My friend and i were talking today about which had more traction. I said the front wheel drive car because the weight was over the drive wheels. He said the front engine, rear wheel wheel drive cars had more traction because when under hard acceleration, the weight shifts to the back and the rear end squats down. We were talking about traction when accelerating only, no cornering involved. So what is true.

 

your friend was more right. RWD is better for traction, but ideally, it would be MR or RR, and not FR.

 

yeah.. the weight shift has alot to do with it.. incidently... during braking... a fwd should have more traction

 

BUT, on sand/ice/wet surfaces...the FWD will have more traction. In some ways I regret not getting a FR/MR car, but there aren't too many small good ones...MR2, old toyotas...

 

On ice and snow the FWD stilll only has a traction adavantage under no or light acceleration, but the advantage it does have is supposedly significant. Any other time RWD has the traction advantage.

 

wrong.

During braking you are trying to slow down the wheels. It doesn't matter which wheels are powered.

 

the NSX is also MR and can outhandle about any car out there.
the Supra is also an excellent handling car, but is one of horrible in the rain.
the Integra R is FWD and can handle in dry weather really well and not bad in the rain.

but because its front wheel drive, if u lose traction you cannot not steer since its the cars drive wheels also.

 

Just because you loose traction in a RWD doesn't mean you can steer either......

Sure you can turn the wheels however, ask anyone who drives a RWD to the limits often what happens when traction goes bye-bye. So do you. There is such thing as controled slides but you stated loss of traction.......

EDIT: Also, I think you are being biased on your statements about the cars above. Are you saying that those cars stock will do what you claim? Any car can be made to outhandle the others no matter what the engine configuration is.
NSX lateral g's is .93 (not bad for a stock vehicle)
Chevy Corvette Z06 lateral g's is 1.02 (oh no, a stock Front engine RWD vehicle that can "out handle" an NSX).


[Modified by Spade, 7:48 AM 4/18/2002]

 

skid pad Gs are more about the size and compound of the tires.

That's why the in some magazine tests, the Supra out performed the RX-7...When clearly, the Supra does not handle better than the RX-7.

But anyways, I think this topic was supposed to be on straight line acceleration.

 

Yes, it was supposed to be on straitline acceleration......Just we got off on a tangent and I wanted to point out the NSX isn't the "all mighty"

Either way, simple answer is RWD.

 

Thanks. Well that isn't the only time i have been wrong.

 

NP.....we all have been there......I have learned more here in the past four months then I could have learned through books.

 

Drive wheels have nothing to do with braking. All the wheels have brakes....hence why it makes no difference in the winter if you brake with a RWD, FWD, or AWD.

As it happens, the MR and RR cars have thge best braking. When braking, the weight is more evenly distributed among the four wheels on these cars. I'm not sure, but I'll make the assumption that the rear-engine Porsches have some of the best braking of all cars.