driving w/ fwd

[warrior86]

hey guys, as u might have seen i am most likely purchasing the Tib come spring. I was just curious how your supposed to drive a fwd car. Everything ive driving until now is rear wheel drive of some sort. RWD blazer auto, and six spd Vette.

I know in the vette (or any rear wheel manny), when im about to hit a turn i downshift into it while braking, ride it, and accelerate out of it. Now downshifting in a rwd will do a couple of things. First, it will allow you to brush off your speed using the rear wheels with less braking necessary. Not hitting the brakes at all, or as hard puts little or no stopping to your front wheels which are the elements you need to turn. When the rear wheels are slowed down by the downshift, it also puts some downforce on teh front end (im pretty sure) which will give increased traction to front end. This all combines to prevent understeer. Now since there all the stress on the rear, the rear might swing a little but thats better than not being able to turn at all and just pushing forward on a turn.

Now in fwd, the front wheels are attached to gearbox, so downshifting would actually hurt. Not only do u get the resistance you would to the front wheels you would if you hit the brakes, you wouldnt be getting the help of the rear wheels as well. So if i have this all figured out correctly, downshifting into a turn is bad in fwd. Also, unlike in rwd, if your front wheels begin to push wouldnt not letting go of the gas be better than letting go of the gas as you would with oversteer and rwd?

I may have this all wrong but hopefully you guys know what im saying and can explain this to me well.

Also, what luck would i have against a stock 1.8t gti? thanks for your patience and any replies.

[blue2000]

What kind of driving are you talking about? Yes, you have to be more conscious of understeer in a FWD but not unduly so, unless you are talking about performance driving (like on a road course or autocross).

[neonmike22]

Originally posted by warrior86
[body]
When the rear wheels are slowed down by the downshift, it also puts some downforce on teh front end (im pretty sure) which will give increased traction to front end. [/body]

That's weight transfer. Downforce is aerodynamic.

Originally posted by warrior86
[body]Now in fwd, the front wheels are attached to gearbox, so downshifting would actually hurt.[/body]

The amount of engine braking is small. The amount of traction necessary is probably made up for by the forward weight transfer. And if you're going slow enough that you don't need the brakes to slow for the turn; then it shouldn't make any difference.

Originally posted by warrior86
[body]Also, unlike in rwd, if your front wheels begin to push wouldnt not letting go of the gas be better than letting go of the gas as you would with oversteer and rwd?

In a FWD car when it is understeering, you lift off the throttle or touch the brakes. This transfers weight forward over the front tires, giving them more available traction and reducing the slip angle. By staying on the throttle you're continuing to reduce traction to the front wheels, which would worsen the understeer.

This is why most cars are made to understeer from the factory, when you're at the limit and the car begins to understeer the natural reaction is to hit the brakes which will transfer weight forward and reduce the understeer.

[warrior86]

thanks for clearing all that up. Yeah, your right...its weight transfer, not downforce but thats what i meant.