Blackie

My simple understanding is:
More weight in the back equals more oversteering tendencies. See 911, 2nd gen MR2.
More weight at the front equals more understeering tendencies. See most consumer FWD cars with engine and transmission at the front.

Blackie

You mentioned weight afecting tyre grip as well which I forgot to add.

Weight on the tyres affecting grip is more attributable to what you doing mid-turn in weight transfer. Brake going into a corner and you naturally have more weight on the tyres at the front, helping them grip better and turn-in. Brake hard and you unload the rear tyres and doing this mid-turn will create the tendency for the back to come around.

Accelerating through a turn will transfer weight to the back, thus increasing grip at the back and will naturally cause more understeer as the front is lighter now as well unless you do it violently to break the rear loose (power oversteer). Lifting off the throttle mid-corner will also acheive a similar result of oversteer or decrease your understeer and tuck back into line.

krnmike

911 and MR2 aren't really weights in the back.. they are mid engines.

Blackie

911 is rear engined. It's behind the rear axle. The MR2 is mid engined but in relative terms there is more weight in the back. Anything other than 50/50 weight distribution I would account as being heavier/lighter in the front/rear.

krnmike

oh..

nvm

ans2k

i kind agree, it really depends on so many factors. on my s2k, it will tend to understeer at it breaking point. but if i'm into the corner and give it a hell of a lot of gas then i will oversteer.

i also see where the op is coming from. adding more weight to the rear will give make it more "planted". but how much weight? i have a single sub and amp that weighs roughly 36 pounds. to be honest, i just don't feel it!!! if i take it out it feels the same.

but let us say 100 pounds added to the rear. i guess you would oversteer going into the corner because of momentum. and add it to the front, understeer. but my question would be, why the hell are you adding weight? are you planning to kill someone and cut them up and put them in the trunk, because you cant put a one piece body back there, and make a get away?

adding weight is not the same as removing weight. also did you not ever take physical science? did they not teach you about momentum force and inertia?

Mr. Francesco

Honda developed the s2000 to have a max of 400lbs capacity between two passengers + trunk items. Adding a sub in the trunk is most likely going to be lower than the max weight the car can handle. If you exceed that weight then I would worry about under/over steer being affected.

wonderd

well i wasent so much considering adding weight even tho i mentioned it bcuz i thought it was the same concept if i got a strait answer but, i do understand why u cant give a strait answer bcuz there is none, but i was concerned about buying after market exhaust and if lightening up the rear will cause it to break loose easier but compensating that by moving the battery to the back , idk i was just trying to get a better understanding about what weight will do added to either the front or rear or in this case shaving weight or maybe transfering it

Blackie

To be honest, replacing the stock exhaust with a lighter one is going to do nadda to your weight distribution, ergo you won't feel anything different. An exhaust 30lbs lighter will only give you a placebo effect of making the car lighter. So in short, no you won't need to move the battery to the back to compensate. Same reason why you won't need to bring a passenger along everywhere you go because you made the car 150lbs heavier on the driver's side as soon as you got in.

ans2k

when i installed my invidia it didn't change how the car handled at all. but there were some power added.