming the car for a wreck or close-wreck is ridiculous. It's the driver's job to know the limits of the car. If your tires suck, if you have oversteer, etc...you should already know this and drive in a manner where these shortcomings of the car won't come into play. You spin off the road doing 50 on a 35 ramp, the car is BY NO MEANS at fault. YOU ARE. Slow down.

 

Ryan, seriously, Redsox must have made all the Boston people bitter. I forgive you in your little self-righteous way. Good one about "not being a fan" anymore. I've heard that one before. But I digress.

Anyhow, the reason for the post wasn't "I was an idiot"...we're all idiots for modding our cars in one way or another. WHy? Because we WANT to drive more aggressive than stock design. DUR! Moron. You want me to prove it? I dare anyone in the forum to tell a new insurance company what kinds of stuff they do to their car and see if they don't get a higher premium than just plain stock.

I wanted to know because rather than an "UNDERSTEER" which should have been the case with a fast turn, I actually had an "OVERSTEER". Isn't that odd? I think Irish and a few have got it right. The RSB might be the culprit. The trade off to a good handling is a quite stiff rear. Now I know my limit. Thanks to all who've withheld judgment and gave a helpful answer.

Go Yankees!

 

my bad ment oversteer, but i still go w/ it being a flaw in the designe of the car. maximas are pretty long and arent ment to hug the road like a wrx, or s2000 ect. You just gotta be cautious where and how fast you drive you car. w/ a front wheel drive car its also dangerous as well because the rear is being pulled around and its got a tendency to slide aroud cause we got big a**es. i dunno much about rsb suspinsion though so i could be wrong?

 

Sorry to disagree but this is incorrect. Punching the gas in the middle of a turn with a FWD car will cause the car to understeer and 'plow' so the front end of his car would be pushed toward the curb. The only way punching the gas in a FWD would car the rear end to come out would be if you lost traction with the front tires, turned them excessively in the direction you want to go, and then the tires suddenly regain grip. Otherwise, abruptly letting off the gas or hitting the brakes will cause the rear end to come around. Especially on a "too-hard" rear suspension. It's happened to me before when I've turned my rear suspension up too high on the track.

That's something I'd highly recommend before trying to be speed racer on the street. Especially in the NYC area! You hit a pothole or bump or expansion joint mid-turn and you're probably going to lose control. I would never push a car anywhere in/around the GWB or NYC at all; it's just plain stupid. You do a track event and you'll learn how your car handles and why you really shouldn't be going too fast on the street - too many variables.

Why it oversteered? Bumps, potholes, expansion joints, abruptly letting off the gas, hitting the brakes, hitting your bumpstops, turning the steering wheel too fast too far, etc, etc, etc. Slow down on the street, go to a track event if you want to go around curves fast (and they're mostly smooth too!), and next time that happens don't do what's instinctive (letting off the gas immediately and slamming the brakes) Slowly and smoothly let off the gas to regain control. Cars at the limit of adhesion in a turn do NOT like sudden changes. Want more info... PM me. I don't feel like typing anymore right now

 

Here is something else to look at....the condition of the rear tires. If they are more worn than the front, the rear will break loose on a turn.

I use to think that it was best to place the least worn tires on the front in a front wheel drive car. This is incorrect. The least worn tires should always be kept on the rear to prevent the rear from breaking loose.

Had you recently rotated the tires by chance and placed the worn front tires on the rear?

 

I spun out 2 times in the Maxima on an onramp, one time with stock suspension-GXE baby, and other time with my Koni/GC/RSB/FSTB/RSTB when I hit a puddle of water while apexing the corner. Maxima will NOT oversteer if you have the right combination of springs and shocks, since you said you have a 2000 Maxima that is lowered on stock struts still, I belive you don't have compression and rebound controll over the springs you are runing (H&Rs) and when you hit the corner to fast spring was still oscilating (bouncing) which caused you to spin out. I need to put up a video of my Maxima at a autocross event from last weekend, it will show ya what a neutrally balanced Maxima will do, it should understeer under power and turning, it shouldn't push or slide while just cornering under no power-rolln through as I call it, and it should slide the azz end out under abrupt throttle closing entering a corner. My car used to be tail happy till I messed around with suspension height, damper settings and different tires. I have 255-40-17 Dunlop SP9000s, Maxima is a very long car if you do end up in a situation where the tail end steps out on ya.... just nail the gas pedal and it will straighten out. Do NOT let off the gas pedal or it WILL get even worse. Who wants to host my video ? 17MB of some autoX fun, demonstrating Maximas ability to outcorner EVOs and WRXs.

 

Actually, I just rotated my tires less than 2 weeks ago for the first time since purchase.

 

Interesting. How many miles on the tires, and how does the tread look?

 

so your 4 year old niece is smarter then you and could have told you not to drive so fast
if she could reach the pedals she could probably drive better then you do

 

You mod your car to use in the right setting, not on a busy public street. you have a 4 year old niece, right? SO lets say your four year old neice is riding in the car on an offramp, and some guy on the onramp side loses control, goes into the other lane and slams in the car your Niece is riding in... and she dies. you'd be pretty upset right? You know what would make you even more upset, is if the other guy got out of the car and said, "uhhhh,,, I was going 50, and it says 35, but my car shouldn't have oversteered like that." I bet you'd be pretty pissed.

ANd I know, no one got hurt... but someone could have, and you choose not to take that as " Well, I really over drove it for my skill and car, I shouldn't have done that." Instead, you took it as, "gee, my car oversteered."

See at first I wasn't going to say anything, but after reading you talk isht to Sooner about trying to point out how stupid your driving was, I had to say something. you call him and me the moron? Whatever kid. and I call you kid cuz I guess you're 30 but act like your 16. I'm 22 aqnd have more common sense to do that. If you are driving properly, there is absolutely no way a FWD car should oversteer unless it is raining, snowing, etc.


So let me give you another scenario: LEts say your niece is IN the car with you, and you take that same onramp at 50 and lose control... Oh whats that? you would never drive like that with her in the car??? Oh, well why? oh yeah, because its retarded...

Grow up.

 

hah, agree there, but don't mind Ryan....he's just upset that the sox scored 4 in the 2nd and then the yanks came right back with a run and 2-0n, no outs

GO ORIOLES

 

The red sox may suck, but I don't build ugly stuff and stick it on my car calling it a mod... But don't mind me at all.

 

ouch....well, I was actually AGREEING with your statement, and I was just kidding around with you about the sox (as indicated by my self-depricating "go orioles")...but if you feel like getting all personal about ****, you can go (screw) yourself, douchebag

 

btw, i couldn't give a damn about what you think of my car...but by definition a "mod" is anything that "modifies" the car......whether or not you personally may like it...

and just for the record, I have more of what you would consider "real" mods than you do also, b1tch.

 

Aright. Thanks for agreeign with me, I actually didn't know you were jokin about the sox. And I honestly have the mentality that if you like it on your car, do it. It's just that this thread, and the starter of this thread, **** me off with his lack of judgement and even more his obliviousness, to realize what he did was stupid.

The reason I'm "bitter" as everyone seems to be calling my in this thread is because three years ago, a guy in a mustang took a turn at an estimated 65 MPH. (too fast I'd say) and hit my mom. She's dead. No alcahol, no drugs, just drove too fast. It was solely based on his lack of commonsense to not drive that fast going around a turn. So what pisses me off is that his stupidity could have casued someone else to go through what I've gone through. And he calls everyone else morons?

 

ight....all good....I have to joke about the sox, because my Orioles are just downright pathetic and all my poser friends in this area are Sox fans (even though none of them are from Boston)..yeah I was agreeing with you, if you read my first post up near the top:

btw - I do agree that a few of my "self-made" mods are ugly....they're just biding time until I can figure out better-looking ways to build good ideas (like the mp3 player bracket). I like to call them "rough drafts"....

 

That explains it. Understandable. Sorry to hear that about your mom.

But here it goes...four words: YOU DON'T KNOW ME.
- do you know how often i drive over the speed limit?
- do you know how long i've been driving?
- do you know that my niece has leukemia?

son, go buy yourself a happy meal. you need one.

one more thing. i don't drive like YOU THINK i drive. again, judgment without even knowing the facts.

 

from your first post-
"I felt a little spirited and drove quite fast (50mph) going around the jug-handle curve leading upto the bridge."

so what was that about "judgement without even knowing the facts"?

we dont know how you drive...all we have to go on in what you posted.

bottom line - you were driving to fast for the curve..no "ifs", "ands", or "buts"
just accept that and move on. we have all made mistakes.

 

why do people have to be so dam negative. Look, the red sox lost, the yankees win, NY'ers rub it in, and the majority of bostonians are truly heartbroken; We mod our cars to drive faster and have more fun doing it. Period. Where when and why are decisions left up to the driver, NO ONE will EVER change anyone's mind about that. If one wants to have the BEST conditions, they'll go to the track, otherwise, you test your limits in a parking lot, and know what they are.

As for the bickering, namecalling, and scare-tactics, leave that to the politicians (republicans mostly), we're all friends here

 

I think we may all be missing the important point here. If you rotate your tires and put the worn front tires on the rear...watch out. You're handling may take an unexpected nose dive.