79 replies to this topic

[rozzer!]

the back of my mini is lowered, teh front is standard height. mine doesnt spin 180 in the wet, or dry. i have had a semi pro driver take it for a blast and the only fault he could find was the throttle pedal sits a little high. she handles sweet at brands hatch aswell! bad driving not bad suspension setup.

[Jammy]

You can have different ride heights, as long as you make sure the suspension angles are adversely affected.

But this guy clearly knows what he's talking about, so nothing to add from me.

[sixwheeler]

Although your original post lacks the intonation of the spoken word; from the tone of your post and what you wrote it is little wonder that people have been 'having a go' and I think you only really have yourself to blame for that one. Had you qualified your post with something along the lines of.... 'what's wrong with my car, i don't want that to happen again, how do I fix it' etc., then maybe you would have recieved a little more of a sypathetic reaction.

Your original post seems to imply that you think spinning your car is a bit of fun and that you do, in fact, do this on a regular basis. Probably 99% of people on this board have never spun their car and if they have done, they probably haven't done it twice and are unlikely to be using the adjective 'fun' in any sentance used to describe what happened - I would surmise then that this is the reason for all the backlash.

In your second post you do say that part of the reason for spinning the car is that you had to brake in the corner - I would suggest that this implies that you were going far to fast for the road conditions given the car that you are driving.

I think there can only be two conclusions from this whole tale: 1. sort out your suspension; 2. in future, go a little slower, not necessarly for your sake, but for those road users that might be around you;

Also, perhaps you should think about some skid training etc, as I can only presume that there may be a problem with your driving skills [I don't mean that to sound as rude as it does and I keep meaning to do this myself], if everytime your car starts to go out of control you end up going backwards. If you drive for a living then you may even be able to twist your employers arm and get them to pay for it.

[Major Burkenshaw]

Lift off oversteer def.

[Haynes Emmanuelle]

Woody17 (the boy who cried wolf) will you stop digging up this *rubbish* tread...it was pointless the first time. No one cares

Edited by Haynes Emmanuelle, 12 September 2008 - 08:36 AM.

[Jordie]

Im sorry but this is down to your driving more then the car.

it was on a wide open corner, that i could see no pedestrians, pets, other cars ect. the road must be 30 meters wide- with huge overruns either side with no houses/buildings for miles around. i regularly drive 'off road' in my mini or an old beemer i have, and find the limits of cars i drive. i think this improves my 'on road; driving as i know when the car will let go.
are all you people on here trying to say that you have never, not once let a car go slightly out of control, spun or skidded a car. i did this on a safe area of public road. the grannys were about 30 meters away and heard the squeel.
the reason it spun is a combination of factors.
1. no weight in the back.
2.lowered rear end
3. i hit the brakes wen going round the corner.

Driving a car off road will not show you the limits of the car on road and under different situations. Do you have a test track like? I doubt it.

Driving on private land for a year, does not make you a good driver or give experience as others have said. I personally have been driving all types of vehicles since i could reach the pedals as i grew up with my dads transportation business. I still had 15hrs of lessons before my test. You dont really learn to drive until you have passed, no matter what anyone says.

If the road is 30metres wide with huge overhangs etc, why did you need to hit the brakes during the corner? Hitting the brakes while corning shows inexperience. I am yet to work out why you would need to hit the brakes on a wide corner driving a mini, which as handling compariable to go kart handling.

Other people have lightened and lowered cars, correctly or incorrectly adjusted suspension and still dont spin the car.

I think you are young, inexperienced and trying to make excuses for loosing the control of your car. Loosing control of a motor vehicle could be seen as an offence to the police, so becareful what you are doing in future. Slow down, learn to read the road and traffic etc and dont try to impress. Only last year I saw a lad trying to impress infront of some other cars, he ended up hitting a lamp post and is now 6 feet under. Think about it...

[spaceoctagon]

Prehaps you should learn how to control a skid, go on one of those skid pan training courses, where they learn to recover from skids. then you wont loose control next time and end up doing a u turn! On a front wheel drive car all you need is a bit of oppostie lock and accelerate out of it.

[techno-steve]

you gota say this guys got bottle to come back and defend him sen at 17 i woud do the same but some of you will know what im like lol but i have nothing bad to say to you

[THE ANORAK]

I'm not going to add to the "judgements" that have already been thrown at you but i will say, just let it go, you can not win


PS: you can borrow this if you want (was given to me last week ) ...

[onefastmoke]

I think the thing that worries me is that you sounded as though it happened semi-intentionally, I mean when you say it happened on a safe area of public road? unfortunately there is no safe place on a public road for things like this. you need to look into it further and realize what if someone else came in the opposite direction, please don't become another statistic, if not for you then for the innocent person you hit.
please don't see this as me having a go, I was no angel behind the wheel 11 years ago when I passed my test but came to a point where you have to realise public roads aren't a racetrack and there is a very real chance of ending in disaster.
just listen to some of the advice given on here and look after yourself

[freaker]

i spun our golf V on a corner i had taken a million times

just before that corner is a wreally short and sharp one, and you need to brake hard before you take that one cause your coming from the highway..
so i didn't have much speed and ive just gone round. and i have taken that corner, faster sometimes...
so its always possible to have a little turn...

freaker

[JamesRance]

if you only lowered the back thats why you kept spinning. How to make a car as unstable as possible!

sorry to hear about the crash,

al

he didnt crash it lol!


James

[woody17]

i think most people have posted on here without understanding what happened.

i did not die, or crash, or boast, or show off, or try to impress, i did not loose control, i dont need skid practice.

i spun my car intentionally in the dry. end of.

why people have to try and be clever with 'witty' comments trying to tell me how shhiit a driver i am, than keep them to yourself.

[Ethel]

Lowering the back end of a Mini has next to no effect on the rear suspension geometry - I'm sure that was an intentional part of the design for such a dinky car intended to carry 1 to 4 adults and an overloaded boot. Minis, being front wheel drive aren't really susceptible to lift off oversteer. Easing off on the loud pedal increases the grip at the front and reduces the understeer. Hitting the brakes mid corner would be the closest thing in a FWD car.

I'd have gone for a Spear 'n Jackson No6 Anorak



Oooo, now I was trying my best not waste my breath responding but,

i spun my car intentionally in the dry. end of.

why people have to try and be clever with 'witty' comments trying to tell me how shhiit a driver i am, than keep them to yourself.

If you don't want to read the comments, don't $**&ing well start posts about your boy racer antics, end off the end offs.

Edited by Ethel, 12 September 2008 - 04:36 PM.

[Jammy]

I realise exactly what you said happened, without the need for the above post, and my comments I still feel are valid. At the end of the day I think you've summed it up nicely in this following post:

spun round a corner. unfortunately i dont have the driving skill to catch short cars when they spin.