Suspensions and traction issues

General Questions and comments

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Chiangstar
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Post by Chiangstar »

my understanding is that whichever end that you stiffen (front or back), you will lose traction on. If you put a front sway bar in to stiffen the connection between the front wheels the front of your car will lose traction more relative to the rear - therefore inducing understeer. If you stiffen the rear, the rear loses traction relatively easier and the front sticks - promoting oversteer.

if you want to get rid of understeer, stiffen the rear. if you want to get rid of oversteer, stiffen the front. thats what a guy from whiteline told me...and it does kinda make sense.

other ways you can tune understeer/oversteer include changing the pressures in your front/rear tyres to grip more in the front, or make the rear springs/suspension stiffer than the front (if you have adjustables)...or take your spare tyre outta the boot to lighten up the rear
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GPXXX
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Post by GPXXX »

another effective (and cheapest) way to prevent understeer/oversteer is watch your left foot, hehehehe!! :D:D
G1
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Post by G1 »

an excellent but expensive option to fix understeer is an LSD
you'd be hard pressed to lose front wheel traction, cornering speeds increasing coz you can step on it full throttle very early on in the turn

well i am yet to put it to test... since nobody wants to buy it... i have no choice but to put it into my beast
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elmo
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weight

Post by elmo »

I used to have 40kg of riverstones in a bag in the boot of my car for about three months. The back of my car was fishing all over. One day i bought the stones for my pond, put em in the boot and forgot them for about a week. She was driving beaut. I took em out, it started sliding again so i put em back. They are finally in the pond now so i will need a better solution when I'm back on the road.

Isn't torque steer when it hops everywhere when you spin the wheels when you take off, or is that something different again? Dam all these technical terms are startin to confuse elmo....

So, given the rocks, and you should no by now i enter most corners pretty hot (TCL is my best friend), what should i do to stop the back skipping?
I'm gonna level the car with new front springs and some new shocks. Given what has been said, am i right to say i need front and rear sway bars, thicker at back? Or if I stiffen the front with a strut brace, would i be better to get same size swaybars front and rear?
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MADFTO
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Post by MADFTO »

Torque steer basically is when the car wants to pull in a specific direction under power . . . usually following the camber of the road =P

Ummmm, suspension is a very tricky field, there are so many variables involved.

Anyways, I like to have a lively rear, but understeer is always inherantly safer.

You should always be aiming to get a higher exit speed when going around corners, going into a corner too hot will kill this =)

I guess it's up to the individual, I'd actually do things in stages, get your springs/shocks first and feel how the car handles, then adjust to suit your style of driving. The new shocks and spring will alter how the car handles so there's no point buying swaybars if you don't know how the car is going to handle with the new eq =)

However, I'd recommend strut tower braces front and back =)
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GPXXX
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Post by GPXXX »

when you launch hard from standstill and you have to struggle the wheel to keep the car straight in line, that's called torque steer... (a quick example)

if you often find your car sliding its arse around easily, best to get a suitable front swaybar fitted to remedy the problem... if it's understeering (pushing wide during mid corner), then get thicker swaybars fitted at th rear to induce more turn-in, but not too much or you will suffer oversteer (which will be harder to control than RWD cars).

btw elmo, adding weight to the rear of the car will assist in traction at the rear wheels (but accelleration will suffer since it's FWD) which is why your car was fishtailing when you removed the riverstones because there is less weight over the rear wheels hence less grip(traction).
chop_sticks
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Post by chop_sticks »

Can lowering your car also have effects on understeer??
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elmo
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Post by elmo »

Personally I dont mind the back skipping a little but the missus gets scared sometimes in the wet when it tries to overtake her.
OK so it is torque steering out of the corner, (mid corner, TCL on, foot flat), you keep turning the wheel and you can feel the back start to slide. Doesn't really matter how hot you enter cause TCL takes over, sets your speed and whatever it lets you do is the exit speed. as long as you are on the corrct line on entry. I dont drive with TCL OFF cause it is my backup incase I make a mistake.
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