An Unsettling and Disturbing Guide to Handling, Modifying and Enjoying Your Car...

Index


Get a life! Or one person's diatribe on staying alive. Skippable, if you must.
Handling 101 - What's handling good for?
Handling 102 - Let's get technical about handling
Handling 103 - Adjusting your car's handling characteristics
Tyre pressures matter
Camber plays a part
Sometimes you must Toe the line!
Caster look over 'ere, mate!
Having a Polar Moment
Roll Over Beethoven
Oversteer
Understeer
Weight transfer explained
Shuffle off this mortal Coil
Tyres and Wheels can do more than just look good
Pitching a fast ball
Other stuff people often don't understand
Heel and Toe
Double declutch
Wheel offset
Rollbars
CVT - Constantly variable transmission
Twin camshaft motors
GTV - Grand Touring Veloce
GTi - Grand Touring Injection
GTam - Grand Touring America or maybe Allegerita Modificato
RS - Rally Sport or Renn Sport
GTO - Grand Touring Omologato

What should we know about wheels?

Weight
matters.The lighter the better, as a light wheel will follow the bumps better than a heavier wheel. (Being sprung weight - part of the mass of the suspension that moves with the road whilst the body theoretically remains stable over undulations - it's good to reduce the weight and reduce the forces involved.)

Offset
is also important. Positive offset will increase the track (width side to side) of the car, lessening weight transfer and increasing grip. Such wheels are recognised by a concave, deeper look, where the mounting surface of the wheel is further inboard, beyond the centreline.

Negative offset is where the mounting surface is outboard of the centreline of the rim, giving the wheel a flatter appearance. Front drives often have negative offset to allow for the extra hardware upfront - the driveshafts, constant velocity joints and so on. However to consciously choose to refit your car with negative offset wheels means that you are choosing a narrower track, more weight transfer and less grip. Not a good option. However - since I now sense you of you front-drivers rushing off to get funky positive offset wheels or spacers - don't do it. Even if you manage to fit 'em - and you won't - your car's front end geometry will be totally stuffed. See an expert, perhaps an engineer, if you want to do something like change your track width.

Size matters, too - but we'll get to that.


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