Understeer vs Oversteer - Explained

What is the difference between understeer and oversteer? What causes understeer and oversteer? How can you reduce understeer? How can you reduce oversteer? This video looks into both steering situations, and relates them to slip angles. A car with a larger front slip angle than rear slip angle will understeer. A car with a smaller front slip angle than rear slip angle will oversteer. This can be altered by changing many things, including downforce, camber, toe, tire compound, tire pressure, width, suspension geometry, spring rates, etc.

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[bucketslash]

"understeer works like this: you drive down the road, turn the wheels but the front keeps on going and you crash into a tree and you die. 
oversteer works like this: you drive down the same road, turn but the back keeps on going and you crash into a tree and you die, now oversteer is better because you don't see the tree that's going to kill you"
-richard hammond

[reynaldiwidjaja]

Oversteer scares passengers, Understeer scares drivers

[ratbug]

Understeer is when your front end hits the wall, oversteer is when your rear end hits the wall, horsepower is how fast you are going when you hit the wall, torque is how far you move the wall when you hit it.

[collinamon]

Im so sad i just found your channelt the other day and i saw you actually just stopped posting recently. Ive only been here but i absolutely love these videos and i feel will really help me prepare for automotive engineering school. All i wanna say is thank you

[BmanUltimate]

But Top Gear said that oversteer is better because you don't see the tree that kills you.

[revmatchtv]

Good explanation :) You forgot to mention that oversteer also increases heart rate!

[oscarbencomo]

I love seeing your videos, I basically see them everyday and I learn something new every day. This is awesome!

[kevinavila]

SUBSCRIBED! Glad i came across your page again! last time i saw your page you were only about 30k in on subscribers! Glad to see your growth and congrats on the award!
And thank you for providing the community with your videos! I am sure i speak for all when i say you've taught each and everyone of us something new.

[krishnan]

Hello there,
Great videos !! guess there exists another way to reduce under and oversteer
Modern cars brake the wheels individually and induce a yaw moment to correct the Under/Over steer..
Scenario > If you are taking a left turn 
1. Understeer > Brake the left rear wheel so that a yaw gets generated to help the car get back on the intended path 
When you do this, the amount of utilizable lateral force on the front axle increases >>>> Helping you to get into the curve

2. Oversteer > Brake the front right wheel so that the front axle loses the amount of transferable lateral force >> Induces a understeer to compensate the oversteer and help the vehicle to get back on the intended path....!

[CarsnStuff]

Good explanation ! initially for awhile now i've heard some different explanations that actually cause you to get confused. I remember even reading an article where it was easy to misinterpret what they are trying to explain. Before i thought understeer was the opposite of what it actually was until i watched this. Good stuff.

[Dogzero]

Great explaination of understeer and oversteer! We can all become magnificent race car advisors one day!

[mayurahuja]

Namaste.
THANKS A LOT sir I'm doing automobile engginering and your videos are very very very useful to understand thing's better. If YOU ever come to India PLEASE let us know....my friend's and me are your big fans.
THANK YOU.😇

[ReddoX]

I like that you used the same tree example as carthrottle!

[dhruvthakkar]

Thanks a lot for such helpful video can u explain what active steering is ? it would be a great help

[Mikhaspearo]

Love your videos and would love to see a video on shock absorber setup in race car and the effects of different settings on adjustable shocks and springs

[JustinDBenoit]

If understeer is from too much load on the front, how does downforce on the front help? wouldn't that add to the load?

[migelprager]

Great video as always, it would have been even more interesting if you'd have presented it together with the differences between FWD, RWD and AWD :)

[behemothinferno]

Could you please make a video explaining the benefits of adding spacers to all tires vs front or rear tyres, largest front or rear spacers etc...?

[blakewrigley]

Great video mate. Keep up the good work

[BugMagnet]

If I increase the front toe in would I not have a higher slip angle for the wheel with higher load when I turn and thus increase the lateral force created by the same steering angle?