To much steer

[Jimmiet99]

I order 92 axles from dd4h and had one bent is it possible to get to much steer on a car. My boys car seemed competitive the first 5 to 10 feet but fell behind after that. After the scout races were over I adjusted it a bit and it hung right with the winning car that beat it by at least 4 car lengths during racing. Ran full fenders and had a little more forward weight than I would have liked

 

[BulldogRacing]

I think you figured out the culprit

 

[Jimmiet99]

Yeah bulldog I couldn't figure anything else out wrong with it. Never thought about the fact that there could be to much steer. And I was even the one staging the cars. Was trying to set it up with the dfw just barely off the rail but could gain anything

 

[BulldogRacing]

too much steer will kill the speed, it's like putting the brakes on.

 

[bracketracer]

What was your steer before the race and what did you set it to after?

 

[Jimmiet99]

Not sure exactly how much basically tried to get as much as possible. I didn't bend the axles myself. I did the same thing to my daughters car and it ran considerable faster but after I adjusted the boys car they we dead even

 

[bracketracer]

Oh, ok! It might help you in the future to check that ahead of time? You only need a flat surface, set on a small incline. 1" higher on one end? Something about four feet long would be enough. Use masking tape to mark off a straight line and see how far the car drifts over the four feet. 5" or so and you're good.

 

[Jimmiet99]

Ok yeah I did that. I was getting like 6 inches in 3 feet

 

[bracketracer]

That is a heck of a lot of steer. I could see where that might scrub some speed off.

 

[Cramjet]

Would you say the heavier the weight is up front, the less steer you would need and vice versa? Not to say you would want to weight the front, but as an example.

Heavier front= more grinding?

 

[Jimmiet99]

Cramjet that is a good question. My cars were a bit heavy to the front with the fUlla fenders

 

[bracketracer]

Would you say the heavier the weight is up front, the less steer you would need and vice versa? Not to say you would want to weight the front, but as an example.

Heavier front= more grinding?

I would agree with that!

 

[Vitamin K]

Would you say the heavier the weight is up front, the less steer you would need and vice versa? Not to say you would want to weight the front, but as an example.

Heavier front= more grinding?

Since weight is a component of friction, a heavier DFW will have more influence than a lighter one, so there might be something here. Though I wonder if the amount of steer you get from a given amount of toe is affected by the weight at all.

Like, if I run a car down the tuning board and get 3" over 4 feet, will I get more if I load the front end more heavily? Might be something worth testing.

 

[Crash Enburn]

Kurt - It falls under the idea of "conservative weight" or stability — that more weight on the front end will help ensure that the car is stable and not squirrelly. But every gram you add to the front wheel is shifted from the back, removing that much more power from your "engine". Each gram at the front wheel is that much further your CoM moves away from the rear of the car.

I think that having the CoM at the 1/2" mark has proven itself to be the sweet spot on a smooth track.

 

[Jimmiet99]

Just to elaborate a bit I did check the CoM on the car before the race and it was around 1 inch in front of rear axle

 

[BulldogRacing]

it is a game of give and take and every car wants a slightly different dose. 1" is a very conservative com.

 

[Jimmiet99]

yeah bulldog the problem I have is I made the block a bit to thick so I had a little to much front weight. wanted to get my CoM closer to the 3/4 to 1/2 mark

 

[Kinser Racing]

yeah bulldog the problem I have is I made the block a bit to thick so I had a little to much front weight. wanted to get my CoM closer to the 3/4 to 1/2 mark

I would suggest not going as aggressive as 1/2" for a scout car. 5/8" max to 3/4" would be a better bet.

 

[bracketracer]

I would suggest not going as aggressive as 1/2" for a scout car. 5/8" max to 3/4" would be a better bet.

The OP said he was running John's 92's though. You wouldn't feel comfortable going that aggressive on the COM with bigger axles even?

 

[Jimmiet99]

Im switching the axles to 91s from evo before districts