FWD & Power (too much?)

[nurseryboy]

Let me start off by saying that I know it's stupid to be talking about too much power. I'm always wanting more, no matter how much I already have. But, I am wondering at what point FWD is going to become an issue for our cars. With mods like intake, exhaust (cat-back, Y-Pipe, and possible test pipes), underdrive pulley, tunes, turbo (for the lucky few), etc., we're going far above the stock 270 HP (for the 3.5's). I've read many opinions that 270 HP is even on the upper limits of what's good for a FWD. I'm not entirely convinced that's the case, but I know that there will be more complications the higher in HP we go.

I'd imagine the biggest issues we may run into is increased understeer and decreased overall handling during acceleration. (Not to mention the additional stress on the transmission.) I know Nissan did a pretty good job at addressing these issues from the factory, but we're not driving factory HP cars anymore. Does anyone think we'll get to a point that we could have too much power for the FWD (or transmission) to handle? I would imagine the few guys with turbo would know better than anyone what problems we could possibly face.

With regards to understeer, what can we do alongside the power mods to help manage it? I'd guess lowering/stiffening the suspension, bigger/better wheels/tires, and what else? From what I've read, a better rear sway bar is good for FWD, but a strut bar is not. How about endlinks?

Are these legitimate concerns, or are we a long ways off from running into any issues with FWD and added power?

[rjdmmfl1]

Let me start off by saying that I know it's stupid to be talking about too much power. I'm always wanting more, no matter how much I already have. But, I am wondering at what point FWD is going to become an issue for our cars. With mods like intake, exhaust (cat-back, Y-Pipe, and possible test pipes), underdrive pulley, tunes, turbo (for the lucky few), etc., we're going far above the stock 270 HP (for the 3.5's). I've read many opinions that 270 HP is even on the upper limits of what's good for a FWD. I'm not entirely convinced that's the case, but I know that there will be more complications the higher in HP we go.

I'd imagine the biggest issues we may run into is increased understeer and decreased overall handling during acceleration. (Not to mention the additional stress on the transmission.) I know Nissan did a pretty good job at addressing these issues from the factory, but we're not driving factory HP cars anymore. Does anyone think we'll get to a point that we could have too much power for the FWD (or transmission) to handle? I would imagine the few guys with turbo would know better than anyone what problems we could possibly face.

With regards to understeer, what can we do alongside the power mods to help manage it? I'd guess lowering/stiffening the suspension, bigger/better wheels/tires, and what else? From what I've read, a better rear sway bar is good for FWD, but a strut bar is not. How about endlinks?

Are these legitimate concerns, or are we a long ways off from running into any issues with FWD and added power?

Well, do you plan on turbo'ing your car... if not, then mostr of these questions are moot since no amount of bolt-ons and tunes are gonna equal/surpass the power you'd get from a turbo.

If you plan on turboing, then I'd limit the amount of boost going to your CVT transmission (if you have one) since that's the weak link... from my nderstanding, the pressure control solenoid is the weak link....

if you have a 6MT, then you're good...

for the record, I've seen 3rd gen Altimas with over 400WHP perform like a champ... don't listen to people that think that there's some type of HP limit where driving a FWD becomes either unsafe, or uncontrollable!!!!

[mcheddadi]

Let me start off by saying that I know it's stupid to be talking about too much power. I'm always wanting more, no matter how much I already have. But, I am wondering at what point FWD is going to become an issue for our cars. With mods like intake, exhaust (cat-back, Y-Pipe, and possible test pipes), underdrive pulley, tunes, turbo (for the lucky few), etc., we're going far above the stock 270 HP (for the 3.5's). I've read many opinions that 270 HP is even on the upper limits of what's good for a FWD. I'm not entirely convinced that's the case, but I know that there will be more complications the higher in HP we go.

I'd imagine the biggest issues we may run into is increased understeer and decreased overall handling during acceleration. (Not to mention the additional stress on the transmission.) I know Nissan did a pretty good job at addressing these issues from the factory, but we're not driving factory HP cars anymore. Does anyone think we'll get to a point that we could have too much power for the FWD (or transmission) to handle? I would imagine the few guys with turbo would know better than anyone what problems we could possibly face.

With regards to understeer, what can we do alongside the power mods to help manage it? I'd guess lowering/stiffening the suspension, bigger/better wheels/tires, and what else? From what I've read, a better rear sway bar is good for FWD, but a strut bar is not. How about endlinks?

Are these legitimate concerns, or are we a long ways off from running into any issues with FWD and added power?

258lb-ft of torque is closing in on the LIMIT without a proper limited slip differential for our car. Our Altima has the 2nd highest power to weight ratio of all the FWD cars currently available to the north American market.http://www.automobilemag.com/f....html

but with a proper LSD you can go on a lot more HP and tq and still negate understeer and keep great handling. the stock 6MT transmission can hold a lot more HP so no worries there.

[Hussain]

wtf? we're talking about FWD and power and out of no where mehdi just happens to have a chart for all the 2008, FWD, power to weight ratios lol but wow, i didnt know the monte carlo was that fast. i remember a few years ago the thing was a joke it was so under powered

[Hussain]

oh ya and the sway bar and strut bar stuff the OP was talking about, is that true or been confirmed?

[nurseryboy]

wtf? we're talking about FWD and power and out of no where mehdi just happens to have a chart for all the 2008, FWD, power to weight ratios

Haha. Yeah, very good list! I had no idea we were 2nd on the list. That's kinda what I'm talking about, though. It seems like we're on the higher end of things already, and I was curious what our limitations (and remedies) may be going forward as we continue to increase HP.

oh ya and the sway bar and strut bar stuff the OP was talking about, is that true or been confirmed?

I'm the OP, and at least from what I read searching around on Google, stiffening the rear helps decrease understeer, and stiffening the front can actually increase it. I didn't know if that was true either, so if anyone has any more input on it, that'd be great.

[dangeris]

258lb-ft of torque is closing in on the LIMIT without a proper limited slip differential for our car. Our Altima has the 2nd highest power to weight ratio of all the FWD cars currently available to the north American market.http://www.automobilemag.com/f....html

but with a proper LSD you can go on a lot more HP and tq and still negate understeer and keep great handling. the stock 6MT transmission can hold a lot more HP so no worries there.

Mecheddadi,..you really need to get a turbo on that coupe and let us know the handling with the HLSD BTW,..not sure if you know but Carlisle just posted new rules...something about altima coupes with HLSD not being able to do the auto-X.

[mcheddadi]

Mecheddadi,..you really need to get a turbo on that coupe and let us know the handling with the HLSD BTW,..not sure if you know but Carlisle just posted new rules...something about altima coupes with HLSD not being able to do the auto-X.

LOOOL! impossible to verify so they can't stop me haha lol

next auto-X with the coilover + hlsd + beefy RSB, i'm aiming for sub 1min time

wtf? we're talking about FWD and power and out of no where mehdi just happens to have a chart for all the 2008, FWD, power to weight ratios lol

oh yeah

I'm the OP, and at least from what I read searching around on Google, stiffening the rear helps decrease understeer, and stiffening the front can actually increase it. I didn't know if that was true either, so if anyone has any more input on it, that'd be great.

yeah it does, it makes the car tripod and shift its weight to the opposite side of where the beefiest swaybar is. so if you got a big one in the back (lol...) the rear inner wheel will lift and the front will have a LOT more weight on them so you get more traction upfront and less in the back = OVERSTEER JOY

[LinkNuc]

Oh they are slow and underpowered thats the SS they are talking about...which still ain't all that

[mastersapo]

I think its important to note that the 2.5 altima on that list is from 2007 and thus a 4-dr. I believe the weight on the 2008 3.5 altima is also that of the 4-dr...