i have in the past 5 months had the same thing happen. a freind and i were just driving, it had rained really hard the past few hours. i was slowing down around a curve and the back end just broke free and we slid into the ditch. i was not braking hard (about 15%) i tried to counter steer but no luck. we fixed the car up and now it is for sale. bc i found a C70. last night the same thing happend. just slowing down in a curve and it did it again.both cars have excellent tires. the c70 has Toyo Proxes on it. anyone have a clue as to what could be the cause.. i love the volov but this i can assure you will be the last!

 

I always enjoyed sliding around in the rain, one of my favorite past times! You're not supposed to brake in corners anyway, especially in the rain. I do all my speed scuffing before I come into the corner, then power out of it. The other thing I was taught was that in a front wheel drive car you solve your problems with the gas pedal, not the brakes. if the back gets squirrely and the front has traction, stay on it and drive through!!
Volvo has a traveling driving course. It makes its way through america and teached people of all ages and experience levels how to handle different situations that arise in a volvo. Go to their websit and check it out, maybe there's one going on in your area soon. I consider myself a fairly skilled driver, but I still want to take their class just to see what it's about. That, and I'm all about slidin sideways
From a mechanical perspective, if the suspension on your car is crap, you might not stick to the road in any conditions. Check your shocks and struts for wear and tear as well as your sway bars and sway bar linkages. Push down on each corner of the car, if it bounces like a trampoline, you have suspension problems. Hope that helps

 

Dont brake in a turn, brake before the turn, coast about half way into the turn then hit the gas to pull you through the rest of it.

heavy car + rain + turn + braking = sliding

The road could also have oil on that int eh rain will make you slide.

Also nice tires doesnt mean they are good in the rain, they could be summer or dry tires and not all season/winter tires.

 

thanks .... this will help some... the problem still is: should a car do this at or below 30 mph... oh well... i guess i need to find an empty parking lot and hope for rain....

 

absolutely it will. You can throw a car out of control at 15 or 20 mph if the conditions are right. Check out some drift videos on you tube if you want some examples. The biggest difference in how you handle the car in a skid is determined by whether its fwd or rwd. all the same, do your breaking before the corner, not in it, and you'll notice a huge difference.
best of luck