Rear Wheel Drive - RWD - Explained

How does rear wheel drive work in a car? I explain how a rear wheel drive car puts its power on the ground, and its advantages and disadvantages over front wheel drive.

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[EngineeringExplained]

Inertia means that something stays in the state that it is in. So something moving continues to move, unless acted upon by an outside force. The front of your car lifting up due to acceleration is simply weight transfer because your car has a force moving it forward, and it's center of gravity "resists" in the opposite direction, so the car lifts up in front.

[EngineeringExplained]

It allows for the tires to stay at peak friction in an even manner, rather than just the front doing all the work. The front already has most of the braking, and all of the turning. Adding power to this means it needs even more friction. If the rear has this, the front tires can keep more friction without having to devote some of the friction to acceleration. Check out my video entitled "traction circle" should help with this topic.

[joeyleon]

I like how you're concern in safety and not saying that rwd cars are very capable of drifting.

[EngineeringExplained]

@dTosified Certainly seems like the logical next step for AWD and 4WD. Was thinking about torque steer as well. Was hoping to stay away from the GT-R, it's so mind blowing that vehicle, but it'd make a good topic nonetheless. When I finally man up I'll attempt to explore their ingenious engineering haha.

[EngineeringExplained]

@NicksCorvetteMan Yeah, I should actually. There's a lot of interesting phenomena with rear engine rwd cars. Very good braking, excellent acceleration, but a large resistance to turning.

[MrUltimateWombat]

These videos seriously have helped me out with college thanx bro your a genius

[KatoomDriver]

Hey EngineeringExplained, I am really enjoying your mini-lectures. Keep up the good work.

[EngineeringExplained]

Check out my video on stability control, I explain the difference. And the reason is because if you're going to wreck you want to hit the front of your car rather than smash the side, where there's not as large of a crumple zone.

[EngineeringExplained]

@ThisIsNotSharyn Spoilers create a weight that isn't really there. So in a corner, the force from the spoiler pushing down doesn't mean more mass is resisting the turn, it just means you'll have more friction to overcome it. So a spoiler on any car can make it capable (with the right tires, suspension, etc..) of greater than 1g turns.

Bad side of a spoiler? Constant drag, and around the city you're never going fast enough for it to do anything.

[pieroroccaysj]

How far you've come, this is old school compared to your latest videos. I'm on the hunt for info on drivetrains and what could possibly be causing my buzzing noise on my Fiat 124. Have a new engine so it's not the engine. Looking at wheel and drivetrain bearing next.

[Mrboombastic]

wow.. All of these videos are great. I am the proud owner of a Scion FRS which is rear wheel drive car. I noticed that you listed fishtailing as a con when really it should be a pro.. why? because its so much godamn fun!

[EngineeringExplained]

@KatoomDriver17 Thanks, glad to hear it!

[EngineeringExplained]

@CookingFunt I have not. Looked it up real quick. Seems cool, possibly a more rugged method for a CV joint.

[EngineeringExplained]

Yes, a spoiler on a FWD car can be useful. Perhaps I should make a video on downforce. When you increase downforce, you increase the friction of the tires and the ground, so the maximum speed you can corner, accelerate, and decelerate increases. But when you see someone with a giant spoiler on a 96 hp civic, it's just for show, as they will not be experiencing speeds high enough to grant the spoiler worthy, and many times they'll be on basic all-season tires.

[nukman]

Thanks man, you're a great help to a lot of people. Keep up the good work!

[EngineeringExplained]

Yes, you steer the front tires, and the rear tires put the power down from the engine. The front wheels do not put any power down.

[EngineeringExplained]

Powered oversteer; the rear tires lose lateral grip and slide out because under acceleration some of the grip is used for pushing the car forward. FWD vehicles do not experience this problem in the same fashion.

[EngineeringExplained]

RWD vehicles can understeer just as easily as FWD vehicles while cornering without applying an acceleration load on the tires. So it's not necessarily an advantage over FWD. Also, most vehicles are engineered to understeer so that if the car loses control it hits the object in its path with the front of the car (much greater crumple zone) rather than the side.

[RicardoSantos]

I really hope soo! it's something i would really love to know how it works
u are great btw! i just started watching your videos yesterday and i now understand so many things now!

[cezarocky]

Nice video man, you know your mechanics, thanks for sharing!