Handling....back end stepping out

Hi everyone, I have a 2010 CITROEN C3 PICASSO VTR PLUS HDI with 47,000 miles on, I've only had the car a couple of months and have spent most of that time unable to drive due to ill health. Now I'm driving again and have a couple of problems, to be honest my Son has used the car and and did mention this, anyhow, here goes.

Its pulling to the right, this is only noticeable when your doing over 50 and its not all the time and very gentle, it shows up more on long right hand bends, the other problem is more worrying but I don't know if its related, about a week after I bought the car I was going round a roundabout in the wet when the back end slid away from me, this was without warning and very severe, it spun me so hard I ended up with my front end mounted on the roundabout, at the time I put it down to spillage of some sort and the water and forgot about it, but then I stopped driving, since I started driving again its happened another twice, not so severe, but the same thing, when I told my Son (he's been driving for 15 yrs) he said it had happened to him but he put it down to road conditions.

Tread is good on all tires but better on the front, the tires are all the right way round, the back tires are a different make to the front and to me feel harder than the front. I'm thinking of putting 2 new tires on the back and getting the wheel alignment done, (not sure if the C3 needs 4 wheel alignment), is there anything else I can check ? any ideas ? at the moment I've lost confidence in the car and need to feel safe again.

Hi flytebass

flytebass wrote:getting the wheel alignment done, (not sure if the C3 needs 4 wheel alignment),

Although there is no adjustment available on the rear a full alignment check of all 4 wheels will show up problems with the geometry, like twisted chassis or damaged suspension components.

If you are not the owner from new, the car may have suffered damage when with the previous owner(s).

flytebass wrote:Its pulling to the right, this is only noticeable when your doing over 50 and its not all the time and very gentle, it shows up more on long right hand bends, the other problem is more worrying but I don't know if its related, about a week after I bought the car I was going round a roundabout in the wet when the back end slid away from me, this was without warning and very severe, it spun me so hard I ended up with my front end mounted on the roundabout, at the time I put it down to spillage of some sort and the water and forgot about it, but then I stopped driving, since I started driving again its happened another twice, not so severe, but the same thing, when I told my Son (he's been driving for 15 yrs) he said it had happened to him but he put it down to road conditions.

This shouldn't be happening. I would take it in to have the suspension checked, things like broken springs or missing nuts and the 4 wheel alignment check can help.

flytebass wrote:Tread is good on all tires but better on the front, the tires are all the right way round, the back tires are a different make to the front and to me feel harder than the front.

Front to back different tyres is not normally a problem, its having odd tyres on the same axle that are going to have more effect on brake and steering balance.

You should check the tyre pressure is correct on the 4 tyres by consulting the sticker in the door shut.

Thank you you answered all my questions in one go, I'm going to book it in for alignment and get them to check it over as you suggested at the same time. I wish I could do it myself but right now I'm in a world of pain. I did manage to get another look at the tires and the rears aren't even half way down yet so they can stay for now. Tire pressures are correct btw, thank you again and I'll update this if I find anything useful out. ( I'm hoping this will tell me why the back end si stepping out).