[s-cars] Understeer vs. oversteer?

[Theodore Chen]

--- CaptMagu at aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 11/27/02 1:28:36 PM, tedebearp at yahoo.com writes:
>
> << that seems a little odd, but the UrS4/S6 does have a peculiar front
> suspension that uses the antiroll bar as a tension strut rod to provide
> fore-aft location of the control arms.  the torsen center differential
> may have an effect, too. >>
>
> Teddy
>
> I don't think that this reverse antiroll tuning is just something that
> applies to our beloved piggy cars. My reference is called High Performance
> Handling Handbook by Don Alexander. On page 46, he states "In this instance,
> adding a stiffer front antiroll bar, which would typically increase the
> extreme understeer, actually reduces the understeer by reducing the body
> roll-induced camber change."
>
> The key here is to prevent, as much as practical, this body roll-induced
> camber change for whatever type of car. If you're talking about a pure
> race/track car then you can engineer most of this with spring and shock
> tuning(antiroll bars are still used on a lot of race/track cars). But, if
> you're still driving your car on the street, you can use antiroll bar tuning
> to help in the same way without sacrificing all your ride quality.

hap,

can you give some more of the context of that quote?  i can probably
guess: the author is talking about macpherson strut suspensions that
have little camber gain in bump.  i mentioned this several posts ago.
the usual answer, if you can't relocate the suspension pickup points,
is to increase static camber.  but this also depends on the particular
macpherson strut design.

the problem with increased static camber is increased inner edge wear
and worse braking.  i've got 3 degrees negative on my mustang.

the philosophy you're talking about is "the front suspension will work
better if you don't let it".  that's true, up to a point.  my preference
is to try to fix those other things before trying to lock out the front
suspension.  i'd want to put more negative camber into the front suspension.
if you have adjustable camber plates, you can have street and track
settings.

-teddy


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com