So....here's my random thinking. FWD cars 'pull' when you accelerate off the line. Sometimes moreso than others.

RWD apparantly does not. (I plan on testing this next time I'm up in cold lake...mwahahaha....)

My logic process is this: (and tell me if i'm hideously wrong and there's something tragically wrong with my car)

fwd accelerates off the front wheels, which is the turning point. The power is not necessarily balanced between the two, leaving one wheel pulling harder than the other, and the other one falling back, leaving the steering to jerk one way or another...whereas rwd...its pushing the car either way...there's not really turning give in the rear wheels.

True? False? I should stop talking?

Torque steer....google it...

goddamnit I had a witty rebuttal to this dale, and then something went to hell.

It was my thought of "lets find out if I'm right before witnesses or give the boys something to mock me about forever for"

Course Dale, you don't really NEED a reason, I'm reason enough eh?

Always good to see you doing some learning. Curiosity is the start of figuring out this crazy hobby. By the way, Canadian tire has some wicked sales on tools right now.

...tell me this after I spent moolah on getting a vista-hell computer cause lappy's dying....

ah well, tis more fun to leech tools off you guys for cookies then you get yummy goodness, and I get someone saying "uh, Kat, are you sure you wanna do that? you're going to a-splode your car"



Maybe once I get my t4 from slaveway and I can get my taxes done....I'll go shoppin

Torque steer comes from several factors all contributing to a difference in toe-in force between front wheels.

Basically, a FWD car should have the center of the tire and an imaginary line between suspension pivot points at exactly the same point on the road. That's the theory, anyway, but camber angles vary during suspension compression as does the angle of the line between pivot points, so when the body rolls or the wheels steer, a certain distance develops between these two lines.

Another fairly major factor in torque steer is the caster or trail built into the front suspension. If the line through the suspension pivot points hits the ground in front of the tire's contact patch, the car is said to have caster and (like a shopping cart) the wheels are stable when being pushed. However, when the front wheels are driving, the tires try to pass the pivot line by steering. Positive caster and trail are desirable for steering stability, normally.

To combat this, automotive engineers have tried several things for FWD cars: give them lots of "negative offset", or wheels that push the middle of the tire very inboard so that the pivot line always falls outside the middle of the tire's contact patch, since a car is far less sensitive to this than the other way 'round (where the tire is way outboard of the pivot line). Also, FWD cars end up with minimal caster, or if they're given caster they're usually also given negative trail, where the wheels are pushed forward relative to the pivot line. This keeps the wheels from trying to pass the pivot line, but makes the steering feel "dead", as does negative offset.

And there you have your answer. Really doesn't have much to do with grip or power, but where the power is being applied to the chassis.

can I at least get an e for effort matt?