what is understeer?

Question

does it has any connection with clutch pedal?

Answer 1

Great answers here...

The technical definition from BBC Motorsports states....

Understeer: This happens when the front of the car does not have as much grip as the driver wants, and the car has a tendency to plough straight on at a corner. It wears out the front tyres and slows the car down.

The car can be adjusted to try to cancel it out, usually by increasing the amount of downforce at the front, or changing the suspension settings.

On the track, the only real way to deal with it is to enter the corner at a slower speed, although some drivers can find ways to minimise its effects.

Answer 2

Understeer means that your car is not steering on quite as tight a line as you would expect for the amount of angle you have introduced into the steering wheel. Some people call this "push" so maybe you know what that it.

An extreme example of understeer is what happens when you start to skid out of control. Suppose you go into a right hand curve and start to skid. The car stays on a line more or less to the left of where you want to go. You turn the wheel harder and harder to the right by instinct, but the car keeps going towards the left side of the road instead of towards the right. This is understeer. Of course, when the tires finally hook up with the pavement, the rear end will tend to whip around and then you'll find yourself turning sharply towards the right, maybe even in a spin. This is oversteer.

The clutch pedal per se has nothing to do with understeer, except that you can use the clutch properly or improperly to cause desired or undersired amounts of understeer or oversteer.

Answer 3

In addition to all the other answers, if you are actually driving, underrsteer will happen when you are going into a corner way too fast, and the corner is tighter than you thought. Understeer happens a lot more in front wheel drive cars than rear wheel drive cars. No idea about the comparison with 4 wheel drive.

What happens is you try to turn, but the acceleration force of the car is greater than the force applied by the tires (tyres) to turn the car. You could be turning left or right, it does not matter. In fact I experienced it the other night, the car just would not turn. I had to slow down in order to turn and not hit the car parked on other side of road.

The clutch pedal is usually associated with oversteer, meaning you get the back of your car to turn, while the front stays more or less in the same spot, if you tuse the steering wheel correctly. One way of using the clutch pedal to instill understeer would possibly be to release the clutch at the apex of the corner, when you are going way too fast, and try to accelerate away from the corner. This would probably induce understeer, but it is not recommended.

Answer 4

Understeer is a handling characteristic of an automotive vehicle that causes it to turn less sharply than the driver intends because the front wheels slide to the outside of the turn before the rear wheels lose traction.
There is no connection with the clutch pedal. All road cars are set up with just a little understeer.

Answer 5

Understeer describes a handling set up where the front wheels of a car will start to slide before the rear wheels. In NASCAR they call it "push"

For example, when you drive in snow and you want to turn and turn the front wheels but the car keeps going in a straight line then you experienced understeer.

The opposite is oversteer when the back wheels will slide before the front wheels. Sometimes drivers who really know how to drive will push in the clutch when a rear wheel drive car is oversteering as this stop the power to rear wheels and may cause a car to understeer.

Answer 6

Understeering just means taking corners or curves to wide because you don't turn the steering wheel enough. As opposed to oversteer.

Answer 7

Car drifts to outside of curve, feels like it's steering less(under) than your steering by turning the wheel.

Not much to do w/clutch except perhaps w/extreme driving styles.

Answer 8

I think the other guys and girls have explained it pretty well. Here's my version: Understeer is when you hear yourself saying "Oh come on, come on damn it!" and oversteer is when you say "Holy shiiit!" (if you weren't expecting it) or "Oooohh yeaahhh!" (if you induced it).

Answer 9

counter steer

Answer 10

no. it's when you're not turning as fast as you're accelerating.