Re: Suspension

["Michael & Carmen Keith" <mikeandcarmen@pdq.net>]

Understeer is one of two conditions that occur when a car is pushed beyond
it handling limits.  It is when the front wheels lose grip at a faster rate
than the rear wheels under cornering.  Thus the car tends to want to
continue in a straight line rather than turn in.  Understeer is also
referred to as "plowing" or "pushing."  The other handling condition is the
exact opposite of understeer which is called oversteer. It is commonly
referred to as "fish-tailing."

As for the magazine articles, if you read enough of them, you'll find that
they complain  about the amount of understeer in most cars on the market.
There are two major reasons for this.  The first is that most cars on the
market today are front wheel drive, & front wheel drive cars inherently have
understeer because so much of the car's weight (about 65%) is over the front
wheels.  The second reason that understeer is so prevalent is because
manufactures tune their suspensions to understeer on purpose.  This is done
for safety reasons.  If a car is pushed beyond its handling limits, it will
understeer or oversteer.  Understeer is considered the safer of the two
handling conditions.  Therefore, manufactures intentionally dial in a lot of
understeer in an attempt to minimize the chance that the car will spin out
(oversteer) if the driver loses control.

After driving a '99 GLS VR6, I'd have to say that I prefer my '98 GLX.
However, in the interest of fairness, I also have to say that the '99 I
drove was probably a test car of some sort.  It showed some visible wear, &
it had a few miles on it.

If you're interested in dialing out understeer in either car, there are
plenty of aftermarket suspension components that can accomplish this.
However, do your research before you start slapping after-market components
on your car.  Otherwise, you may end up with a car that handles worse than
stock.

Regardless of which choices you make, the best way to minimize understeer is
a smooth driving style.  Your steering inputs should be quick yet fluid.
Also, staying on the throttle (smoothly!) through a turn helps maintain
neutral cornering.  Stomping on the throttle & coasting through a turn both
tend to exaggerate understeer.  Also, if you jump off the throttle suddenly
in mid-turn, you can cause a very sudden oversteer which can be difficult to
correct.  Your best bet is to start autocrossing to learn all this.

Michael Keith
Pasadena, TX
'98 Jetta GLX
'85 Golf SCCA ITB
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Bosco <jettaglxis@yahoo.com>
To: jettaglx@igtc.com <jettaglx@igtc.com>
Date: Saturday, April 24, 1999 6:36 PM
Subject: Suspension


>I am in the market to buy a car, and the Jetta VR6 is in my price
>range.  Does any one out there drive or has driven a 99 Jetta VR6?
>Several magazine articles stated that the Jetta has a lot of
>understeer.  What exactly is understeer? How do you rate the
>suspension?  I drove 98 VR6, it ran great, but it didn't handle like I
>expected it would.  I am assuming the suspension was improved for 99.
>
>Thanks,
>Mike
>
>===
>Mike Bosco
>Duquesne University
>Pittsburgh, PA
>
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