I've decided the Fabia needs lowered and better tyres fitted. I was driving down to Glasgow from Oban earlier, was on a deserted A road which was a little wet but not soaked.

I came into a slight left hander, follwed by another tighter one. I can usually take them at about 65-70mph, did the same again tonight and understeered straight ahead. I didn't dare brake for fear of spinning it into the trees but the car fancied heading towards them anyway, with the tyres squealing like mad. THANKFULLY there was nothing coming the other way or it could have been a disaster.

As soon as it stopped understeering i lifted off and the back end snapped out, luckily i held it.

Lesson learned, not a good idea to push a car on crap tyres, on a road you don't know well. I'm going to lower it, have a search on here for the best tyres to use, and take it a lot more carefully.

Pointless post, sorry for the crap read but i needed to vent my scare/future plans/lesson learned.

PS.I've been driving seven and a bit years now so i'm far from a daft wee boy racer. You can now carry on with your evening but you'll never get your time back... sorry!

I bet the adrenaline was pumping! I found Maxxis MAZ1's are good in the wet.

A friend of mine experienced this recently, except the other way round.

He was going round a slight right hand bend at night, when he had the pleasure of seeing a Subaru Impreza, having an understeer moment......straight into the front of his car (Audi A3) at about 60 MPH.

My mate escaped with relatively minor injuries, but the Subaru occupants were not so lucky, 3 seriously injured, Driver Killed, 1 Rear seat occupant left in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of their life.

You were lucky this time.

Even 1" on eibachs or similar is enough lowering/stiffening to make a big difference to the cohesion of the suspension setup.

IMO get a RARB at the same time, makes a big difference and easy to fit.

If changing tyres, put the decent ones on the back if changing in pairs. Unless you like sudden onset drifting.

J.

A friend of mine experienced this recently, except the other way round.

He was going round a slight right hand bend at night, when he had the pleasure of seeing a Subaru Impreza, having an understeer moment......straight into the front of his car (Audi A3) at about 60 MPH.

My mate escaped with relatively minor injuries, but the Subaru occupants were not so lucky, 3 seriously injured, Driver Killed, 1 Rear seat occupant left in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of their life.

You were lucky this time.

that's horrible, tragic for all involved, no matter who was at fault.

That was one of the things that was rushing through my head, hoping that nothing was coming the other way, as i started to cross the white line the full road came into view and I could see that there was nothing coming towards (or from behind) me. I was VERY lucky this time, lesson learned and it'll never happen again. My last car was lowered on coils, had a strut brace and low profile tyres so it could press on in the bends. My inexperience in the Fabia was apparent.

Even 1" on eibachs or similar is enough lowering/stiffening to make a big difference to the cohesion of the suspension setup.

IMO get a RARB at the same time, makes a big difference and easy to fit.

If changing tyres, put the decent ones on the back if changing in pairs. Unless you like sudden onset drifting.

J.

that's part of the problem i think, the car has mis-matched tyres front to rear and side to side (all with plenty tread left), which I'm planning on addressing when i have the money. I'm definitely getting a RARB and i'm considering a front strut brace too.

A RARB will make the back end stiffer, and more prone to lift-off oversteer...

My Fabia was pretty similar in the wet. I was running Yoko Parada Spec 2's, and on Eibach's. You would struggle to break grip in the dry, but were pretty useless when it was wet. Front end wanted to push on if you went into a corner a bit quick, and if you lifted off, the back end started to come round.

I got used to it pretty quickly, and could anticipate what corners it was likely to happen on, and slow down accordingly before getting to the corner

A RARB will make the back end stiffer, and more prone to lift-off oversteer...

My Fabia was pretty similar in the wet. I was running Yoko Parada Spec 2's, and on Eibach's. You would struggle to break grip in the dry, but were pretty useless when it was wet. Front end wanted to push on if you went into a corner a bit quick, and if you lifted off, the back end started to come round.

I got used to it pretty quickly, and could anticipate what corners it was likely to happen on, and slow down accordingly before getting to the corner

that's 100% what it was like last night, pushed wide at the front and i was concious of lift-off oversteer so just held it stable. It needs a few tweaks to improve handling for certain

Amazing how something like this can wake you up a bit and learn to read the road a bit better. Not a lecture - I did similar on a single track road further north within a few years of passing my test. Mine was a RWD. Moral of story- you can always go faster next time round, but it's harder to go slower when you've run out of road.