Scott Kirk

This morning on a nice bit of dual carriageway I had another car pull out (and start to slow down) in front of me.

Not having had the car long (MY02 WRX) I hit the brakes....hard.

The problem was that the road gently curves to the left so I ended up doing what felt like a mini fishtail up the road until I was able to come off the brakes.

I realise that when braking the weight transfers to the front wheels and I guess because I was turning at the time was the reason why my back end suddenly went very vague (and yes that was both my back ends)

Questions.

1. Is this standard behaviour on an un modded WRX.
2. Is there anything I can do to the suspension etc that would ease this sort of behaviour.

I realise I shouldnt have been braking in this manner but unfortunately it was either that or messing up my nice new front end.

Scott

David_Wallis

Braking and cornering shouldnt be done at the same time... infact anything that effects the balance of the car shouldnt be done really..

Im saying no more than this as I am no expert..

David

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

All impreza's do this, its pretty much the same as lift off oversteer but not quite as bad.
Would suggest that you go into corners slower and come out quicker

Tony

Claudius

That's totally normal for any car. I would suggest you get driving instruction.

Reffro

Its not normal for the NEW VECTRA, its has a CBC (corner brake control) system to help in just such an eventuality. And do you know its not been seen on this type of car before......

[Edited by Reffro - 7/15/2002 4:29:39 PM]

Pavlo

dynamic braking for stability applies the brakes in a very different way to normal braking.

Generally you can get away with some moderate braking in corners, but you will unweight the rear, which may get a bit twitchy.

In emergency situations on the road you often have little choice, race track can be different.

Edited to add that a lower(ed) car would suffer less weight transfer.

Paul

[Edited by Pavlo - 7/15/2002 4:35:13 PM]

Kempo

In the situations when braking round corners is unavoidable, winding off a bit of steering can help to counter the effects of the front tyres gripping in and the back coming around - I've had exactly the same, particularly on roundabouts when people believe there to be more of a gap than was really never there

It is amazing at how much more stable the car is just with a few steering inputs - granted at the higher speeds you may have been involved with it is more difficult to control.

Cheers
Paul

boomer

An open question, but would the "bump steer" mods help in this situation?

mb

CataIunya

www.drivingtechniques.co.uk might help.......

Scott Kirk

Thanks for the feedback.

In response to some of the comments....

I will be looking to lower the car in the future to try and reduce the weight shift so it is not so dramatic.

I have looked at www.drivingtechniques.co.uk before hence why I had a good idea at the time of the incident as to what was happening.

As for me getting driving instruction....probably....but I think the women who switched lanes without checking her mirrors , or indicating, or even knowing I was there needs the instruction more then me.

What would of topped it off would have been the fact if I had hit her I would of been at fault.

Still heres to the next idiot pulling out in front of me so that I can perfect my braking in a corner technique !

Scott

chiark

Anticipating other people's stupid moves is a good 'un, too. Think "what's the worst they can do" then, 9 times out of 10, the little sods will go and do it.

Pavlo

I agree, I fully expect everyone to pull out in front of me on multi lane roads, have their indicators on unintentionally, underpass on motorway just as I want to move to inside lane for junction etc etc.

At least one person will always any/all of the above and more.

Paul

speedking

But, if the MY02 has ABS operating on all 4 wheels then the weight transfer just means that the front wheels reach the point where the ABS cuts in earlier. All 4 wheels would be braking at max effort and so balance shouldn't be greatly affected? Lowering would undoubtedly help, as would stiffer front suspension.

PS our old Kia advertised with ABS, only had ABS on the rear wheels this stopped the back overtaking the front but didn't help with steering. Similar effect to the brake balance valve in the 205GTi system that reduces the chance of the rear wheels locking under heavy braking.

Blue Flame

Not an expert, but your tail brings back bad memories... 98 reg standard Turbo, (8 weeks old) slight shower of rain on the road, moderate left bend, half way round lost grip on offside rear - at about 70 mph - talk about wieght shift then !! Round she went very quick, went over the verge backwards and down the round - (wrong side), managed to flick it round - road not wide enough and ended up front wheels in ditch. All very scary and very fast. No real damage (pride), but on looking at the spot where it steped out - lot of oil / fuel in the middle of the road, - just one of those hidden dangers, however it was very simular to lifting off the power half way round the bend - the same as big weight shift.

So I guess at the end of the day I was very lucky in a lot of ways - must have looked brill though !!

So the point of this is it is not just other drivers, and now I drive to expect the unexpected, not a cure but it sharpens you up a bit.

Take care ... it dangerous out there !!!