AUTO TECH TALK

[jason longboard]

wondering a few things that will lead to other things. Not specifying any particular vehicles here.

Front wheel drive,all wheel drive,rear wheel drive.............Seems like front wheel drive would actually be better for getting yourself out of trouble and control. Rear gives you more of that drag feeling,yet with the engine in the front it seems you would just spin the tires more due to the lighter rear end.All wheel drive I imagine gives you overall best job like in rally.

Next, on the imports I see such small tires used, for actual racing I would think taller tires would cover more ground per engine rotation. Am I wrong on this? seems smaller tires would cover less ground.

 

[Cartel]

Theres a whole lot of diff theories involved with those questions. It all depends what your trying to do with said car to begin with auto cross? Drag? Road race? And as for tires size well that depends too. Alot of times people go with smaller wheels/tires (or lighter wheels) to reduce the rotating mass. But in some cases like people who like to drag race will use taller slicks to basically "change" the gear ratio. But theres a whole lot more involved then this....

 

[Zoodiver]

Takes more power and correct gearing to turn bigger tires. On one of my fox body Mustangs, I ran faster on 26" slicks and I did on 28" slicks. Wider vs narrow is a similar issues. Too wide means not enough weight per sq inch of contact, so no traction. Too narrow means not enough contact patch for the power to translate into forward motion.
A fast track car (regardless of track type) is a compilation of parts working well together. You can't just go buy the 'best' of everything, toss it together and expect it to work right.

FWD vs RWD is almost a personal preference these days. Some like FWD in the rain/snow, others swear by RWD. RWD doesn't always mean "drag feel". If you have the right suspension, RWD will ride like the car is on rails.

 

[triply]

all wheel drive is not better for snow.

maybe better for rain etc i guess but i dont care much for it in the snow unless i want to play.

problem is if you start to slide all 4 of your tires spin just sending your farther into a spin

with front wheel drive you rear tires stop spinning while your front tires have time to catch and send you in the right direction

imo front wheel drive far exceeds rwd or all wheel in the snow

in the mud rain and dry weather i prefer my all wheel

as far as bigger tires the others were right to say that you have to gear differently to use bigger tires or you will strip your gear box out worst case scenario from the added stress.

 

[jason longboard]

EXHAUST, so I got a little mazda 4 banger truck with a KN filter, just got new plugs and wires. Always wanted to put a flowmaster or something on it. This is my every day driver so Im just tryin to make it a little more fun. I noticed a little diference on my other v8 trucks once I did the exhaust but can I notice a change in power at all or milege if I got a different muffler on this.



So, we might as well talk exhaust and horse power for a minute if anyone here knows some good info. I know the basics on it but their is always so much argument.

 

[xdragonxb0i]

well with your a stock N/A 4 cylinder, you wont see much gain with a new exhaust, beside more noise.


You been creating all these threads about modding cars and such. I always thought Cali have strict laws on car modification?

 

[jason longboard]

well with your a stock N/A 4 cylinder, you wont see much gain with a new exhaust, beside more noise.


You been creating all these threads about modding cars and such. I always thought Cali have strict laws on car modification?[/QUOTE

lol,actualy the other threads are maker specific, this ones for all car tech talk. theirs still stuff we can do. I would think with it stock is how you would notice it the most, why less?

 

[fhawk362]

well with your a stock N/A 4 cylinder, you wont see much gain with a new exhaust, beside more noise.


You been creating all these threads about modding cars and such. I always thought Cali have strict laws on car modification?[/QUOTE

lol,actualy the other threads are maker specific, this ones for all car tech talk. theirs still stuff we can do. I would think with it stock is how you would notice it the most, why less?

Being stock you get less out of it cause your car doesnt need greater exhaust flow, with the k and n that helps a bit cause you get the greater airflow so better flowing exhaust would see more improvement than exhaust on stock air intake. muffler wont do much, i put a flowmaster on my firebird and it sounds good but there were no noticeable hp gains, from what ive read to get noticeable gains youd need mid to long tube headers or full exhaust but with the 4 cyl truck probably not worth it.
Also, with the tire thing, shorter tires get you better gear ratio for acceleration also smaller tires are lighter, and width is for traction, wider tires equals more rubber on the ground but dont over do it, you have to match the tires with the rims, if you put too wide of tires on skinny rims it will have a balloon affect and you will have less rubber touching the ground.

 

[jason longboard]

bump

 

[Drew_H2o]

I personally prefer RWD. I have an AWD and a FWD right now. Love the AWD for snow and ice. FWD to me has way too much understeer. But again, it's my driving preference. Somebody else may not feel that way. RWD may seem like it's not as good because of the lack of weight sitting over the tires. However, when a car accelerates most of the weight shifts to the rear tires.

It's basically just personal preference and what you want to do with the car. On a road course it really doesn't matter. In drags I'd to RWD for 1/4 and AWD for 1/8. Autocross... I don't have any experience so I couldn't tell ya.