AUTO TECH TALK

[JakeH]

Put 3 fictional, identical cars on a road course: one FWD, one RWD, and one AWD.
FWD car- left in dust at start line (no traction once weight shifts to rear), understeers like crazy in corners (same problem, physics 101), needs a lot of extra power or traction control devices to overcome the inherent lack of traction, but will be lightest of the three cars (no driveshaft) so may be able to catch up on back straightaway.
RWD car- back tires spin at start line but quickly grab when the weight transfers, can be steered around corners with throttle (if driver is good enough to control it), easily outruns the AWD car in straights due to less driveline friction/rotating mass, weighs only slightly more than the FWD car but better balanced.
AWD car- grabs hard & takes lead from start line, grabs with all 4 tires around corners, loses ground in straights due to more mass & friction, needs extra power to overcome added weight.

The bottom line is every situation will benefit a different drivetrain, but RWD is usually best for road racing. Rally requires more traction to get the power down, so AWD is king. FWD is safest on the street if you deal with snow, water, ice, etc. You cant spin it as easily as a RWD car.

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

im a RWD guy. ive driven FWD and actually have gotten closer to wrecking. but u do have to watch it if u enter a turn too fast with RWD. IME FWD entering a turn can cause u to slide straight. RWD can cause ur butt to slide out. So which do you prefer? lol. personally i want my butt to go out, easier to handle than flying straight ahead.

*note* i have slide multiple cars when driving way too fast. IME i have driven to 115mph in my mustang, 110 in wifes civic, 112 in dodge dart, and around 130+ in my moms accent(yet supposedly the top speed is only 108, HA!)
i have nearly wrecked all of these cars and IMO the RWDs did the best.

 

[Cartel]

RWD for me. All I do is play on the streets and take it to the strip every once and awhile.

 

[jason longboard]

bump for muffler info,,,,,,,,,,,,also info on chips,bs or not

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

go programmer over chip

 

[jason longboard]

go programmer over chip

thanks for all the detailed information lmao

 

[dannieman]

upgrade your headers for better flow... straight pipe exhaust... upgrade your pulleys for less drag... and get a tune... you wont be street legal but cops dont really hassel trucks lol and what kind of truck is it? year, make, model?

 

[fhawk362]

I hear chips are a waste but thats mostly cause they say the lt1s are already performance tuned, it may be different with your car, my friends bmw dropped .2 of a second in the 1/4 with the chip but it didnt make a dif on my bros mustang, I hear they work best if youre retuning the car to maximize mods but my friends bmw was stock.

 

[fhawk362]

btw if you get a chip/programmer go with a real company not the $20 ebay one, they will mess up your cars computer.

 

[gomezladdams]

Im a rwd guy.Just like the way they handle better.camaros are probably my favorite car to drive.
Lots of snow driving up here.Ill admit Ill grab my wifes (now gone)awd ford aerostar or her (now) awd subaru on really bad days.They handle like tanks esp when Im out on roads that havent been plowed.
Even with 100lbs in the trunk and studded tires my little 99 mustang can be a little exciting to drive in snow.Love the way that car handles on the twisty country roads I have to drive daily,in better weather though.

My last car,fwd 98 sebring sucked as far as handling,even in the snow.The rwd gran marquis we had was MUCH better even in the snow.