How much power is too much through the front wheels?

Paradigm

I've been looking at tuning parts & found a kit for a Saab 9-5 that produces 420bhp & 540Nm (400 lb ft) torque all through the front wheels :eek: Forget the cost, a miserly £8500 :rolleyes:

Even with traction control that's too much surely?

My own 9-5 has a Maptun stage 3 producing 290bhp & 440NM & the TCS earns it's keep God only knows what it would be like with the above?

jaydeeuk1

220bhp through the fronts is about the limit for most fwd cars, more than that and it will torque steer badly and go through tyres more than petrol!

Chippy_Minton_2

Some say 200 BHP is the limit.

Both the ST Focus at 220 and the T5 at 250 suffer from torque steer. Ford reduced the power of the Volvo engine due to it shreading drive shafts.

harveybobbles

Depends if there is a turbo involved or not.

I've been pottering about in a Mondeo ST220 this week and it doesn't really understeer or give torque steer as much as you'd think. Where as something with that sort of power from a turbo will give loads of understeer.

Most modern FWD diesel cars get thru tyres like they're going out of fashion!

andygb

Chippy_Minton wrote: »

Some say 200 BHP is the limit.

Both the ST Focus at 220 and the T5 at 250 suffer from torque steer. Ford reduced the power of the Volvo engine due to it shreading drive shafts.

Good point regarding the drive shafts Chippy, they have a lot of work to do on a front wheel drive car, and with anything in excess of 200 BHP, they could get a real hammering, particularly if you like "hooning" around tight bends, and accelerating hard out of them - on a private road of course occifer!;)

Chippy_Minton_2

andygb wrote: »

and accelerating hard out of them - on a private road of course occifer!;)

No laws against how fast you get upto the speed limit.;)

Money_Grabber13579

Chippy_Minton wrote: »

No laws against how fast you get upto the speed limit.;)

Unless they do you for dangerous driving that is!;)

lincroft1710

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, GM produced 2 front drive hardtops, Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado. Started off with about 7.5 litres and went 8.2 litres, developing 400+ bhp. Now that was power!

Jakg

I cannot imagine anything less exciting than 420 BHP and FWD.

You have all that power, but if you want to use any of it under 60 MPH in the right gear all you will get is wheelspin. And then if you want to try something a little more twisty the problem gets even worse...!

tomstickland

There is an argument that says that that sort of power is totally wasted anyway. Saturation. Unless the mass of the vehicle is reduced, in which case less power could deliver the same power to weight ration anyway.

Paradigm

Jakg wrote: »

I cannot imagine anything less exciting than 420 BHP and FWD.

You have all that power, but if you want to use any of it under 60 MPH in the right gear all you will get is wheelspin. And then if you want to try something a little more twisty the problem gets even worse...!

tomstickland wrote: »

There is an argument that says that that sort of power is totally wasted anyway. Saturation. Unless the mass of the vehicle is reduced, in which case less power could deliver the same power to weight ration anyway.

Exactly my thoughts.

Even though it didn't cost a fortune I'm sorry I had mine done

While there's no doubt it flies (especially in the midrange) on anything less than dry, straight roads a lot of the power is unuseable.

Accelerating hard out of a bend has the front tyres chirping waking the Traction control sytem up which then drops the power. Turn the TCS off & you can leave darkies on the road at will!

Multiply the above by 10 in the wet, in fact only a maniac would drive it hard in the wet without TCS.

It's fun for a time but when the novelty has worn off it can be a PITA. I'm seriously looking at having it remapped down to a more sensible level.