Readers Reviews: What is Torque Steer?

Oh no.
Here we go… I’m talking about front wheel drive again.
C’mon Bennett, just prepare yourself for the hate. Take a deep breath, don’t let the negative comments affect you.

Even though last time, someone had the nerve to say that my balls were in the wrong place for owning a front drive…

I digress. If do happen to be a front wheel drive hater, you’re in luck! Today I’m talking about one of the many negatives of FWD, adding more fuel to your fire I guess.

If you‘ve been reading my stuff for a little while, you’ll know that I own a Mazdaspeed3. I love my turbo hot hatch. Not only does it look fantastic, it also has plenty of power.

But that’s the thing, and Jeremy Clarkson may scold me saying this.. but..
I think it has too much power.

Now gather around children! It’s story time.
Once upon a time, yours truly was just crusin’ on the highway. No reason, no destination, just one of the many #justcarguythings that we all love to do.
All of a sudden, I see a pair of headlights approaching quickly from the rear.
“Is it a cop?” I asked myself.
No. it wasn’t a cop. It was something much worse. Something way more terrible than a fast approaching squad car.

Want to have a guess what it was?

It was a BMW M3.

He flashed his lights, changed lanes, pulled up right beside me and rolled down his window:

“50k roll on!” he shouted.

Me, having only obtained my knowledge of street racing from The Fast and The Furious, where I see them handle large stacks of cash before every race, I stupidly said this:

“I’m sorry!” “I don’t have any money! Let alone 50 grand!”

I wish I could describe this this guy’s face when I said that. I saw confusion, disappointment, and the “you dumbass” look all in one. It was truly, a sight to behold.

“No!” He exclaimed. “slow down to 50 km/h and we’ll race!” “On my third horn, we go!”

I agreed and he started beeping his horn.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Go.

I pinned the throttle to the floor in second gear, believe it or not, something that I had never done before. All of the sudden, the turbo kicked in, and the boost hit me harder than puberty hit Megan Fox.

I was so overwhelmed by the surge of power, I failed to realize that my car was steering itself and my car was pulling to the right. Straight towards the guardrail!

My life flashed before my eyes… Well, not my life, but my moments with the car did. The moment I bought it from the dealership, my first modification, the first time I first saw it after lowering it. I saw all of it in until my instincts decided to take over.

I jammed on the brakes and whipped the wheel to the left. Thanks to ABS, my car and I were left unscathed.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” I screamed.

Torque Steer.

As Jeremy Clarkson once said: “Putting that much power into a front wheel drive car has a name.” “It’s called… the Chaos Theory.”

And I had finally experienced it first hand, and of all times, during a race.

I lost by the way. And the BMW drivers’ ego continues to inflate…

Now Torque steer isn’t that massive of an issue. After all it has its benefits, Torque steer allowed drivers to change lanes with no hands long before Tesla ever existed. Take that Elon Musk!

What is Torque Steer?

To put it simply, Torque steer is what happens when a car pulls to the right or left under heavy acceleration.

This is caused by components of the drivetrain transmitting a difference of torque through the right wheel than the left wheel (vice versa) and this causes an inequality of force, and causes the car to pull a certain way.

In reality, there are multiple ways that torque steer occurs, however, for the sake of your brain and mine, I’ll not to overcomplicate things and only explain two contributing factors: Difference of CV joint angle as well as drivetrain misalignment under heavy load.

At this point, I would normally bring out Mr. Engineering Explained to do the technical stuff for me. Sadly, I don’t know him, let alone know how to get in touch with him. So looks like you’re stuck with me. YAY!

CV joint angle difference

^Consider my crudely made diagram…

Front wheel drive cars normally have an engine that is “Transversely” mounted, meaning side-ways, where the “front” of the engine is pointed out the side of the car, vs. the front. This allows the manufacturers to place the engine, transmission, differential and axles all in the engine bay area of the car, vs. being spread out.

What happens, is that the differential in transversely mounted engines are normally placed below the transmission, causing the placement to be closer towards one side of the vehicle. This causes a difference of length between the axels, and in turn, a difference of angles.

Since one axle is longer than the other, (the one on the right, in this case) it produces a shallower angle on the CV joint. This can alter the torque transfer through the CV joints. When the CV joints aren’t properly aligned with each other, it will create an imbalance of force. This force will change the efficiency applied torque to each wheel, causing one wheel to obtain more force than the other, causing a change in direction. The wheel which is receiving more power will drag the car towards that side, and since the wheels can pivot on the steering axis, the car steers that way as well.

Drivetrain Misalignment

It’s very common for auto manufacturers to fit their vehicles with soft engine mounts. This makes the car seem more civilized, reducing the NVH throughout the entire car. However, because of these soft mounts, the engine is able to have a large amount of flex when under heavy load. This “flex” under heavy acceleration also varies the angles of the CV, which will cause this a shock to the pivot axis, and efficiency of torque to each wheel.

When an engine is under heavy load, it will twist and flex, causing a misalignment in the drivetrain. This creates harsher angles on the CV joints, on a Y axis, but also as the engine twists, it pulls the differential further away from it’s original position, stretching the CV joints, and creating an angle on a depth axis. All of these angles contribute to the pivot of the steering as well as the wrongful distribution of torque. Which creates torque steer.

Well that’s everything for now! Hopefully, the next time you stab the throttle in your twin turbo front wheel drive, you’ll at least know why you ended up on the other side of the highway. Next week, I’ll be talking about what manufacturers do to reduce Torque steer in their cars, and also some DIY stuff you can do yourself!

That’s my time guys, talk to you later.

Bennett Cook (Performanceandluxury)

Automotive Student. Automotive Enthusiast.