Why do awd cars understeer

In oversteer, the rear end slip angle is higher than the front-end slip angle. The rear end will swing away from the direction the car was turning, pointing the front of the car further into the direction it was turning. Automakers try to design their cars to have understeer. If the vehicle loses grip, the front end stays forward, putting the main crumple zone between the passengers and anything the vehicle hits. When a car oversteers, the rear end swings around so the car is moving sideways or in reverse, so the impact will be on the side or rear of the car.

Why not eliminate understeer and oversteer entirely? A completely neutral car can take turns faster, but it will lose traction abruptly. Dialing in a little slip warns the driver that the vehicle is about to lose control. Front wheel drive cars tend to have understeer because the front wheels handle both acceleration and steering, increasing the traction load on the tires.

Cars with the engine placed ahead of the front axles tend to have more understeer, including all-wheel drive Subarus and Audis. Rear engine cars like the classic VW Beetles and Porsche s tend to have oversteer due to their rear weight bias.

However, newer s have had oversteer almost eliminated thanks to years of suspension development. We will treat both you and your car with total respect at all times.

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I have no doubt that I am smoother, faster and safer after taking this brilliant course. What is understeer? What causes understeer? Symptoms of understeer include: Tyre screeching from the front wheels Drifting towards the outside of a bend Steering that feels light Vibration through the steering wheel How to correct understeer We know that understeer is a result of the front tyres losing adhesion to the road surface.

These include: Reducing tyre pressure or using softer tyres at the front of the car. Softening the anti-roll bar or front springs. If aerodynamics are fitted, increasing the front downforce. Sounds reasonable, but then I was reading an old Grass Roots Motorsports and there was an article about a rally school. The instructor was saying that they start students off in FWD cars because the AWD cars are very difficult to get to turn in.

Surely a purpose built rally car wouldn't be understeer biased for safety, right? Then I read another article where one of the drivers in the Speed World Challenge mentioned that it was difficult to dial out the understeer of the AWD Audi. This all got me thinking: does AWD have a natural understeer bias? It does make a measure of sense: when cornering some of the engine braking is transfered to the front wheels and, depending on torque biases, etc.

Of course you can tune any car to exhibit bias towards understeer or oversteer. But does AWD have an natural tendancy towards understeer? If so, in order to ballance an AWD car does one need to bias the suspension compliance towards oversteer to overcome this imballance?

Perhaps the RWD layout itself is superior for the job at hand? Generally, it seems that the suspension setups of AWD cars are biased towards understeering. In some cases such as Audis, the engine is so far forard of hte form axle line, how can it not understeer. What versions of are you referring to?

A base compared to a does not make any sense. A is a generation of , not a trim level. Do you mean a Carrara compared to a Carrera 4 something to that effect? In that case, I do believe it is a suspension tune set that way as a matter of taste. Matt C. This is the easiest form of understeer to correct, and a slight, smooth reduction in power will free up more grip with the added benefit of a forward weight transfer , and a small corrective input to the steering will get you back on line.

In a rear wheel drive car, in theory the front wheels will be able to resist understeer for longer due to the division of steering and drive between the front and back wheels. However, understeer can also be engineered into a car for safety, and most rear wheel drive cars will also understeer if power is progressively applied mid corner. When you apply the brakes, most of the braking effort is exerted on the front wheels due to the forward weight transfer.

If you then apply some steering lock, the addition of these lateral forces on the tyre can cause the limits of grip to be exceeded.

However, if you happen to be in the middle of a bend as your car starts to understeer, continuing straight on might not seem like the best plan. An alternative strategy could be to reduce your braking effort, freeing up more grip for steering and hopefully allowing you to take the bend successfully. If you have attempted to take a corner too fast, have turned the steering wheel, and find yourself running wide, you my friend are in a spot of bother. But before you close your eyes and hope for the best, all may not be lost.

This may, however, not work.