[violation]

this morning, i induced a lot of understeer. not on purpose - but on cold tires going around a corner like i usually do.

didnt run into anything, but hey, it was sorta cool.

 

[freedomgli]

Automakers tend to design their vehicles so that the predominant handling trait as the tires exceed the limits of adhesion is understeer. This is because if a car is going to crash it's better to hit front first. This provides the greatest crush space for the chassis to dissipate energy and decelerate the occupants as slowly as possible. Also, other major safety systems such as safety belts and frontal air bags work best in frontal collisions. Having said all that, I hate understeer. To me when I'm driving my Miata I hate understeer way more than I hate oversteer. Oversteer is really fun in modest portions. In an SUV with crap handling oversteer is bad because it cannot easily be corrected and the vehicle often goes into the unstable region with wild oscillations and cannot be recovered resulting in a rollover crash. Ideally, the safest cars have neutral handling at the limit and only oversteer slightly if provoked with the right foot.

 

[Dange]

well thats odd stock my car oversteered BAD, i hate it, with the addition of coilovers, going from 5" wide wheels to 8" ones, and a little fidling ive finally got it more neutral. by my next alignment i should have it nice and grippy!

i dont know personal preferance/driving style but oversteer freaks me out in the miata... maybe if i had more power to induce it on purpose or even take advantage of it. it may be ok, but now going through a mountain if my back end tries to step out it bothers me

 

[Bryan]

IIRC, early Miatas (really all NA's) are generally regarded as more tail-happy than NB's. For the life of me, I can't recall why. Bump oversteer?

 

[Dange]

IIRC, early Miatas (really all NA's) are generally regarded as more tail-happy than NB's. For the life of me, I can't recall why. Bump oversteer?

could be, i know the week i got my coilovers it was reduced to almost none. but im a picky owner i want to be 100% neutral lol, actually im waiting one of my local shops is getting a set of corner weights and im going to play with those some

i also hear alot of good reports of a large front swaybar and no rear one...

 

[Bryan]

Honestly, just putting on "coilovers" will necessarily change more than what you might think of at first. Think of how the following measurements have changed front to rear:

1.) Ride Height
2.) Spring Rate
3.) Shock Adjustments (rebound/compression damping)

Of course, once ride height changes, alignment changes, and then it's apples and oranges. What I was talking about was how the cars are set up from the factory on a "factory" alignment.

Of course, I don't know what setup the OP runs...

 

[Bryan]

Now that I think about it, this should be in the Suspension forum...

 

[cheesefries]

put some more air in the rear tires

 

[airbrush1]

I did RB tubular front bar set to medium and FM rear bar set to medium.... car is very neutral now.....

thinking of going full soft on the fornt and full stiff on the rear to fit my driving style a bit more.... but I'll wait till I get the turbo setup all dialed in at 10psi before I go adding more oversteer to the car..... I have a feeling that a neutral balance may be what I'm looking for at that point....

 

[violation]

my suspension is all OEM.. 12 yrs old OEM, so not in the best shape.

waiting for a little more money to throw at a Tein set-up, maybe around Christmas.

Will check tire pressures! thanks for the tip.