A Mystery - R33 Back Tyres Fishtailing In Wet At Slow Speeds

[vekra]

Hey,

Wondered if anyone can help with this - I have an R33 GTST which is an awesome car, and it's been serviced regularly.

If I'm driving slow or accelerating slowly in the wet, the back wheels seem to lose traction and kick left/right and the back of the car fishtails. Don't know why. Tyres are new, I assume HICAS is working fine since it's been serviced and checked. It doesn't happen all the time, just occasionally.

Any ideas? Mechanics say it's normal. I've nearly ended up across lanes due to this problem so it's not hugely safe!

vekra

[madbung]

New tyres will always be slippery, it can take a while for their "waxiness" to wear off.

Alternatively what tyres are you running? nankangs or anything similarly crap will always be a awful in the wet.

Or bricks for rear shocks?

The only times I have issues is after a dry spell when the first rains hit...rain + a build up of oil on the road can be fun.

[vekra]

Thanks for the reply.

The tyres aren't brand new so I'm sure it's not a waxiness problem. Not sure what type - will need to check.

Not sure what 'bricks for rear shocks' involves! Is that something that may need repair, or something I can add to the car to make it safer?

New tyres will always be slippery, it can take a while for their "waxiness" to wear off.

Alternatively what tyres are you running? nankangs or anything similarly crap will always be a awful in the wet.

Or bricks for rear shocks?

The only times I have issues is after a dry spell when the first rains hit...rain + a build up of oil on the road can be fun.

[xRHETTx]

I noticed this when I broke the HICAS unit off the rear subframe. I'd take it to a suspension place and get them to have a good look over all the rear bits and pieces.

[_Ryan_]

Whats your alignment?

try 1mm toe in on the rear and minimal negative camber. that little bit of toe in i found to help my traction issues, along with raising the car, less bump steer means less toe changes through the suspensions stroke.

[vekra]

Cheers for all the replies... Some of them have been a bit too technical for me so I'm going to take the suggestions to my mechanic. Maybe they'll understand (taking it to RE Customs next week).

Not sure what alignment means... (wheels have been aligned recently though)

[WYTSKY]

I have a thought... because basically the same thing happened to me- and I have a GTS4 ( 4wd- should be a great handler in the wet)

happend a few years ago ( back when i wouldn't have even known to change a flat tyre) I also did like 20 around roundabouts and the car almost spun out...

turns out the tyre pressures were like 8 psi over the max in all 4 tyres... was like driving 4 bricks on the road.... and it was because I didnt have a personal tyre gauage... cuz I just went by what the servo's machine was and they are all f*cked cuz ppl dropping them/missusing them.

I let some pressure out and she stuck perfect... now I keep it at a constant 4-5psi UNDER the max, seems to be best at that point.

So buy a $10 tyre gauage and use that to measure ur pressures and keep it in ur car....

Adam

[bish33]

Another thing is maybe check that the tires rotation are goin the right way been told that kids with low power cars do it to slide in the wet, the water sits in front of the tire rather then the tread releasing the water out the back havnt experienced this 1st hand so not sure if its true but you can always look

[iplen]

So your RWD Turbo car fishtails in the wet..... Shit..... Probably just that you need more POWA to do it in the dry.

[Astro Bear]

Another Astro Boy fan. Nice