I understand what you are saying, but he's talking about having a slight understeer set-up on a rwd car so that more of the traction that you have left over can go to accelerating for that advantage out of turns. On fwd setup, understeer would prevent the very hookup that he is talking about that you need to exit the turn. And the exit speed is much more important that the actual cornering speed, because the speed advantage is integrated over the entire distance till the next break point.

 

slight understeer...

 

^^is slower on a fwd car.

I'm just saying that on a fwd car, a neutral IS faster than understeer, that said, i recommend that you go with slight understeer on setting up that brand new si, cuz like byers said, you don't want to end up in a ditch.

 

so get a nice set of coilovers with adjustable shocks and I should be good? Which would you guys recommend for an 8th gen? I cant find much research on it.

 

wikipedia is not a reliable source

technically...you will be faster with slight oversteer because you can keep your RPM's up in the corners. but that can really come down to prefrence.

 

this is about an Si, not an EX, but see if it helps anyway

http://redshift.informe.com/viewtopic.php?t=19

 

yes, slight oversteer would be slightly faster, because as the artical said about rwd cars needing understeer a little bit to give more traction to the driving wheels, you would have more traction on the driving wheels, being the fronts in this case.

 

give it up. oversteer in a fwd car is especially dangerous because it quickly leads to snap oversteer.

oversteer only rools in drifting. and fwd cars suck at drifting...

 

pwnt:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article....7&print_page=y

UNDERSTEER VS. OVERSTEER
Why is understeer considered a more benign handling trait than oversteer? Once a vehicle starts to understeer, there isn’t a whole lot you can do except brake and hope for the best. Since the car is already plowing, steering is pretty much useless. At least with oversteer you can countersteer and hopefully save it, provided the oversteer isn’t too severe. Yet, most manufacturers design their cars to understeer, at least to some degree, at the limit. Am I missing something?
Tom Barry
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

While we agree it is possible to skillfully drive with oversteer, it is understeer that is definitely the better handling characteristic to build into a vehicle.

Our main reason for choosing understeer is what happens as the limit is approached, not so much what happens after the limit is surpassed. Understeer builds gradually, and telegraphs clearly to the driver with increased steering effort (during the approach to the limit) and reduced steering response. This most clearly warns the driver the limit is approaching.

Staying within the handling limits as under-steer builds is intuitive and easily done; simply backing off the throttle scrubs speed and helps return steering control. Small steering corrections are required as understeer builds and diminishes, and the vehicle’s heading changes very little.

Oversteer, on the other hand, typically bursts onto the scene. There are signs — the steering effort reduces and smaller steering inputs are required — but they are less obvious. And that increased steering sensitivity near and past the limit requires vigilance and skill many drivers don’t have, yet desperately need as the world rotates terrifyingly around their windows. Furthermore, even the best drivers find it tiring to stay ahead of a twitchy, oversteering car.

We hear many enthusiasts criticizing understeer, and it is easy to understand why. So many street cars are built with excruciating levels of understeer, such that drivers come to think of it as a nag that comes on loud and far too early.

What these enthusiasts haven’t experienced is the white-knuckle adrenaline pump of a truly oversteering car — think oiled tires on ice — or a balanced race-car chassis that can be tuned to either under-or oversteer. Such a race-car curriculum quickly shows that a hint of understeer is your friend, giving the driver useful steering feedback to easily locate the limit and work at its edge.

 

For me oversteer is good on rwd car, when you can actually use it. I love driving rwd cars on the edge - likeon ice or snow - but didn't have much chance to do it lately. Loosing your tail on fwd car like civic hardly qualify for fun - it's a nasty surprise, and I was not able to control it when it happened to me a couple of times. If you want oversteer, buy BMW instead.

So, I completely agree to Drbyers - slight understeer is the best you can have on civic.