FF Drifting w/ out handbrake

OK, so after watching far too much Initial D, playing far too much Maximum Tune and NFS Underground 2, and spending far too much money on making my Lumina LTZ faster and better performing, I'd like to know how to drift an FF car. My biggest problem? She's got no hand brake, and she's got a shitomatic tranny (Oh, sorry, I meant automatic.) Can someone give me some advice on drifting for a beginner such as myself? Much obliged!

Go very very very fast, cut left, and cut right, hold on.

Otherwise, its not happening.

FF's cant drift...ID tricked you all! hahaha! Seriously though FF's cant drift. They just powerslide all sideways.

why the heck not? call me an idiot but whats the difference between a drift and a powerslide?

With a drift you don't lose speed because it's all about taking a corner at a constant speed.

Dunno what to say about an FF without an E-Brake except that the car is unsafe. How do you park it on a hill? "Park" gear alone isn't enough, you know.

I guess all you can do is go out on a rainy/icy day and force a weight shift in the car by steering hard left-right-left or vice-versa on the corners to "drift". That's what I did with the Jetta when the streets were iced over.

Now my new RX-7, on the other hand, can drift very easily with that FR drivetrain...

when he says without handbrake i think he probably means the kind of handbrake you actually use your hand on. most likely in his auto car its the footbrake style where u push the pedal in and release with the lever.

even if he did have the handbrake tho i dont see what use it would be drifting because hittin that on a turn will just want to lock out your back wheels and braking it basically.

and for difference between drift and powerslide...powerslide is basiacally just oversteer and you dont have complete control over your car. drifting is getting your rear wheels spinning at such a rate you almost float around the corner and you get your car turned sideways because you're trying to control this.

drifting in a ff is just a likely as drifting in my impreza...aint gonna happen mate, just enjoy driving it for what it is and putting it through its paces.

depends on what you mean by drift. If you want to do a drift like Tsuchiya and Immamura, its not happening, but you can put any vehicle with 4 wheels into a 4 wheel drift, you just hav to know how to do so. Get a different car mang.

this should be in the drifting forum btw.

It should be in the drifting forum.

Oh my god, you have the "Release" hand brake? I haven't seen one of those in ages! God, those things are so goddamn annoying to disengage...

Er, with something like that you'll just have to go as extreme as possible to "drift" it. That or you could just trade for a car with the better e-brake assembly. :)

Drift is a controlled slide. Powerslide is using the cars power to spin the wheels and get the car sideways. There is such a thing as a powerslide drift. And there is such a way to drift a FF without the ebrake, its called left-foot braking. I will admit a FF cannot do a drift as extreme as a FR, but it can do a high speed drift. I know I have done it in my 1.5L Civic. I don't wish to start any arguements, if you do not agree with me, thats fine I won't argue. But for the others try and research it some more other than on forums.

Man, I completely forgot about left foot braking! Damn it all, I actually screwed up for once in my pathetic life...

Thats not the normal response I get from that, but atleast you know about it and admit shit like that. Most people will just start trying to flame me for it.

About the only newer vehicles i have seen that have foot pakring brakes are trucks. manual trucks at that. auto's even have handbrakes. ie my parents traiblazer, grandpa's 2500HD.

Thats not the normal response I get from that, but atleast you know about it and admit shit like that. Most people will just start trying to flame me for it.

Well, I'm not like most people. I can be a real dumbass sometimes. :biggrin:

About the only newer vehicles i have seen that have foot pakring brakes are trucks.

Yeah, brother has (had? not sure about his social life) a friend with a newer truck, and it had a foot e-brake where the clutch should be. He used it to slide down the 260-degree twisting hill down to our house.

My friend Dave has a '91 Ranger, and the e-brake is a little handle under the steering column that you have to pull out to engage, and you gotta press the brake down real hard to disengage the little bastard.

I don't drive any car unless the e-brake is in the middle where it should be! :evillol:

FF drifting can be done, ok maybe you don't call it the saemthing but it can be done. This is done not with the e-brake, and not with left foot braking either, although you could use your left foot to do what your right foot does. You simply slam on the brakes without locking them up, turn left-right-left in quick succession and you have a ff drift. Here's one I accidentally pulled at a local autox. I'll have to mae a video of this for all of the non believers out there but thats going to have to wait until the snow goes away.
http://www.erikandersondesigns.com/images/2004/092504-PCA/HondaCRX-Silver/images/DSC_8435.JPG
Peace
-DB

I don't need a video. I know it's possible using that method already.

Nice car, by the way.

never do that in a ff otherwise u will expereince understeer i own an 84 telstar what i do is the same technique as an fr which is approach a corner at least 50/60 km an hour face your nose towards the apex of the corner once u have approach the start of the bend put in the clutch drop down a gear keep your foot on the clutch rev the car until it hits about 5000rpm release the clutch will will cause lose of traction in the front tires because driving ff u have a front sloped car which of course their is a lot of weight on the front tires which cause the car to have more grip so by dropping the clutch it lifts the front of the car upwards causing the weight to transfer to the back letting the front tires to lose traction. never use the brake in ff vehicles because using the brake in ff vehicles causes more weight to transfer to the front which loses o much raction in the rear which of cousre also peduces understeer. once u have dropped the clutch accellerate around the bend by applying the accellarator u r transferring the weight the weight towards the back evening out the weight of your car which then u want encounter understeer.

come back when you know what you are talking about.

that technique will NOT work in FF car.

never do that in a ff otherwise u will expereince understeer i own an 84 telstar what i do is the same technique as an fr which is approach a corner at least 50/60 km an hour face your nose towards the apex of the corner once u have approach the start of the bend put in the clutch drop down a gear keep your foot on the clutch rev the car until it hits about 5000rpm release the clutch will will cause lose of traction in the front tires because driving ff u have a front sloped car which of course their is a lot of weight on the front tires which cause the car to have more grip so by dropping the clutch it lifts the front of the car upwards causing the weight to transfer to the back letting the front tires to lose traction. never use the brake in ff vehicles because using the brake in ff vehicles causes more weight to transfer to the front which loses o much raction in the rear which of cousre also peduces understeer. once u have dropped the clutch accellerate around the bend by applying the accellarator u r transferring the weight the weight towards the back evening out the weight of your car which then u want encounter understeer.


are you wanting someone to go flying into a ditch and hit a tree? because your method is going to do that.

the normal weight transfer in a front wheel drive, because most of the weight is in the front, will cause the front to LOOSE traction, not gain traction like you claim. The front tires can only take so much weight pushing on them, and as it is if you push a FWD just a little bit through turns you are going to get understeer. Now trying the Locking technique that RWDs use, will just cause the understeer to get worse. If you kind of think about it, RWD using the Locking Technique, is kinda like pulling the ebrake for a quick second...I said kinda like. For a moment there it locks the rear tires and causes the rear end to slide some, much like an ebrake can do...the main difference is your in a lower gear when the tires start spinning again.

Now using the brake during a turn on a FWD will help get rid of the understeer...and if you don't believe me, go try for yourself. Now if your left foot isn't used to hitting the brake, go to a parking lot first and just try stopping using your left foot...your going to kiss the steering wheel for the first few tries until you get used to it. Then take it to the turns and tell me what it does. I live at a circle dirt track that has a FWD class, you can tell who actually knows how to take care of understeer and who doesn't, and its not by listening to their motors downshift because they usually leave it in 3rd the whole time. As you watch them come through the turns, most of the drivers have their wheels turned as much as they can, but still drifting up to the top of the track(and by drifting I don't mean going sideways). When they do this you can also watch the tires just fold under the pressure, usually causing their wheels to dig into the track. Now the ones that know how to drive, their wheels are always pointed in the direction they are going, tires aren't under that much pressure, no downshifting, no back tires locking up(on most of them, a few do use the ebrake, but takes some skill to use it too), and usually out in the lead.

Now you tell me which method will work. and yes on asphault if you have your car setup right, you can get the rearend sideways on a FWD, but its not going to be a big showy drift, but its still considered a drift.

I'd just wait until winter and hit the parking lots when they get icy. I got tons of videos with the Jetta flying all over the Hy-Vee parking lot last winter. :)

FF's cant drift...ID tricked you all! hahaha! Seriously though FF's cant drift. They just powerslide all sideways.
ok 1 ur an idiot and 2 u can drift ff cars.
u just need to know how to left foot brake.
what u do is u go into a corner with some good speed and instead of using ur right foot to brake keep it on the accelerator and slame the brake with ur left foot. the car should begin to oversteer. once it does countersteer like u would a fr car. to keep a drift u have to balance between brakin and accelerating. if u accelerate the car will begin to regain traction and u will lose the drift. if u brake the car will oversteer more. itll take a shit load of practice to get it right but u can do it. :icon16:

hey guys ..... you can drift any FF car ...... just left, right, and then use brake ((weight shift )) while turning left, but ya you should not lock the wheels while braking cuz this will cause understeering.
and there are other ways but I have not done them.

<snip>and yes on asphault if you have your car setup right, you can get the rearend sideways on a FWD, but its not going to be a big showy drift, but its still considered a drift.

Try putting more air in the front tires and let some out of the rears. I run 35 up front and 25 in the rear of my Altima and the ass will slide out with the right technique.

Try putting more air in the front tires and let some out of the rears. I run 35 up front and 25 in the rear of my Altima and the ass will slide out with the right technique.

Yes, tire pressures play a major role in setting the vehicle up, but you have them backwards. The more tire pressure you have in a tire, the less grip you will achieve with it, and visa versa. So actually you would want less up front and more in the rear.

And to correct AkinaSpecialist, you don't SLAM on the brakes to start the drift, just gently hit them. And like I have said several times, before you even think of using left foot braking for drifting, make sure you left foot knows the difference between the clutch and brake petal, because if it don't, you will slam on the brake even though you don't even feel like you hit it hard. But he is right about the speed, the more speed you have going into it, the longer you can hold it in a FWD, but thats about it, you can't use the throttle to keep it going because of the physics of FWDs...this is why alot of closed minded people don't consider it a drift, but it is still a drift, just not a big showy one like a RWD can pull.

the tire pressure equation reverses with asymetrical tires

Aerowitz, if you a real car hobbyist and knew about different models of cars, you would know that ALL cars have e-brakes. The difference is that some models, most often trucks or American model cars, have a foot lever e-brake on the left hand driver side instead of a hand brake.

With a drift you don't lose speed because it's all about taking a corner at a constant speed.

Dunno what to say about an FF without an E-Brake except that the car is unsafe. How do you park it on a hill? "Park" gear alone isn't enough, you know.

I guess all you can do is go out on a rainy/icy day and force a weight shift in the car by steering hard left-right-left or vice-versa on the corners to "drift". That's what I did with the Jetta when the streets were iced over.

Now my new RX-7, on the other hand, can drift very easily with that FR drivetrain...

The only time using the hand brake is necessary, even in ff drifting, is in doing u-turns. If you are at a stop light and it requires you to do a u-turn, stop about 8 feet from the line, give yourself a little space to build enough speed, about 10 mph a quarter through the turn, slam the e-brake up and gun it. At this point you will have your back and front tires smoking, almost like an awd drift. If you don't know how to over correct, I suggest practicing in an open parking lot.

FF Drifts can b achived

Any car can Drift

if u no wat kind of car it is and wat techinque 2 use on the corner which u r gion 2 Drift on

um...id call what i do in my car a drift lol. all i do is make sure that when i go into the turn i turn in the oppisote direction that i want to go then turn in the direction intended on going really quickly. its a quick was to shift the weight of the car and i loose traction on R rated tires in my sentra. the point is to lose traction in my front tires so that i stall going forward until i decrease/increase the gas.

onto left footed braking, i really haven't used it, but i gave it a try and my brakes locked up since i dont have ABS. it seemed to do what i wanted, to help slow me down a little and was able to take the turn.

what i do now tho is turn in the direction that i want to go, quickly engage the ebrake and press on gas at the same time then disengage the ebrake and i start going sideways. you all and say its a powerslide or w/e but im not gonna argue. if it get me sideways, than im happy. call it what you want.

all i kno is that i take a 90 degree turn @ 60 mph doing this so it works for me...

you can drift FF car. I sure you can :)
I used to drift my corolla 3 years ago (( It was 2002, 5MT and that god 1zz )) and by the way it's not looked like the usdm corolla, no !! its just the same 02/03 rolla in japan.
okay there is few ways to make any FF car to drift (( I only mastered 2 ))
1- weight shift: you only shift the weight to the front so the rear becomes light and loose traction, but you have to be carful cuz if you made a mistake you will understeer and thats might be really bad.
2- left foot brake: this one is easy and you only need time to get used to it. when you come to any corner just downshift to 2nd or 3rd. after that keep the right foot on the accelerator and control your speed/drift by your left foot :D but also be carful cuz you might oversteer with this one.



one more thing i need to tell ya.
drifting is not going to make you faster or anything ! its only like a show thats all... cuz I used to do it before and now I have 04 wrx and the truth is that grip is much much faster around the corners than drifting into it.

no one cares

btw powersliding is drifting... So says the drift king, if you bother to ask me :p. Also if you get going about 80 or 90km/h you can just crank the wheel in the direction of the corner and the car's rear will slide, I guess that might depend on the weight of the veichle. But it has worked on my 1989 corolla sr5 and also the 2001 windstar :O. I find if you want to go faster then that the ebreak is the best way to go. The car's rear end doesn't need to be off to one side at the end of the corner for it to be a drift, thats when they are doing it for shows! When you race that will cause you to loose speed which is bad you want to do that as little as possible. Now myself I want a rwd because I prefer the feel and the control of the rear. But my fwd corolla seems to out corner anything I have encountered. but thats not because of the cars, it's because of the drivers

and someone said something about powersliding being when you use the cars power to spin the rear wheels, I thought that was a power over...

Sure you can slide with the E-brake. You can do that in any car. But its almost retarded in an FF. You cant maintain it. Its against physics. Not unless its raining or you got two trays from jack in the box and place them under the rear tires and just keep your e-brake on. haha...

P.S. KIDS DONT DO THE J BO'S TRAY THING

yea I wouldn't suggest that. and you can maintain it. You can use the e break or you can just throw the weight like I do. which ever feels better to you.

you don't need to put trays under your wheels, christ the way you maintain it through a longer corner is pull the ebreak to throw the rear and use throttle to pull the car forward. Proper amount of the 2 will result in good drift with minimal steering involved

and straighten out the instant you apply gas. The most you could do is slide and slow down quickly because of the slide. Apply gas and instant understeer/correction

and straighten out the instant you apply gas. The most you could do is slide and slow down quickly because of the slide. Apply gas and instant understeer/correction

well if you just go WOT, yes you will straighten right out, but if you take some lead out of your foot and get some precision you can balance the 2. Anyway, you can drift a FF without the use of a ebrake, and you can use the ebrake and start "ass dragging" as some people say. If you have enough patience and skill you can use left foot braking for most of the drift and use the ebrake for little adjustments, the same as a RWD will.

Anyway you look at it, it just depends who you talk to. Its a topic you can argue about all day long.

Well, Im done with this one. Everyones taken there sides and made their points. Plus, this has gone way off subject from the first original post. Ontop of that the guy that made this made this his only post. Anywho I guess this is here people who want to see two sides of wether you can drift in an ff or not.