The Drift Monster is Dead, Long Live the Grip Monster

[dranor]

After a harrowing rain filled drive to Houston it was time to replace the baldass(tm) Z's front tires. As fun as throttle induced snap oversteer is I feared for my life in the next rain. If it ever rains

Comments

[tsarren]

Does this contain more-or-less accurate descriptions of snap oversteer? I'm not familiar with the internals of suspension but I can understand the concept abstractly.

[dranor]

That discussion is definitely on target. To me "snap oversteer" is an unpredictable loss of grip resulting in excessive rotation without an error on my part. The Z was doing this because front tire grip was non existant. I guess you could count bald tires as an error on my part though.....

That thread discusses several kinds of oversteer, including the famous 911 trailing throttle oversteer where coming off the gas in a turn would put you into a ditch. Old 911s are not for the faint of heart, have to keep the foot planted. Hanging an engine behind the rear axle plays havoc with weight balance. The Z does this too to a much smaller degree and caught me out a few times. Nature of RWD, the maxima was much more forgiving in this regard.

Throttle induced oversteer is much the same except you're doing it on purpose by applying excessive throttle and steering input. RWD, aged tires, an excess of horsepower make this even easier. Tis expensive though....