First let me start by saying that nothing has been added to my car in terms of suspension/wheel mods in the past 10 months. I installed a turbo kit two weeks ago and had yet to push the car in other than a straight line until today. I went on a group drive for some spirited driving on some back roads, and noticed that my car handles notably worse than before. I also was pushing the car in a somewhat winding road, and the back end under WOT was extremely loose, shifting the car from side to side until I thought I was going to wreck. I never lost tractiong, but the experience was quite unnerving. Does the vehicle going into boost have this adverse of an effect on the handling of the vehicle? Mind you I've never had a problem with the handling of the car until today. Could the EPS in any way be affected by the extra power?

Jason

 

My car developed the symptoms that you described rather suddenly also. Turned out the rear S02's were worn worse than I thought with visual inspection. Replaced the rear tires and the handling was fine.

 

Check the tires, but also check to see that the OEM "strakes" that should be in front of EACH wheel are there. They should look like little mud flaps. I've known owners to have floating sensations with these removed at higher speeds. The boost/power shouldn't really affect you in the way you described.

 

Under power even a NA S2000 gets light in the front end, especially in turns. Perhaps that is the sensation you experienced? I recommend a high performance driving school before you get into real trouble on the road.

Also, as others have suggested, check the pressure and wear on your tires, the rears in particular.

 

I don't know how to really describe it as other than a float(sway) of the back end. I guess if you've ever made a lane change in an suv at higher speeds, you'll know what I mean. I'd love to take a high performance school, but I rarely, if ever push the car in corners. I have this fear of the back end coming around which keeps me in check from taking the twisties to fast. Tire pressure was checked and the tires have about 300 miles on them. I'll check the mud flap thingies today, but don't see how they could have come off.

Jason

 

300 miles = new tires - what brand/model?

 

Did the problem occur just as the car was spooling up boost or after? I had a GTI 1.8T before this car, and with the mods I had if I turned traction control off and floored it I would end up fighting the steering wheel as the front end broke loose (given the "unlimited" slip differential was alternating power to each wheel back and forth until traction was gained ) Are you sure the LSD wasn't transferring power and breaking loose the wheels (although one at a time instead of both)?

 

I just had to replace the tires I had on the car because one had a flat. same size, same brand (Kumho Ecsta Supra 712 Size 225-40-18). AutoAviat: what you said does make sense, just because when I get on the throttle a little bit more during turns, I can feel the car want to turn sharper at the same time, but that wasn't my concern.

I hope this helps in explaining it better: I had a Prelude before and when I made a sudden lane change at hwy speeds, you could feel the car lean a lot. At the time, I had a friend with an S2K which let me drive his car, and the same lane change was 100% better. Very little lean, the car felt very stiff and safe in the lane change. Now my s2k is very unpredictable during a lane change. There are some other issues with my electrical system, so I don't know what's going on with the car (mainly that the parking lights don't light up in the car without the car in the on position. This started about the same time I noticed the change in character of the car at higher speeds.) I'm not saying that they are connected in some way, but find it odd that the car is behaving the way it is.

Jason

 

so you didnt have any problems with staggered wheel sizes and the Kumho's previously? Just curious as a lot of times negative handling experiences are brought on by changing wheel/tire combos. And you are only running a 225 in the rear? Can you post your complete wheel/tire/suspension setup including tire and wheel sizes?

 

Like I said before, nothing's been changed with the exception of the tires last week, even then, it's been replaced with the exact same thing. I have OEM suspension, 17" wheels up front on 205-45-17 Kumho 712's, 18" out back on 225-40-18. I can understand if this setup was a bad idea, but I've been using it for the past 10 months, no problem. I'm just stumped on what it could be.

Jason