I have an MY99 with 1000 miles on the clock and would like to know how best to negotiate islands in the wet until I can change the standard tyres. The front end lacks grip and any advice would be appreciated as I am new to AWD and unsure of the best technique.

Had exactly this on my MY99..recently changed to p-zeros which are much better.

Keep the revs higher i.e. use 2nd instead of 3rd..this seems to help avoid those embarrassing moments !

BHORT.

Changing the geometry settings will help somewhat (see FAQ), but wet grip is of course predominantly down to tyre choice.
I've found that braking into corners late but firm to transfer weight and reduce oversteer helps, but it depends on your driving style.
Perhaps a day at MIRA with Don might help?

Stef.

Stef..

You mean reduce UNDERsteer and induce OVERsteer.

Don't make me tell you again!! http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/wink.gif

Stef is dead right, the geometry settings will make a huge difference. Also what stef was saying about braking late will also work well. But beware! It depends very much on how you drive and what you are used to.

I love RWD and oversteer characteristics and have had my geometry and damping set accordingly. I have just had KONI's fitted and was dissapointed, Stef and I went for a brief play in my car the other night and the car was understeering way too much. Then when it did oversteer, it just wanted to keep on going round. I have spent most of the afternoon with RGS Motorsport today doing a proper setup and it is FANTASTIC now.

Stef, let me know if you fancy seeing the difference.

c-ya

Simon

Hello BHORT,

To expand on what Stef has said;

When you go into the corner and you brake into it (trail brake) and so steering at the same time you have all the weight over the front tyres and therefore maximum grip.

As soon as you have steered in you will now lift off the brake and start to apply throttle. The weight transfer now starts to shift from the front to the back but not before the back end became light due to the first loading by braking into the corner.

If the weight is over the front when you brake, there is a lot less weight over the back which means it will adjust easily. So, when you brake and then brake into the corner, the back end will want to start slipping because it has no weight so to speak. This means that your car will be pointing the correct line into/out of the corner with one potential drawback; the back end will want to oversteer.

But this is good as you have instigated the behaviour and as you apply the throttle you can adjust the line with the throttle.

As Lee says, it doesn't work with low revs.

Kind regards

Ben