4ws step out?

[ChrisR]

I know the 4ws question has been asked loads of times, but I want to know how many of yous have 100% faith in it when driving hard?

A couple weeks ago I was heading into a shopping centre and its a right hand turn into the place, so went round the corner was only doing about 20mph and the back end stepped out on me quite a fair bit, (some girl in the lane beside me I think she dirty herself as my car was pointing right at hers at one point) but I couldn't work out if it was the rear wheels that had cuased my car to swing out as it felt like the rear was on ice or on a pivot. eg the front being the pivot point and the rear wheels swinging out round it, Anyway I drove back the way I came in to see if there was oil on the road but didn't see any so that made me think maybe the 4ws ecu had a hiccup as i was going round the corner.

So any of you guys every had any problems like this or are yous 100% that nothing should go round and if it does it will centre the wheels and hold them there.

Any input is helpful guys still quite new to the prelude so still working my way round it

[Ted]

it used to happen to me all the time

[indigolemon]

At 20Mph the wheels would have turned the opposite way to the fronts, and you would have been able to turn mega tightly. It may have been that, or maybe something did cause the back to step out.

The only time I've had issues with the backend going was when there was diesel on the road. Both times on roundabouts, both times ended up facing the wrong way, and both times it wasn't just me in the Prelude that it happened to!

[lewd lude lover]

imo 4ws jobbies itself if you get serious but i think your issue comes from the low speed you were doing.

Below a certain speed the wheels turn the opposite way to normal to help with driving into spaces (so you would have a much smaller turning circle) above and they go with the fronts to make the car crab round a corner. At the cross over point you can sometimes have little odd artifacts appear. It sounds like the system was in slow speed turning mode while you were steering. this would bring the rear round rather than across, if you get me?

Check all your bushes, check all your connections and all moving parts for gunk and rust. check tire pressure.

[mercutio]

if you accelerate around a corner it can cause the step out as it changes from turning against to turning with the front wheels causing it to step out as the 4ws catches up with itself

[bb1boy]

^^ that's happened to me more than once.

[Sailor]

It sounds as if you happened to be cornering at about the cross-over speed. If this happens on a bend that needs quite a lot of steering input, the total angle rear wheels have to move through is easily noticeable.
I'm guessing you were slowing down. In this case, your turning radius would have sharpened considerably.
Why not go back to the corner, wait for the road to be clear of traffic, and try it at different speeds?

[wurlycorner]

I'd always wondered what happened if you were cornering through the speed cross overpoint. I assumed it would stay turned in the original way until you straightened up and then adopt the revised steering direction?

[lewd lude lover]

^^^no, it just tries to fling you into oncoming traffic. same with atts if you step on the gas while in traffic and going slow it thinks you want 4 lanes over not 1 and you have to tell it in no uncertain terms that no, you both dont want to end up in the side of that X5.

Foibles of old/first gen tech init. Both still better than a stinky open dif

[bennyboy]

but I want to know how many of yous have 100% faith in it when driving hard?

Me
What the others have said is largely true, but I can honestly say I've driven 100k miles with a 4WS system and IT has never freaked me out, and that's knowing how to push my car thankyouverymuch.
The only time the car has stepped out has been when I have made it.
The 4WS system does require that the car is well setup/maintained though, as it will show anything up - ie cheap tyres, bad geometry, failed bushes or droplinks etc, so I'd check all this over first.
As the others have said, the crossover can be a little strange when you're not expecting it or new to the car, but it's perfectly safe, especially at road speeds, and frankly at much higher. Ask any number of the guys that regularly track 4WS equipped cars. And a don't mean £500 hacks, I mean the well maintained ones

HTH