Loose Feeling Rear End In The Wet (fwd)

[PranK]

Hi all,

Continuing on from my little flip out when I lost the back in the wet in my Mazda 3 I've noticed the car feels very loose when driving in the wet.

Driving Wakehurst Parkway when it's raining I need to do minimum 10kph under the speed limit around any bends. If I don't then the car feels like it's about to let go.

The tyres are all new; Falkens Azenis on the rear and Hankook on the front but I fear this is more a geometry type issue. Sway bar or similar.

What can I check for or should I go to a suspension joint?

Thanks guys,

Christian

[Duncan]

No-one likes a loose rear end

[PranK]

No-one likes a loose rear end

Speak for yourself.

[junkie]

It can be improved with some special exercises...

[Duncan]

somewhat more seriously though, I'd start by having the alignment checked as something like toe out would definately create that feeling.

It also may simply be the rear tyres are no good in the wet. If they are same size rims I would swap front to rear for a while and see if the problem switches ends

[niZmO_Man]

Floppy antiroll bar links? Worn rear dampers?

I've had no issues with FK452 in the wet, so the FK453 should be at least as good.

[GTSBoy]

Leading candidates to consider at the rear end:

- Excessive stiffness in the rear. Considering the fact that it's a Mazda 3 and therefore the springs and dampers will be stock and shouldn't be wrongly matched to the front, that leads to thoughts of things that are stiff that shouldn't be. So,

- A bush or bushes that are tight and don't allow rotation where they should,

- A damper that has seized up in some way and prevents bump or rebound stroke,

- Tyre pressures set to something ridiculous,

- Maybe a stuffed wheel bearing or other stuffed bush allowing motion that shouldn't happen. Not so bad as you notice it in the dry, but bad enough to get it moving in the wet.

Thoughts at the front end:

- Broken front ARB link making the front roll stiffness low.

- Buggered front damper perhaps.

[PranK]

Thanks guys!

The car has 90k on it, its a 2008 model and bog stock with perfect service history so while still plausable, i'd argue that worn components wouldn't be likely. Is that a fair assumption?

The shocks are all nice and firm still at least.

Tyre pressures were really high. All tyres have a max 35psi and they were all close to 40 when I got the car (November.)

In the dry its still very 'light' but considerably more sure-footed than in the wet.

I might reverse it up on my ramps today and whack stuff with a hammer (using a rubber mallet) to see if anything is loose or broken.

Could do the front at the same time actually.

[warps]

Wait...

You don't like your fwd because it feels like it wants to oversteer? I'm failing to see the problem. Any decent fwd steerer will tell you that's the optimum situation. You just counter it with throttle.

Maybe take it to a skid pan and see where it actually does break away. Feeling light and actually breaking traction can be 2 different things.

Otherwise check rear alignment. Fwds are very sensitive to toe changes. Couple with worn steering or bearings (after 90000k you could have worn components) you can find it feeling very skittish.

[PranK]

So went to jax today to have a chat about this. The rear tyres are 2012 tyres which is slightly on the old side but he reckons they've gone hard. He straight up said that I should replace the rear.

Does this make sense? Not convinced 4 years is too old but can't comment on them being hard.

[djr81]

Easiest way to find out is swap the wheels front to rear and go for a spin in the wet. Understeer = result.

[PranK]

Yeah. Worth doing before forking out for a new pair.

[warps]

That's getting on a bit, and some tyres suffer from this more than others. However i wouldnt expect 4 year old tyres to cause this mucn of a problem. Worth swapping front to back (for some reason I thought you'd already tried this) to at least eliminate this option.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

So went to jax today to have a chat about this. The rear tyres are 2012 tyres which is slightly on the old side but he reckons they've gone hard. He straight up said that I should replace the rear.

Does this make sense? Not convinced 4 years is too old but can't comment on them being hard.

Post up your alignment sheet and yes tyres sound old.

Probably hard as shit lol

Here's an idea, buy another Skyline. Wobbly end fixed

[PranK]

Skyline would give another kind of wobbly end!

I'll get an alignment done tomorrow when they swap the tyres around.

[Ben C34]

Try reversing around the corner at the same speed.

[PranK]

I did. I tell ya what, it's harder than it sounds!

[GTRPSI]

New rear tyres and if that does not help soften the rear for more grip in the arse.

[warps]

soften the rear for more grip in the arse.

NO!

Kepner Tregoe problem solving 101:

If you have a problem where there wasn't previously, find what has changed and undo that change (yes, big over simplification).

I don't think that the rear Springs magically got too stiff by themselves (although some will tell you that being too stiff can lead to a loose rear end, but we'll leave that alone)