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Understeer
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Posted by: OldFart

Nearly all late model Mustangs come from the factory with built-in understeer, because mother Ford believes this safer for the average driver.

Understeer is when you turn the wheel, but the car trys to keep going straight. Oversteer is just the opposite, the front dives inside the turn because the rear is breaking loose and trying to slide out. Not a problem if you still have plenty of throttle to power out of the turn. If not, you're going to spin out.

For those souls that prefer performance driving, neutral steering (neither oversteer or understeer), or even neutral with throttle controlled oversteer is much prefered.

Here is a list of things to do to correct understeer (While I already new most of this, I can't take credit for it. I stole it off another website.)

Raise front tire pressure
Lower rear tire pressure
Soften front shocks
Stiffen rear shocks
Lower front end
Raise rear end
Widen front track
Install shorter front tires
Intstall taller rear tires
Install wider front tires
Install narrower rear tires
SOFTEN FRONT SWAY BAR (For all you considering replacing just the front)
STIFFEN REAR SWAY BAR
More front toe out
Increase front negative camber
Soften front springs
Stiffen rear springs
May need more front suspension travel (control arm relocation).
Remove weight from front of vehicle
Add weight to rear of vehicle

You'll note that the references to sway bars are all capitals, this is for those of you that think you really must have that aftermarket stiffer front sway bar. You might be ok if you replace both the front and the rear with a matched set, but if you replace just the front - you are making an already bad condition worse.

OldFart

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

Excellent information!

Thanks!

Steve

Posted by: BIGJ

Yea!! Nice!!

Posted by: tripleblack

You won't mind if I "borrow" this information from time to time, will you?

I have been arguing about this topic for about a month with some guys who (if you read the beginning of the thread) didn't even know what understeer was before I told them. Now they're convinced they are the xperts and the rest of us are dummies.

Always entertaining to be lecutured by idiots, of course, but poking holes in their knowledge gets old.

This is the most concise list I've seen.

Gimme!

Oh, and mucho gracias!