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          A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Wheel Track







Assignment

This measurement has a strong influence on the driving safety. The wider the wheel track is, the better the chasis is supported by the outside of the wheels. At the same time however, the steering lock-to-lock of the front wheels must also be increased, to prevent the turning circle of the vehicle becoming too large, making the vehicle difficult to manoeuvre. With front-wheel drive vehicles this is only possible to a certain extent because of the defraction angle of the joints.

Function

The wheel track is the distance between the center of the right- and the center of the left wheel of one axle. The handling characteristics can be influenced when the front- and rear axle have differing wheel tracks. The constructor can combat understeering (front-end break-out) in vehicles by having a greater wheel track at the front, and oversteering, (rear-end break-out) with a greater wheel track at the rear. A larger wheel track on the front axle (e.g., by using different wheel rims) reduces the steering offset.

Example 1.

If one ignores all the other possible influences, the fact is, that a greater wheel track stabilises the respective axle when cornering better than a smaller one does. One good example is an oldtimer, the Citroen ID 19. It has a fairly heavy front-wheel drive, and thus, the tendency to understeer. If one looks at the car from the rear, along the side, the greater wheel track of the front axle can be seen clearly, this gives the car more support and a more neutral handling.

Example 2.

A large crane must be kept secure on the ground in a certain position by extension arms, otherwise it can tip over when lifting heavy weights. A wider wheel track does something similar when cornering. Similar to a longer extension, the wider wheeltrack supports the vehicle better. The roll-angle is lower and the outside wheel, in a curve, reaches it's contact limit later. The axle of this vehicle does not break out that quickly.

Example 3.

Perhaps you can remember the disaster of the 'Elk-test' with the introduction of the Mercedes A-class. The Smart suffered exactly the same fate. If you look at todays (now modified) Smart, you'll see that the wheels have been placed on the extreme corners of the vehicle, whereby, it doesn't even have (in the standard version) particularly wide tyres. We can conclude: As great a wheel track as possible, and of course, also a long wheelbase improves the handling stability. 03/10




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Translator: Don Leslie - Email: lesdon@t-online.de

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