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YOUR RESEARCHHow to best corner with a C4 or 4S.
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psm trying
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Until you do, it's difficult to determine how much of the understeer you're feeling is due to PSM trying to keep you from winding up in a ditch.
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When you're running tires with no sidewall like my 20" wheels require, PSM fires off unexpectedly a LOT.
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So I've had my 04 4S cab about 2 months and have started getting used to the feel. Great car.
I have a couple favorite turns (one left and one right). Both are 90 degrees. I've gotten pretty good about braking late, blip throttle, drop to third and steady power through the turn. It seems to get a lot of front end push at the limit. I can usually get about 37 MPH on my right hander and about 45-47 on my left hander.
My question is how to best corner in it? Any tips to take advantage of the all wheel drive in these scenarios? This is for road not track.
BTW - I'm planning on a Porsche DE course in a few weeks.
Best to "pre-charge" the AWD functionality via driving a few tight circles...
VC does not "stiffen" unless there is desparate drive line rotation rates front vs rear.
IF it's safe
to do so, you may want to try those corners with PSM disabled - or find a safe place to fool around with PSM disabled, if your car is so equipped. Until you do, it's difficult to determine how much of the understeer you're feeling is due to PSM trying to keep you from winding up in a ditch. Backward. On fire.
FWIW, I'd be in second at those speeds to be set up to power out of the corner, but that's all dependent on posted speed limits and/or your willingness to ignore them. You'll definitely feel more involvement with the AWD system when making more power in the higher RPM range.
I was thinking the same thing. I suppose you could hypothetically "warm up" the fluid in the viscous coupling by doing something that diverts power to the front wheels, but my understanding of the guts of the viscous coupling is sketchy at best.
slow in fast out. register for a track event and turn psm off or it will do spooky things mid corner like tap the brakes in a 90 mph sweeper. If you really want to make the car turn you can get a more aggressive alignment for starters. But be careful before you know it you will be shopping for coilovers, semi-solid mounts, camber plates, and rcomp tires. Ask me how I know
Amen. When you're running tires with no sidewall like my 20" wheels require, PSM fires off unexpectedly a LOT.
Yup, nothing instills confidence when you're right on the edge of adhesion like feeling the ABS pump start kicking when your foot isn't near the brakes. Mrs. Schnell can vouch that it's equally unsettling for a passenger when you're blasting down a mountain.
I don't have much seat time in a AWD 996 but enough to realize the benifit of working with your equipment instead of against it. Slow in fast out goes double for AWD. When you get it right you can feel the front axle pulling you out of the turn.
Things I've learned:
- slow in fast out
- try PSM off in safe place
- she will bite you
- try entering corner in 2nd gear
- get some track time/DE
Thanks all.
I don't know if "tearing out all of the FWD components" is consistent with "working with your equipment," but that's the route I went. I'm much happier with the simplicity of "hard corner + lift = snap oversteer" than I was with "hard corner + lift + AWD + PSM = ?".
I'm not bemoaning the C4, though - the stiffness of this car is awesome.
This is very true in a full-time AWD, and especially true in a car where you can dial in the F/R bias, but in a car with a viscous coupling, you only get the benefit of the FWD when you're losing grip in the rear. Feeling all four tires scrabbing for grip in a real AWD car is awesome...less so in the C4. In my unsolicited opinion, the AWD in the C4 feels much more like a safety feature than, say, a WRX where the AWD is meant to help you tear across whatever terrain you might be driving on.
If your PCA offers it, sign up for a performance driving school that includes skidpad time. Getting to know how the car handles once you lose grip at the slower speeds a skidpad provides is invaluable IMO.
Yes more negative camber front and rear. The front end will turn in much better and the rear grip will be increased when leaving a corner. With rear weight bias our cars are able to get on the gas earlier than front engine cars. This actually levels the playing field a bit. Front engine cars can typically carry more speed into a corner without worrying about swapping ends but they have to gradually apply throttle on way out.
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