Front-wheel drive vs RWD

It used to be that with RWD you'd brake going into a curve and accelerate going out to maintain traction via weight shift. It seems like it ought to be just the reverse with a front wheel drive car, but that just doesn't feel right.

What's the truth here?

And a bonus question: Is the spoiler on my 2013 Corolla Sport likely to ever be actually useful?

Reply to
The Real Bev
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Maybe when you sell it.

Reply to
Neill Massello

I just drive the same regardless of where the drive wheels are. It works. If you're driving on low traction surfaces, my guess is that it depends on the car mostly, not if it's FWD or RWD. My car is an 04 Passat 4Motion Wagon so it's both.

Reply to
dsi1

You can still brake on entry and hit the gas on exit. The front end will pull you in whatever direction it's pointed in so you need to follow the line of the curve.

Front spoiler will help by keeping air from under the car but the rear one won't do much until you hit 80 mph or so. Just not enough angle of attack to create any real down force.

Reply to
Steve W.

If you don't follow the curve, doesn't disaster usually apply some sort of unpleasant correction?

80? Really? It's a rear spoiler. Hubby thinks it might make a nice lifting handle. It IS useful, however, for finding the car in a parking lot. I think perhaps 1/3 of the cars in any given parking lot are white and look roughly the same as mine, but very few have actual spoilers.

I was going to put orange racing stripes on it until I found out how much that would cost :-( I'm pretty sure the plastic "decals" would end up looking really awful.

Reply to
The Real Bev

Short answer. The truth is you'd drive the two the same.

Long answer: on fwd you have to slow down a bit more than on rwd to have a wider margin for error in a slippery turn. On rwd it's way easier to control the skid by the rudder and the gas/break to the rear wheels. Not so on an fwd car. You do not have nearly as much control.

All you could do is put the wheels straight and keep the fingers crossed.

Basically as long as you understand that the fwd was made for morons who release steering wheel in a skid you are fine. Cause they ditch the steering and the wheels start going straight (alteight slooooowly).

I would not buy an fwd car unless say you need a 7 seater: all minivans are fwd so you have pretty much no choice in that segment. And it sucks.

Highly unlikely. Unless you'd pluck it from the car and use it as a boomerang dandee crocodile-style.

Reply to
isquat

I thought it was due to the emission/mileage requirements that require lightening pretty much anything that can be lightened. Morons excepted, of course.

We do what we gotta. It's not like you have a lot of choice with a Corolla :-( The handling is WAYYYY better than the 88 Caddy.

Maybe I should reattach it with some sort of quick-release fasteners; you never can tell...

Reply to
The Real Bev

I thought the idea was the FWD understeers, drivers shit pants and hits the brakes, which corrects the understeer and maybe they miss the tree.

Reply to
pedro1492

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