The other day I did a pull and my car fishtailed when I went into 2nd. Freaked me out! So I brushed it off. Now, today I did a pull from 2nd gear and going into 3rd i fishtailed! Now I’m suspicious. What can cause this? The car was in an accident and hit a curb several months back. Replaced the front right upper control arm, steering knuckle, and wheel but not the tire. Both pulls I was slightly, very slightly turning. The tires are about 1.5 years old. Id say there’s a good amount of tread left.

 

Many things can cause you to lose rear traction. Depends what you mean by 'fishtailed' too. If traction control is on, it should catch anything beyond a momentary slide. But an aggressive shift on a wet road should certainly be enough to break the rear tires loose, especially if you're turning. I doubt work done on the front would have impacted this. If it was hit in the rear as well your rear alignment could be out, which could cause less traction back there. Or your diff could be going, making it more likely one wheel will break loose. Most likely though it was just a hard shift and a slippery road.

Assuming everything's fine mechanically, I recommend some autocross and/or a performance driving course to get a feel for the car at the limit. Learn where the limit is, how the car behaves there, what's normal and what isn't, etc. Also it's fun.

 

Did you get alignment done after you replaced parts after crash and what were results.

 

From what I'm gathering, it sounds like this didn't happen before the accident? It sounds odd to me actually...
When I had stock power I would not fishtail just by stomping on the throttle in 2nd gear... and I certainly would not break traction going into 3rd unless the roads were very slippery...
I agree with Nate that it could be a rear differential thing with the power all going to one wheel... Or alignment. Or something else... did you check your tire pressure? Even with 500+hp I'm not fishtailing all over the place...

 

How cold is it where you are?

Summer tire traction in way more than all season tires, until it gets cold, then its way less than all seasons. Its a huge swing in traction that can be surprising.

 

Changing gears during a turn can break the back end depending on the turn and throttle. Lots of folks have done that, goosed it and then watched the world go around.

I know that a very bad alignment issue can cause tires to break loose. Just hitting a bump can caused you to feel a wheel break loose and then re-grip. Not good.

 

Exactly.

I got the rear end squirrelly twice in all my years. the first was on a highway entrance ramp on cold tires and cool temps, it was perfectly dry so I never expected it, but the tires were not happy cold.

The other time was on a damp road and I drove over a manhole cover just as vtec kicked in at the exact same time, that upset the chassis.

 

Type and Brand of Tyres and Pressure... ?

 

I feel like we need more information about your roads conditions such as the temperature outside, the types of tires you have, how much air you have in your tires & more.

 

No offense, but this sounds to me like the "LOOSE NUT BEHIND THE STEERING WHEEL SYNDROME". This is when the driver, [that loose nut], unintentionally asks for more than the car can give in the prevailing circumstances.

Happened to me a while back. Driving home from town, up hill into an 80 MPH curve if you were trying, gently doing about 55, off with the fairies listening to some music, when the tail went for a slide. Waited a while for it to come back, but it didn't. I backed off, & put on a chunk of opposite lock, more than I wanted or needed actually.

The tail kicked out the other way, fairly sharply at this provocation. Thoroughly attentive now & in my now over excited state, I fed it too much lock the other way. I did over 100 yards chasing my tail in a fairly good "TANK SLAPPER" as the bikes used to say. Subduing my over reactions I progressively got my tail under control, just as I entered a rain shower, suggesting slightly damp road on the edge of the shower may have caused my excitement.

I noticed a couple of cars going the other way did not appear to be concerned at my antics, so I guess it was more exciting, & felt more serious from inside the car than outside. I do feel that my Firestones, while OK in the wet, do not much like a damp road. What ever, due to my inattention, this "LOOSE NUT" had asked my car for more than it could handle in the conditions, & it was only due to reactions trained long ago on the track that I got away with it.