Stupid but fun idea

[kevinthenerd]

If you replace the rear shocks in a front-wheel-drive car with solid bars of metal, would the high roll resistance in the rear and lack of roll resistance in the front make for a very loose car that's fun to drift?

(Loose = tending to oversteer)

[TheSilentChamber]

This is why drift cars run very stiff rear springs and stout rear sway bars, and soft springs and usually no sway bar on the front. As for how much fun it would be... thats for the driver to decide.

[2.2 Straight six]

it lost the idea of fun when you talked about drifting a fwd car.

[TheSilentChamber]

Kinda my thoughts also, ebrake drifting is not drifting.

[kevinthenerd]

Originally Posted by TheSilentChamber

Kinda my thoughts also, ebrake drifting is not drifting.

That's just it... this idea requires no ebrake. I feel the same way. If you can't trail brake properly to spin the rear out, you can't drift FWD. Using the ebrake is cheating, and it wears your tires unevenly.

[2.2 Straight six]

Originally Posted by kevinthenerd

you can't drift FWD.

i think he's figured it out..

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by 2.2 Straight six

i think he's figured it out..

Really?
So all those corners I went around in several of my FWD cars with the rear end hanging out was just in my imgination?

No suspension in the back of any FWD car would make it VERY tail happy at even low speeds, it wouldn't be hard to throw it at a corner and have the tail end let go and start swinging around.
Its still controlable, just not in the same way it is in a RWD car.

[2.2 Straight six]

Originally Posted by Moppie

Really?
So all those corners I went around in several of my FWD cars with the rear end hanging out was just in my imgination?

No suspension in the back of any FWD car would make it VERY tail happy at even low speeds, it wouldn't be hard to throw it at a corner and have the tail end let go and start swinging around.
Its still controlable, just not in the same way it is in a RWD car.

there's just something about "drifting" a fwd car that doesn't fit to me. it's a lot different, i've driven fwd cars on wet and/or icy roads and they've been tail-happy. but it was a lot different to oversteering (i won't say drift, as i can't actually drift) in a rwd car.

[curtis73]

A solid suspension is incredibly unpredictable and very skittish. In a nice smooth transitioning turn they are fine, but the slightest seam, pebble, or change in the road will instantly send it over the traction limits and you'll be backwards almost instantaneously.

The suspension can be stiff to maximize weight transfer properties, but the stiffer the valving in the shocks (infinite in your case) will make control more of an issue. Compliance and ability to absorb imperfections in the road are what make predictability.

A good example is in NASCAR. How many times have you ever seen a Nextel Cup car get the tail loose and then be able to bring it back? Almost never. Once those stiffly sprung rears get loose, they're staying loose.

[psychopathicdude]

Originally Posted by kevinthenerd

Using the ebrake is cheating, and it wears your tires unevenly.

Yeah, its cheating, but it doesn't wear the tires unevenly if you park the rear tires on a sheet of plywood before setting the e-brake. Much fun!!! too bad i didn't have a camera back when I did that....now that i've been reminded, I'll have to go do it again; and have my brother vidcapture the absurdity.
Instead of the horrible screeching of dragging locked tires, there was just a thunderous rumble mixed with a scratchy type sound. Just don't get too crazy or you might lose the sheet and start "wearing your tires unevenly".

_____________________________________

Empty (as in abandoned, and un-surveillanced) parking lots are one of our great national resources.

[TheSilentChamber]

Originally Posted by psychopathicdude

Yeah, its cheating, but it doesn't wear the tires unevenly if you park the rear tires on a sheet of plywood before setting the e-brake. Much fun!!! too bad i didn't have a camera back when I did that....now that i've been reminded, I'll have to go do it again; and have my brother vidcapture the absurdity.
Instead of the horrible screeching of dragging locked tires, there was just a thunderous rumble mixed with a scratchy type sound. Just don't get too crazy or you might lose the sheet and start "wearing your tires unevenly".

_____________________________________

Empty (as in abandoned, and un-surveillanced) parking lots are one of our great national resources.

People like you make the rest of the forum look bad.

[kevinthenerd]

Originally Posted by psychopathicdude

Yeah, its cheating, but it doesn't wear the tires unevenly if you park the rear tires on a sheet of plywood before setting the e-brake. Much fun!!! too bad i didn't have a camera back when I did that....now that i've been reminded, I'll have to go do it again; and have my brother vidcapture the absurdity.
Instead of the horrible screeching of dragging locked tires, there was just a thunderous rumble mixed with a scratchy type sound. Just don't get too crazy or you might lose the sheet and start "wearing your tires unevenly".

_____________________________________

Empty (as in abandoned, and un-surveillanced) parking lots are one of our great national resources.

It's called "tray sliding," and I've done it with my own ION, my friend's old Hyundai Accent, and my girlfriend's old Pontiac Grand Prix. (Two out of three cars were up for sale. Hrmmm.... coincidence?) Supposedly fast food trays are common to use, but they wear out VERY quickly. The last time I did it I used particle board, but that wears out too because it's brittle. It seems like plywood would be an ideal choice, but again, it wears thin quickly as well. I saw some car dollies on sale at Harbor Freight the other day that seem like they'd do the trick. You just jack your car up, slide these under the tires, and you have four casters to each wheel. I'd hate to hit a pebble just right and roll off of one, though.


One other idea that came to mind was using 4x100 trailer wheels and tires on all four corners. They're a lot cheaper than new tires for my stock rims, and I'd be able to slide all four with a lot less financial guilt, but I'd worry that they'd fold in and damage my car, and I'd also wonder whether they'd fit over my wussy little stock brakes. Going tubeless might be a very bad idea.

[GreyGoose006]

get some old steel wheels and take the tires off...
makes some nice sparks.
if you have a welder, weld "Skis" into the middle of the rim, and you can have a lot of fun. i saw that on a destruction derby type show once... redneck-drifting or something.
best part is that if you weld skis on, you can just change them if they wear down and not have to buy new wheels all the time.

[kevinthenerd]

Originally Posted by GreyGoose006

get some old steel wheels and take the tires off...
makes some nice sparks.
if you have a welder, weld "Skis" into the middle of the rim, and you can have a lot of fun. i saw that on a destruction derby type show once... redneck-drifting or something.
best part is that if you weld skis on, you can just change them if they wear down and not have to buy new wheels all the time.

I have a MIG/flux welder. That would make a hillarious MySpace video!

Damn, I shouldn't have thrown out the rim I replaced when a drug dealer ran me off the road into a curb.

[Dyno247365]

Originally Posted by curtis73

A solid suspension is incredibly unpredictable and very skittish. In a nice smooth transitioning turn they are fine, but the slightest seam, pebble, or change in the road will instantly send it over the traction limits and you'll be backwards almost instantaneously.

The suspension can be stiff to maximize weight transfer properties, but the stiffer the valving in the shocks (infinite in your case) will make control more of an issue. Compliance and ability to absorb imperfections in the road are what make predictability.

A good example is in NASCAR. How many times have you ever seen a Nextel Cup car get the tail loose and then be able to bring it back? Almost never. Once those stiffly sprung rears get loose, they're staying loose.

Something might have broke also when they spin so a DNF is inevitable, but I have seen them recover on TV.

I don't know as much as these guys but I wouldn't have a solid suspension at all. I still want to see someone do it, curious.