NSX

hey guys, i have two questions about limited slip and tires.

about limited slips...why does having a high bias ratio on front wheel drive cars and low bias ratio on rear wheel drive cars decrease understeer??


about tires...is there such a thing as too much download on your car? the reason im asking this is because i know that every tire compound has its maximum limit on traction so that means that if u add more download than it can handle then it will start slipping right? but then i look at F1 cars where they experience tons of downloads but their tires grip so much...so is it something to do with their suspension set up, like they will decrease the stiffness of the suspension to absorb the excess load from downforce, weight transfer etc..

ne ways, i know these questions can really get technical and i may not have used the right language to ask my question but im just a newbie tryin to learn a few things about racing. thanks in advance for ur input guys

imported_alwaysoverkill

bias issue is about the balance of weight transfer i believe. i RWD car is more neutral in cornering when its applying power because they aren't overloading the front wheels. where as a FWD car is steering and applying power (which makes the tires understeer more) so the LSD is set-up to accomodate this. RWD needs less cause its a more perfect corner balance then FWD when it comes time to apply power. so RWD needs less bias, but FWD needs alot more, again depending on the set-up too. a full race spoon sports civic hatch will still have more bias then same s2000, but that spoon hatch will have a hell of a lot less then a street Integra R.

with the suspension and tires i believe its the opposite. the suspension is so stiff that when the extra downforce from the giant wings are applyed, it goes directly to the tires forcing them down on the track more so then just the light *** weight of the car. F1 cars are something like 1500-1600lbs tops i believe, so when you add 500-700lbs of downforce it hooks up like mad and they can take corners at 250km/h on certain tracks.

i may be wrong but i believe thats the sum of it.

NSX

the thing is ive always thought that a higher bias ratio on a front wheel car decreases understeer cuz since ur steering the wheels that is putting the throttle on the road, u want them spinning at the same rate. sort of like easier to point your car on the direction u want to go. but then what u said makes sense too that FF cars need more bias since ur steering and applying power
but how does bias ratios apply with weight transfer thou?

and for the tires thing, so i can stiffen the suspension on my civic hence lowering it and pretty much decrease my understeer, as long as i dont go over the traction limit in my tires right?

imported_alwaysoverkill

bias you get the idea, i forget it its higher or lower that means more LSD action, i think its higher, but same **** you get the idea of it.


ah, but F1 and your civic are just a little different since aerodynamics don't mean **** on a street civic like they do in racing.

lowering your civic will make it handle alittle better because it won't have as much body roll and you are firming up the ride. since almost all spring kits have set rates of front higher then rear it may decrease understeer...or it may increase it, but most make the car more neutral/handle better.

you need to get spring rates that bump the rear up as well to a good stiffness. i have H&R sports and to be honest i couldn't tell you if they help or hurt understeer specifically since i already have my toyo proxes on before i did suspension, so with the tires increasing grip so much, its hard to tell. seat of my pants says it helped but minor if any on understeer alone, but i haven't pushed it that hard into a SHARP corner to test it yet, just off-ramps when it wouldn't understeer anyways.

it does make the car corner better though, again from stiffer springs causing less body roll, the tires get busy doing their job faster...plus of course looks one hell of alot better.

someone can better explain the understeer/lowering of a civic better then me, but yes lowering springs help handling especially when combined with sticky *** tires.

NSX

alright i sorta get it, i guess ill just have to do trial and error on this one on my car. thanks alot man