Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin_NL
My winterwheels (18") also weigh less and you feel it in the steering, the whole car feels a tad lighter on its feet. But to really eliminate understeer you must have:
-a wider front tyre(on dry)
-a softer ARB front (or a bit softer frontend vs rear end)
-more neg camber front end
-a bit more neg toe(helps turning in to some dregree)
- more front aero(if possible)
Or a lighter front end (carbon parts) in general which makes the 52/48 FR balance go to 51.5/48.5 FR (example)
But not too much, you want to have weight(balance) on the front and not like an old Beetle with 'no mass' upfront plowing into a haybale 
Cheers
Robin |
My comment was rhetorical as I do not believe that reducing wheel weight has any effect on understeer.
As for weight distribution, don't believe the BMW marketeers, 50-50 is far from "ideal". A rear weight bias makes for a much nimbler car that is easier to get to change direction.
The reason that is, is that when a car turns, it pivots around the center point on the rear axle. The total rotational inertia of an object is the addition if the object's own moment of inertia plus the square of the distance between the center of gravity and the pivot point multiplied by the object's mass. So the farther the Cg is relative to the rear axle, the greater the force required to get the car to change direction. This is why the great majority of purpose built sport and race cars have a rear weight bias.