Mobile back end on my 172

[dougk]

Hi, I've recently bought a 2000 clio 172 which has been lowered by the last owner. The thing is, is when I'm pressing on on a high speed corner (throttle half open), the back gets very unsettled and steps out when the car goes over a bump (not lift off oversteer).

Is this handling typical of a small lowered hatch back or are the stock dampers maybe not up to working with the eibach springs? I've got a Williams on standard springs & feel a lot more confident driving it enthusiastically along my local roads

[tristancliffe]

A common problem with lowered cars - the spring rates and damping rates don't work together (or with the new suspension geometry) to give nice handling.

Having said that, at part throttle it could still be trailing throttle oversteer. Have you tried pushing a bit more (make sure it's safe first!)?

Can you revert the car to standard? If not, can you soften the rear springs (it does use coil springs at the rear? Not a torsion bar?) by, say, 10% and give it a try?

Handling isn't easy to fix. There is a reason why manufacturers do thousands of miles of testing. And there is a reason why lowered cars nearly always handle worse with about 3 miles of testing. If that.