How much power is too much through the front wheels?

AdrianHi

stu20vt wrote: »

In all seriousness though, just the other day a BMW M3 came out of a junction in front of me, rear wheels spinning (obviously 'planting his foot'), and spun round coming to a standstill facing us...
I am a believer that if you drive a high powered RWD car, you should have to pass an advanced driving test or something.

Possibly had traction control turned off, definately had "common sense" turned off (the driver not the car)
Driver aids and RWD don't change the laws of physics, the sensible decent people I know who enter M3 ownership (I know several personally) do take themselves off to track days where they learn how the car behaves in a safe environment, generally keep speed limits on public roads and go nuts at a track from time to time.

In the world of family cars, my wifes FWD 140bhp petrol car had to have some good tyres fitted to become acceptabel pulling out of certain junctions, where I can pull out switftly and safely with no drama or wheels spins in my 320d. If your a prefectionist somewhere around 130bhp is the limit for FWD but if a designer gets clever enough I guess you could go a bit further if the Mondeo ST220 really does work.

Andy_L

Surely any power through the front wheel is too much :-)

rottertron

You could sell the Saab and put the sale money and the £8.5k you were going to spend on tuning towards a nice M5 or RS6. These cars have been designed to handle the power and they will be standard so more reliable. Also you will never get the £8.5k back you spent on tuning youre Saab if you come to sell it.

Paradigm

rottertron wrote: »

You could sell the Saab and put the sale money and the £8.5k you were going to spend on tuning towards a nice M5 or RS6. These cars have been designed to handle the power and they will be standard so more reliable. Also you will never get the £8.5k back you spent on tuning youre Saab if you come to sell it.

I was never intending to spend £8.5k on it, it was something I came across while browsing.

The only reason I posted it was because of the experience I have with mine, I was pretty much amazed that anyone could think 420bhp thro the fronts was the way to go... mind you the same power at the back needs some thinking about

goldspanners

Andy_L wrote: »

Surely any power through the front wheel is too much :-)

even with 4 wheel drive?