FWD or RWD better in turns?

[L8R_H8R]

Which typically has better handling a front or rear wheel drive car? and why? Newb question i know.

[iVteC_PoWeR]

FWD understeers like hell so i guess that leaves you with RWD...RWD you can drift and all but it is more dangerous to drive

[snowman2005]

go pick up the new honda-tuning and read the editiors paragraph section. it talks about this. you can get a fwd car to oversteer.i think its a choice the driver has to make and its what he or she is more confortable with.

[94PreludeJDM]

I'd say it's pretty clear that rear wheel drive cars handle better. Not to say you can't make a front wheel drive car handle really well, but if rear wheel wasn't the best, than F1 cars wouldn't be rear wheel drive.

[SilverY2KCivic]

Originally Posted by snowman2005

go pick up the new honda-tuning and read the editiors paragraph section. it talks about this. you can get a fwd car to oversteer.i think its a choice the driver has to make and its what he or she is more confortable with.

Exactly! Mine is set up with neutral handling, so it's on the borderline of pushing oversteer especially when I auto-X it and road race it at the track. I used to have it set up to REALLY oversteer a lot.

But in all reality the ultimate handling is AWD, the best of both worlds.

[L8R_H8R]

Thanks alot for all the info guys big help

[snowman2005]

the truth is drivetrain layout has nothing to do with how a car will handle other than a rwd has a better chance of having 50/50 weight ratio. the suspensions and tires is what determines how a car handles.

[Ace$nyper]

Originally Posted by SilverY2KCivic

But in all reality the ultimate handling is AWD, the best of both worlds.

AWD is only useful in snow and well mud.

I dare you to explain why F-1 cars arn't AWD?

A huge part of handling is weight and the setup it self. MR is really the best of the best. If you arn't a talented driver AWD helps make up for alot but its not a better setup feel free to fall off that bandwagon. A few moments spend on a google search will back everything I'm saying.

As you said on your own car you altered it to oversteer and have nueutral handling. Where is your weight?

Snowmans on the right track about drivetrain has nothing to do with it but not fully hit the nail on the head.

Also think what are sports cars? How many are FF and out of those what is the biggest down fall hint *they are nose heavy*

A car if its meant to handle and has good suspension will out handle one not made to handle no matter the drive train. Then you have to start factoring weight in. FF cars ARE FRONT HEAVY. Even modified or stock *I've yet to see one even the ITR doesn't* oversteering still has all that weight on the front.

A question like this is really just too open ended but if you try to break it down FF cars have a great disadvantage but can handle as well if not better then some RWD cars.

PS RWD dangerous to drive

[SilverY2KCivic]

AWD is more of a tool for the lazy. But MR is indeed the best. Better part of the car putting the power down, and a well balanced chassis from the engine being moved to midship. Snowman is true that tires/suspension are what really dictates handling characteristic and performance.

I won't touch on why really ANY open-wheeled race car is solely RWD, but almost every supercar made (the new Bugatti Veyron included which is FASTER than an F1 car in ALL aspects of performance) is AWD. Ferrari is one of the few left that isn't, also the Carrera GT2. But that's mid engine/AWD in those, vs the rear engine/RWD layout of Porsche.

[meelude]

oooh oooh! my turn!.... well i think it al depends on where u live... america ...wide roads ... better weather... go 4 rear wheel drive... u can put more power through it.... on the other hand in the uk ..narrow roads...crap weather... go 4 fwd.... cant put too much power in though ..bout 240bhp b 4 u loose traction..... i personaly prefer fwd down 2 physics...u point the wheels where u wanna go and boot it .dragg the ass round with hand brake control ..rwd with wet roads u point the wheels where u wanna go with power pushing rather than pulling u go strait rather than left or right ..not so good..

[LVApex]

The big issue between FWD and RWD, or AWD for that matter, isnt how well they handle durring a turn, but rater what happens when you apply power coming out of that turn. REMEMBER, all cars, be them FWD RWD or AWD all obey the same laws of physics. If you have a FWD car that understeers too much, its only caused by two things, Improper chassis tuning, or driver error.

[L8R_H8R]

Originally Posted by LVApex

The big issue between FWD and RWD, or AWD for that matter, isnt how well they handle durring a turn, but rater what happens when you apply power coming out of that turn. REMEMBER, all cars, be them FWD RWD or AWD all obey the same laws of physics. If you have a FWD car that understeers too much, its only caused by two things, Improper chassis tuning, or driver error.

So if your opinion, what is better in turns?

[LVApex]

Originally Posted by L8R_H8R

So if your opinion, what is better in turns?

Depends on tuning, depends on driver among other things (tire size/compound for example). Like I said, the issue between the setups isnt how well they navigate the turn, but what happens when you start applying power coming out of that turn. See, the biggest problem with FWD is that as you start to apply throttle coming out of a turn the car tends to understeer more, where as with a RWD platform the car will tend to oversteer as you apply throttle. Theis problem with FWD becomes more and more of a problem as the chassis gets more power too... which is why you dont see FWD super cars. So with relitivly low powered cars, FWD, RWD AWD... makes little difference as far as lap times, assuming proper tuning and driving, but as you get in to the Higer HP cars, the problems with FWD become more and more apparent. This is also why people seem to think AWD handles so much better... thing is it doesn't (Most AWD cars acutally Understeer alot... Talk to the AWD open track drivers, and ask why they "hook" the turns...much to the annoyance of the rest of us), it just powers out of corners better.

Sorry, I just realized I didnt quite answer your question..... here goes, Yes RWD does have some advantages over FWD, but its mostly due to weight distribution (we are talking about handling in a turn, not coming out of a turn). Given two cars, identical weight, wheel base, and tire size, one FWD one RWD the RWD car will have a slight traction advantage over the FWD car, thanks to its more even weight distribution. However, in Real life, most FWD cars are a good deal Lighter then their RWD counterparts, negating part of this advantage. An example of this would be the different minimum wieght requirements for Club racing and certin autocross classes between the drive train layouts.

[L8R_H8R]

I really appreciate the in depth answer, thats exactly the kinda explanation i was looking for

[whatup]

Originally Posted by L8R_H8R

Which typically has better handling a front or rear wheel drive car? and why? Newb question i know.

I would say that RWD is more fun, but in Japan they use FWD and RWD. For drifting (high speed), they use RWD, but FWD for Gymkana. Gymkana is a small space where cones or a track is set up with many turns. You don't get a lot of speed in gymkana, so I guess the FWD (at low speeds) pull the car in the direction of the turn and the ebrake whips the ass end around. The FWD at high speeds might create too much oversteer and that may be the reason for RWD.