Was just wondering..Does anybody know what understeer mean??I'v heard of it on this form and other places, but don't know what it is or what causes it..I think it might have something to do with the way my other car handels..please inform..

 

 

In terms of the G and most other cars.....the manufacturers set them up to provide understeer at the limit for safety reasons.

If you go into a turn too hot with the stock set up, the front end will start to push or tend to go straight while you are tryint to turn.
You have to get off the gas, re-point it where you want to go and then steer thru the corner.

This set up is much safer for the average driver than oversteer, as you would loose the rear end first and it would spin out on you.

For performance driving, ideally you want the set up to be almost neutral where you can control the rear end with the throttle. Aftermarket adjustable sways allow you to dial in the amount of under/over-steer you want.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks great information....

 

Another way to correct oversteer is to turn in less than you were when the oversteer began. It is counter intuative but works if you aren't totaly out of control, i.e. going way too fast. Once you straighten the wheel your grip should return and the car should rotate. Anyhow thats what works if you don't need to slow down and are just trying to turn in too hard.

 

Great info, but I'll like to add a few more points. Our cars are set to understeer due to staggered tires, spring rates, negative camber, and sway stiffness. Adjusting sway bar stiffness helps, but if you're after neutral handling, try tires with same contact patch and lower the difference between the front and rear spring rates. As you know, those with VDC have to keep a stagger with the tires. The rears have to be at least .5" taller than the fronts. A good pair of springs that minimize fore to aft weight transfer will help alot. Lastly, the sways should be used to tweak and not be the only mod to dial out understeer. Most drivers like a little understeer at the limits rather than oversteer.

 

Great information..Keep it comin..

 

Deang35c6,

Excellent points also!

I was speaking from my standpoint as I have alreade upgraded wheels. tires and springs.

The last piece for me to add to dial my handeling in ....is the adjustable sways....that will be here Fri!

I went with the Stillen sways.

 

Hey, I just regurgitated everything I've learned since I've been on these forums. I was a noob once I've already done wheels/tires and springs. Control and camber arms and Tokico D-specs are waiting to be installed. Sways are last. Let us know how the Stillen sways work out.

 

Would I be right in assuming that a larger wheel and wider tire setup will lessen the tendency of our cars to understeer? The reason I'm asking is that I just upgraded to 18" whels and 245x45x18's and the car handles so much smoother in the turns. Just wondering.

 

Do you have a sedan or coupe? On the coupe, the stock 18's are 225/45-18 in the front and 245/45-18 in the back. People have put 245/40-18 on the front and said it handles better.


Deang35c6, any suggestions on upgrades to a coupe suspension to make handling more neutral? I don't really want to replace my front tires w/ wider ones yet, but I'd be interested in sways or springs/struts while keeping the stock ride height.

 

I don't know of any aftermarket springs that doesn't drop the car. Although some offer a .5" drop, the springs rates are different than stock. If you want to keep stock height, then go with some sways to get rid of some of the understeer. You could also go with some aftermarket shocks and stiffen with rears, which will also dial out understeer. As far as tires go, I went from a stock coupe setup to the 245/275 combination, so I can't comment on this. However, I did get drive around on the new tires/wheels before my spring install. You would think I would've gotten worse understeer due to the bigger stagger, but It didn't. On paper, it seems that way, but my theory is front end weight vs contact patch. I think 225 is too narrow to support 52-54% of the vehicle's weight. Increase the front contact patch and it eliminates some understeer. Since most of the vehicle's weight is on the front tires, this will have a greater impact than going from 245 to 275 on the rear. This is just my theory.