Pushing?

[jb92563]

A while back while I was Auto-Xing I recalled the instructor saying that the car was "pushing" while going through some S turns and I can't recall what that mean't exactly.

Based on what was happening at the time in an S curve, I was accelerating out of the first turn and it seemed like I was getting a bit of understeer going on while trying to get to the apex of the next curve.

Can anyone clarify that term "pushing" and suggest if that is something that can be helped by driving style, adjusting camber, tire width or pressures.

[Topless]

Pushing= understeer. You turn the wheel and nothing happens or it happens too slowly.

Possible solutions:
Run a wider front tire.
Increase front negative camber.
Re-distribute weight in the car to move more of it to the front.
Add rake to your suspension setup
Change the rear sway bar to get the car to rotate more easily.

My Performance driving definitions for dummies:

Understeer (push)- When you hit the wall with the front of your car.

Oversteer (loose)- When you back your car into the wall.

Horsepower- How fast you hit the wall.

Torque- How far you move the wall when you hit it.

[Dlirium]

Originally Posted by Topless

My Performance driving definitions for dummies:

Understeer (push)- When you hit the wall with the front of your car.

Oversteer (loose)- When you back your car into the wall.

Horsepower- How fast you hit the wall.

Torque- How far you move the wall when you hit it.

Fantastic!!

[The Radium King]

get more weight onto your front wheels. braking shifts the weight to the front, so brake harder, later, so that the front wheels are loaded when you turn in. a strong turn in might allow you to apex a little later so that you have less turn out when getting on the gas and less push when accelerating out of the turn.

tires will squawk when they slip sideways; when your front tires start to make noise you think that you're driving like a basa$$ when really you are just overdriving the car through the turn.

wider fronts is a huge improvement - 235 on an 18" rim is the ticket.

[jb92563]

Haa, great definitions

That helps, next tire change I'll go from 215's in front to 235's if they'll fit my rims.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by jb92563

Haa, great definitions

That helps, next tire change I'll go from 215's in front to 235's if they'll fit my rims.

Yes, 235's will fit on a 7.5" width rim. This will help quite a bit with reducing the push.

Regarding braking hard to put weight on the front tires, I prefer not to use this technique as it tends to upset the balance and unless you are very careful, it can result in over-slowing. Remember, smooth is fast.