So I was driving the beater N/A the other night, my good friend just got back into town that night and said car will be his soon enough; he drove a little but the RX-7 addiction got into me and I was driving it the rest of the night. Another good friend joined in the festivities with his Mazda 3. So we were migrating from a bar to another bar and I was following said friend when he took a right. I was a little behind and thought that I would catch some ground in the corner. I wasn't going too fast, maybe 30 to 35ish when I made the turn (obviously faster than normal, but it was an aggressive, ground taking turn.) and I have taken many turns in said beater at the same speed no problem. Well, long story short; mad mad mad understeer results in me hitting the curb on the driver front side. I knew that these cars understeer, but I was just wondering if anyone could shed light as to why? and more so... how to help this w/out the obligitory power over. better suspension is my guess? Anyone got some advice, comments?

 

Could be poor road conditions (sand, wet, oil), poor suspension, worn tires, incorrect tire pressure, misalignment, or despite your best efforts you could have miscalculated.

Also, these cars are nearly perfect 50/50 balanced by weight between front and rear, and they are designed to deliver excellent handling. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't think they would understeer nearly as bad as a car that has 70% of its weight on the front wheels (assuming the suspension, tires etc are in good shape)...

 

With the FCs, you'll generally get good cornering or over steer. If you still have your DTSS, you'll definitely get over steer. I say you may have taken the corner a little too aggressively. If you added power just before the turning point, you may have upset the weight shift and moved it to the rear, kicking up less traction in the front; thus, no turning and under steer. Hard braking may have occurred thence after you loss traction and may result in you not able to make the corner but rather move the car straight instead of turning...
You didn't perhaps drink a lot while bar hopping did ya?

 

I hit a patch of oil while doing that in my 86 mr2 and that car doesn't exist anymore -__-"
The damage is not that bad on your rx?

 

Hmm, how to cure your handling problems...

You've been out drinking and you find yourself driving aggressively - perhaps the problem isn't in the suspension, but rather the loose nut behind the wheel. Fix that first.

Really - the difference between having the car understeer versus oversteer going hot into a street corner (with varying amounts of grip, sand, water, bumps, etc) was probably well beyond your ability to perceive it after a few drinks.

Face it - you lost complete control of the car at a moderate speed. Look at this a a very generous lesson - no major damage and no one was killed/injured.

Btw, the Mazda 3 is not too shabby in the handling department. Don't dismiss it just because you have the almighty FC (which in stock form is a moderately good handling car, but not great).

Good luck,

-bill

 

Besides the mechanical things stated (poor road conditions (sand, wet, oil), poor suspension, worn tires, incorrect tire pressure, misalignment) and the whole "drunk thing". If you brake into a turn you shift the weight forward and BOOM understeer. Tires can brake or turn. The more you do of one the less you do of the other.(basically)
50/50 is sitting still. not cornering hard.

 

Everything I was going to say ahs already been said so Ill just recap.

It was your fault, dont blame the fc.

 

i drive my rx7 pretty hard. i've done autox and hit one of the local touge areas just about every weekend. i started with a stock rx7 and gradually modded. ive never noticed understeer except the time that i had a rear strut bar and a rear sway bar.....and nothing in the front. when i got a front strut bar, it cured it all. my suggestion to u - stop drinking and driving.....and get a front strut bar. lol

http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/perf...s/Mazda/FC_RX7

 

Everytime i've had understeer on the street it's been road conditons. I tried to be bad *** when i was like 17 and whip my tail around for a u turn, but i live in a beach town with sandy roads and hit a curb lol, thats why i'm 5 lug now, a blessing in disguise i guess. drive it on a track to see what kind of understeer it really has it's really hard to tell you how to fix a problem when your driving in uncontrolled condition

 

ok ok ok, just to clarify.... I was not drunk. I had had 3 drinks before migrating to the next spot..... to then get drunk. While I can not deny being an aggressive driver, I was NOT drunk. I'm not blaming the FC, I've just heard that understeer is a problem on our cars. However, I will admit to a miscalculation on my part, definitely had the brakes on entering the corner, road conditions, I suck at driving..... whatever. Thanks for the comments.

 

dude you had 3 drinks, you were drunk . i'm gonna call you an idiot just for that.

 

Yea, 3 drinks will most likely make you legally drunk when it comes to driving. It depends on the timeframe and your size, but most likely you were DUI.

 

I have a few cop friends that let us **** with the breathalizer and i'm under 200 pounds and 3 miller lites in me is not DUI 4 is tho. I'm sure you were fine to drive but be careful man you could lose your liscence especially driving like that, that kind of driving should only be done sober especially on public roads. Remember even if you feel fine and know your not drunk if you fail the blow your done. Sorry don't mean to preach but i'd hate to see a fellow FC drive have anything bad happen to em. Anyway if you really think it has handling problem try it out somewhere flatter maybe even a old parking lot and get back to us

 

Its hilarious when people blame losing control of their cars on the cars themselves when the problem is in their driving.

But just to clarify, most cars are setup to understeer out of the box just because its safer than oversteer. While understeering applying the brakes will help (but wont always) slow the car down while oversteering requires driving skill to control, most people will slam on the breaks and hold the **** on. I'm pretty sure this is why the factory specs for rear camber is something like 0 to -0.8 and front camber is 0 to 0.8 (?). The extra positive camber will cause the same amount of extra tire wear as the same amount of negative camber but it will still understeer. Also why a lot of cars' rear sway bars are thin compared to the fronts.

I drove the **** out of my stock FC for a year before I switched to adjustable shocks and stiffer springs. The car understeered a lot, so much that my front tires had a ridiculous amount of outer tire wear as if the alignment was off. Under inflation and sidewall flex (60's) probably added to it but I'm sure most of it was the camber it would lose in corners. Also the car having machpherson strut suspension means that it will lose camber under cornering instead of gaining it.

 

THANK YOU!!!!

I didn't intend this thread to turn into a conversation about wether or not someone is drunk after 3 drinks in two hours, and I'm not outright blaming the FC for understeering in the turn; I've just heard that they notoriously understeer, thanks for clarifying somewhat about that Khan... anyways... what I wished to know has been answered.

 

Quoted for truth, mang.

 

he always says it best!