Back of car swung out on a wet left hand bend

[MarkDavis]

Back of car (Saab 9-3 FWD) swung out on a wet left hand bend probably about 30-40mph just prior to joining a motorway.

I almost ending up doing a 180 degree spin but managed to *just* correct by steering in the opposite direction. Pretty scary though as the car was almost pointing sideways at one point and I was looking at the motorway slip road car barrier.

Any idea what would have caused this? Knackered rear tyres? I didn't brake at the time, but should I have done so?

 

[pepsilol]

Pick one of the following.

1. Trying something stupid.
2. Diesel on the road.
3. Linglong tyres

 

[Maccapacca]

Lift off oversteer

 

[Gibbo]

Too fast for the cOnditions or something wrong with cars tyres/suspension.

 

[Scania]

Suspension issue
Slippery **** on road surface
Driver failure (install better driver!! )
Cheap & nasty ditch finders or plain knackered as per the OP.
Or any combination of the above.

I'm going with knackered rear tyres given the OP mentioned it himself, I presume he knows there knackered hence mentioning it??

 

[acemastr]

Great fun isn't it?

 

[bledd]

What tyres do you currently have? Are they all matching? How much tread do you have left?

 

[blueboy2001]

Probably diesel on the road if it just snapped on you, but shot rear tyres could aquaplane if it was very vet too.

 

[Relentless81]

Surely you know if its the tyres to blame seeing as though you can see them and we cant

 

[Django x2]

No, you definitely shouldn't brake in such a situation

 

[apeksdiver]

Was it a tight bend? sounds like you were going a bit fast for the conditions.

 

[-westy-]

Great fun isn't it?

To the OP, sounds like it may have been a case of lift off oversteer - caused by the weight transfer when coming off the throttle and turning into a corner at the same time. Fairly easily recovered by getting your foot on the throttle again to settle the rear of the car down. You may also want to check your tyre pressures and the condition of your rear suspension, particularly the rear anti-roll bar.

 

[Malc]

Do you have different tyres on the front and back? Are the ones on the front better and/or in better condition?

It definitely sounds like lift off oversteer.

 

[Father Ted]

Worst 'Spec me a new pair of underpants' thread ever.

 

[Frozennova]

As above really, either poor rear tyres, too fast for the conditions, lift off oversteer or all of the above.

 

[King4aDay]

As above really, either poor rear tyres, too fast for the conditions, lift off oversteer or all of the above.

Yeah, only time this happened to me was shortly after getting my prelude... slightly ambitious speed into a small roundabout in the damp, worn ditchfinders on the back from the previous owner (one with a slow leak it turned out, so uneven tyre pressure to boot), realised I was going a bit fast, lifted off and woooooooo

Thankfully pulled it back just in time to exit the roundabout on a road and not through a hedge. Girlfriend asked me if I was showing off

 

[4T5]

When was the last time you checked your tyre pressure ?

If it's not low on air then it was probably diesel, Just be thankful you weren't on a bike.

 

[Renton]

Isnt lift off oversteer a RWD thing caused by the engine breaking effect? could be wrong though.
I would be having a good look at my rear tyres, check for wear first then over inflation. You can also check for uneven wear across the tyres indicating bad geo setting

 

[Havana_UK]

Isnt lift off oversteer a RWD thing caused by the engine breaking effect? could be wrong though.
I would be having a good look at my rear tyres, check for wear first then over inflation. You can also check for uneven wear across the tyres indicating bad geo setting

No, a RWD car will oversteer under too much power. As westy explained it's because of the forward weight transfer reducing load (and therefore, grip) on the rear tyres, which is why to correct it in a FWD car you just get back on the power (whilst steering into the skid).

To the OP, others have cited the possible or likely causes (the most likely being a patch of diesel on the road), but I'll throw in another possible cause.

Years ago I had a Clio 172 that developed a faulty ABS sensor. It took the garage 3 days to identify the cause of he problem, but essentially it was falsely detecting loss of traction and so applying brakes (at random) to correct a non-existent problem. Once it happened at 70mph as I was joining a motorway and for a split second the car jammed on the brakes on all four wheels. Anyway, I mention this as a possible cause because if it were to do this to one or both rear wheels the effect is the same as yanking on the handbrake. This also happened to me going around a roundabout, which got me a lot of disapproving looks from the other drivers (whilst I was trying to stop the car from crashing!).

 

[Havana_UK]

Just be thankful you weren't on a bike.

Absolutely...the Clio 172 I mention in the post above was written off when a bike coming towards me hit a patch of diesel on a bend and buried itself under my car. Fortunately, for both of us, the rider somehow missed my car.