please forgive my stupid notion, i can't help it.
been driving for sometime now (almost a decade) and have many experience on the road. being a motorhead, i love speeds as many drivers do. however, i decided to take my technical knowledge of driving another step. that is, i just wonder what is the difference of oversteer and understeer? sometimes i'm confused of the two terms. though, i think i can handle both when need arouse, i still need to know the difference of the two.
i would certainly appreciate your inputs. thanks in advance.

front wheel drive cars (mostly)understeer
some people call it going "wide". its the behavior or front wheel drive cars when nearing their traction limit. its the feeling when going in a corner your turning right for example, feet planted in the accelerator. you thought you're going right but the car is swerving to the left.
rear wheel drive cars (mostly) oversteer
because the drive wheels is at the rear, when they approach the traction limit their rear ends tend to sway to the direction intended by the driver. now this is the dangerous but exciting "drift" comes from. :D


from progressauto.com

ok thanks sir. may nakakatakot nga ang mga rear wheel drive na cars, mas madalas mag 'tail-out' or tail-wag lalo kapag high speed cornering.
teka, nalito ako a. correct me if i'm wrong, mas nag-a-underrsteer ang rwd kesa fwd tama?

mas nakakaakot ang rwd kesa fwd??? in any case mas advantageous ang rwd system kesa fwd system kasi sa rwd walang masyadong strain sa front wheels and its components dahil yung traction nasa likod unlike sa fwd traction, steering lahat nasa harap. sa hi-speed cornering mas maganda ang rwd kesa fwd dahil wala ngang masyadong strain sa front wheels. oversteer and understeer can both happen in fwd and rwd vehicles kaya katakot-takot ang ginagawang mods sa steering at suspension para maiwasan ito although oversteer is advantageous in racing.

advantage ang RWD,
imagine this ano ang mas bilis at mas may control
Pulling a cariton or Pushing it?

precisely sir kimpoy. natumbok mo hehehehehe

advantage ang RWD,
imagine this ano ang mas bilis at mas may control
Pulling a cariton or Pushing it? Sir,
Wala hong bearing kung 'pushing' o 'pulling' yung driving wheels [In fact, it is widely known that drivers in colder climates benefit from fwd ('pulling') because the engine weight resting on the driving wheels help significantly with the traction in the snow]. Ang importante po sa acceleration ay 'Available Traction'. At dahil nga me tinatawag na 'rearward weight transfer' pag nag-accelerate ang isang bagay, mas malakas ang 'normal force' dun sa gulong sa likod kesa dun sa harap. Ang resulta, mas malakas ang hawak ng traction dun sa likod kaya mas mabilis makapag-accelerate ang rear wheel drive.
Tungkol naman sa handling, mas madali i-correct ang understeer kesa oversteer. Dahil dito, karamihan ng family cars ngayon ay fwd dahil mas madali itong mag understeer. Ang dahilan kung bakit mas-safe ang understeer ay nasa natural reaction ng driver pag nag-slide ang kotse--throttle lift off. Pag nag liftoff ka sa oversteer, lalo kang magkaproblema dun kasi wala na ngang traction yung rear axle, tinanggalan pa ito ng 'normal force' dahil sa braking effect. Sa makatuwid, you aggravate an oversteer condition by doing what one instinctively does in an emergency situation, i.e., you lift off the throttle. (The most prevalent reason for using fwd, however, is that it is more space efficient than rwd).
Sports cars on the other hand, are usually driven by people who know what they're doing. So in the event of an oversteer (which rwd cars are more prone to do), the driver can either countersteer in time or he will continue power while countersteering at the same time, effectively correcting the oversteer condition. Another advantage of rwd is that a seasoned driver can also control the amount of oversteer with the gas pedal as he guides the car around a corner.

Sir,
[In fact, it is widely known that drivers in colder climates benefit from fwd ('pulling') because the engine weight resting on the driving wheels help significantly with the traction in the snow]. Ang importante po sa acceleration ay 'Available Traction'. At dahil nga me tinatawag na 'rearward weight transfer' pag nag-accelerate ang isang bagay, mas malakas ang 'normal force' dun sa gulong sa likod kesa dun sa harap. Ang resulta, mas malakas ang hawak ng traction dun sa likod kaya mas mabilis makapag-accelerate ang rear wheel drive. may bearing pa rin sir from what you shared hehehehehe
:)

may bearing pa rin sir from what you shared hehehehehe
:)
Actually, no Sir. Because it was not whether the tires were 'pullling' or 'pushing' but rather if the engine was sitting on top of the driving wheels. The fwd pulling better on the snow was because the engine was in the front. The same effect could have been achieved in an RWD if the engine was also sitting in the rear--like in the classic Beetle, or Porsche 911. :nod:

good point ebbsfolls, i was pertaining my notion to a "SportCAR" or "Race car"
in which its easier to manuever by drivers who are usually know what they are doing..afterall this is in the "Circuit" forum
goodday

at last tinanong na rin yan... matagal ko na ksi gusto malaman din. matagal nako nagdadrive pero di ko alam yun mga pinagsasabi ng mge expert drivers lalo na when they test cars for handling performance "pre malakas oversteer o understeer netong otong ito" something like that so i just say " ewan ko basta alam ko lumiliko yun oto i dnt know what u r talking about"
madalas ako manood ng rallye WRC sa tv sa bilis ng mga oto napapansin ko puro oversteer sila pero ang galing nila bumawi o magcounter nun effect

madalas ako manood ng rallye WRC sa tv sa bilis ng mga oto napapansin ko puro oversteer sila pero ang galing nila bumawi o magcounter nun effect
yup sa wrc dapat may oversteer ang mga cars kasi kung hindi lagot sila sa turning lalo na kung kelangan ang mga "power turns" or "power slides". saka ang weight distribution sa wrc cars even. hindi mas mabigat sa harap at hindi mas mabigat sa likod. :grin:

at last tinanong na rin yan... matagal ko na ksi gusto malaman din. matagal nako nagdadrive pero di ko alam yun mga pinagsasabi ng mge expert drivers lalo na when they test cars for handling performance "pre malakas oversteer o understeer netong otong ito" something like that so i just say " ewan ko basta alam ko lumiliko yun oto i dnt know what u r talking about" Sir,
One important measure of a car's performance is high speed handling, or the ability of a car to maintain its line of direction when turning at speed. For obvious reasons, it is more desirable to drive a car that steers promptly and efficiently, than one that needs a lot of effort to keep in line. Ideally, a car should go wherever you point the steering at the exact time that you want it to. But in the real world design compromises towards ride comfort, and other imperfections, cause some time delay and puts a limitation to the steering capability of a car.
One of these material limitations is the traction of the tires. When cornering, a car is guided through the turn independently by the front and rear axles. The car's directional vector is then directly related to the available traction on either axle. What this means is that if a car is going through a steady turn, losing traction in the front will cause the car to decrease its turning rate, and the driver needs to twist the steering wheel even more. On the other hand, if the car loses traction in the rear, the car will consequently increase its turning rate, thus causing the driver to need to decrease the turning angle of the steering wheel. The first situation is called understeer (i.e., not enough steering input) and the other one is called oversteer (i.e., excessive steering input).
As I've mentioned in another post, designers find understeering safer than oversteer. The reason for this is that the driver is more likely to react instinctively in an emergency situation--such as when a car loses traction. Human instinct dictates that the driver will lift off his/her foot off the gas pedal when the car will start acting strange. Lifting off the gas will then cause the car to decelerate, resulting in weight transfer from the rear tires to the front tires.
Needless to say, transferring weight to the front axle will add more traction to the front tires. Consequently, it will also reduce traction in the rear tires. If the car was oversteering at the time (tail steps out), further reducing traction in the rear will aggravate the situation. However, if the car was understeering at the time (front end plows forward), adding traction to the front tires will obviously help improve traction and steering.
There is however a negative side to front wheel drive (prone to understeering) especially in racing. As pointed out by some of our fellow posters, an oversteering car moves quicker around a corner than an understeering one. Nevertheless, too much of a good thing is also bad. An excessive tendency to oversteer can also eventually make it more difficult for the driver to guide the car around the corner efficiently. As such, having a neutral steering tendency (equal oversteer and understeer tendencies) is best. For this reason, designers always try to achieve a 50-50 weight distribution, especially in a racing car.

nice one ebbfols...

advantage ang RWD,
imagine this ano ang mas bilis at mas may control
Pulling a cariton or Pushing it? This is kind of late but.... Front wheel drive has more control in real life, that's why that's one of the reason mas maraming front wheel drive, sa mud and snow RWD is hopeless. Sa tight cornering, AWD is the best, it's like a guided missile, turo ka lang ng turo. Once you got into AWD the're's no turning back. Imagine yourself in 110/km hr in a tight corner.....sarap.

at last tinanong na rin yan... matagal ko na ksi gusto malaman din. matagal nako nagdadrive pero di ko alam yun mga pinagsasabi ng mge expert drivers lalo na when they test cars for handling performance "pre malakas oversteer o understeer netong otong ito" something like that so i just say " ewan ko basta alam ko lumiliko yun oto i dnt know what u r talking about"
madalas ako manood ng rallye WRC sa tv sa bilis ng mga oto napapansin ko puro oversteer sila pero ang galing nila bumawi o magcounter nun effect Yong sa WRC ang mga sasakyan ay AWD, sa pag-counter ng effect ng high speed there is a driver's talent of course but the most part i think is yong high technology ng AWD system ng rally cars, like transfering to front wheel drive/ rear wheel or part with the most traction in a seconds. Sa STI there's a DCCD sa evo yata ay YAW control.You can do it manually, or leave to the computer to figure it out.

this thread is very informative :cool:

This is kind of late but.... Front wheel drive has more control in real life, that's why that's one of the reason mas maraming front wheel drive, sa mud and snow RWD is hopeless. Sa tight cornering, AWD is the best, it's like a guided missile, turo ka lang ng turo. Once you got into AWD the're's no turning back. Imagine yourself in 110/km hr in a tight corner.....sarap. has anyone seen a video of vicki butler henderson (dunno if it was from top gear or another show) where she compares FF, FR, and AWD sedans? one of the tests there was putting a pengiun plushie at the end of a rather tight s-curve. the AWD car was able to avoid the pengiun with some understeer, the FR car was clearly able to avoid it, while the FF car plain ran over the pengiun.
pero sabagay, she knows what she's doing (countersteer, etc.) so mejo napapalabo din yung idealness of the test. and she did acknowledge na some FF cars perform better than others, etc...
road cars, awd or ff talaga.
race cars, fr, or with 50/50, or awd. :D