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If you want to see some even more insane steering angles, check out drift cars. They've been doing this for a while now. Even discounting the parking & u-turn

If you want to see some even more insane steering angles, check out drift cars. They've been doing this for a while now. Even discounting the parking & u-turn use cases, the amount of extra control you get at the extremes with more steering angle can be pretty remarkable. It took me a long time to figure out why so many cars in downtown Houston had super fucked up tire arrangements (extreme camber, sticking out really far, etc). Apparently drifting setups are kind of a big deal in the car community now. Makes a lot more sense once you understand the engineering and use cases.

mwint 4y ago
Huh, I always thought they did that because someone (mistakenly) thought it looked cool. The extreme camber actually does help with a measurable aspect of handling?
- photoGrant 4y ago
  Of course. The more sideways you are the more you’d still like your wheels to point the direction of intended travel!
- tristor 4y ago
  There are two completely disparate car communities that use camber. 1. People who need negative camber to support high traction while drifting or in tight turns on a race track. (this is the minority unfortunately) 2. Stance kids who think it looks cool and put "most locally hated" stickers on their car and post about it constantly on TikTok. (this is the majority, unfortunately). There are very few track-driven vehicles running more than -6 degrees of camber in the front, meanwhile it is commonplace to see stance cars with -10 degrees or more of camber. My race car runs -4.5 in the front, as an example, and my buddy's drift car is running -6.
  - bluedino 4y ago
    Where does the 225 tire on a 10" wheel come in? I ask because drag racers will run a 275mm on a 14 or 15 inch wheel so there must be a reason the wannabe drift kids do it.
    - neuralRiot 4y ago
      The drag racers use such tire/rim ratio to make a flexible connection to the ground and improve traction. This https://ssl.c.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000uzO7iSXj_JU/fit=1000x750/20120504-nhra-1297.jpg https://ssl.c.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000uzO7iSXj_JU/fit... is whathappen when your only way to transmit 10k Hp to the ground is 2 pieces of rubber.
    - mulmen 4y ago
      Short sidewalls ostensibly offer better cornering because there is less deflection in the sidewall. They also enable the use of larger brakes. Drag racers don't care about this since they don't turn unless something has gone wrong and they have lots of room to slow down. In drag racing the sidewall is used like a coil spring to capture torque before moving forward and then transmit it to the course. Stance kids and all their variants do things because it looks good to them.
    - King-Aaron 4y ago
      So in the earlier days of the drift scene, a lot of cars ran small, stretched tires to allow the car to slide easier. Smaller tyre has less grip, and the stretch stiffens the sidewall. When you've got a relatively low powered car this helped a lot. These days a lot of drift drivers opt for more traditional tire sizing with the aim of getting more grip - as cars get faster and entry speeds into corners also get faster, you want more grip to sustain better angle. The 'stance' look that you see with people stretching tyres is kind of a throwback to those early days, with a bit more of a focus on form over function. Personally it isn't my thing.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  In extreme conditions, yes. But in normal conditions and if you care about tire wear it is a net negative.
Kirby64 4y ago
Donut Media (big YouTube channel) has a series of videos that have been uploaded quite recently showing the installation of some of the drift car parts needed to do this super high steering angle gear. They do drifting after the installs and you can see how big an impact it has on maneuverability. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L73giZ75jTU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L73giZ75jTU
replygirl 4y ago
most knuckles on drift builds are between 60 and 70 degrees--putting 80 on a RWD electric car is just a great way for the average driver to spin when they try to avoid a collision

mwint 4y ago

Huh, I always thought they did that because someone (mistakenly) thought it looked cool. The extreme camber actually does help with a measurable aspect of handling?

photoGrant 4y ago
Of course. The more sideways you are the more you’d still like your wheels to point the direction of intended travel!
tristor 4y ago
There are two completely disparate car communities that use camber. 1. People who need negative camber to support high traction while drifting or in tight turns on a race track. (this is the minority unfortunately) 2. Stance kids who think it looks cool and put "most locally hated" stickers on their car and post about it constantly on TikTok. (this is the majority, unfortunately). There are very few track-driven vehicles running more than -6 degrees of camber in the front, meanwhile it is commonplace to see stance cars with -10 degrees or more of camber. My race car runs -4.5 in the front, as an example, and my buddy's drift car is running -6.
- bluedino 4y ago
  Where does the 225 tire on a 10" wheel come in? I ask because drag racers will run a 275mm on a 14 or 15 inch wheel so there must be a reason the wannabe drift kids do it.
  - neuralRiot 4y ago
    The drag racers use such tire/rim ratio to make a flexible connection to the ground and improve traction. This https://ssl.c.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000uzO7iSXj_JU/fit=1000x750/20120504-nhra-1297.jpg https://ssl.c.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000uzO7iSXj_JU/fit... is whathappen when your only way to transmit 10k Hp to the ground is 2 pieces of rubber.
  - mulmen 4y ago
    Short sidewalls ostensibly offer better cornering because there is less deflection in the sidewall. They also enable the use of larger brakes. Drag racers don't care about this since they don't turn unless something has gone wrong and they have lots of room to slow down. In drag racing the sidewall is used like a coil spring to capture torque before moving forward and then transmit it to the course. Stance kids and all their variants do things because it looks good to them.
  - King-Aaron 4y ago
    So in the earlier days of the drift scene, a lot of cars ran small, stretched tires to allow the car to slide easier. Smaller tyre has less grip, and the stretch stiffens the sidewall. When you've got a relatively low powered car this helped a lot. These days a lot of drift drivers opt for more traditional tire sizing with the aim of getting more grip - as cars get faster and entry speeds into corners also get faster, you want more grip to sustain better angle. The 'stance' look that you see with people stretching tyres is kind of a throwback to those early days, with a bit more of a focus on form over function. Personally it isn't my thing.
jacquesm 4y ago
In extreme conditions, yes. But in normal conditions and if you care about tire wear it is a net negative.

Kirby64 4y ago

Donut Media (big YouTube channel) has a series of videos that have been uploaded quite recently showing the installation of some of the drift car parts needed to do this super high steering angle gear. They do drifting after the installs and you can see how big an impact it has on maneuverability. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L73giZ75jTU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L73giZ75jTU

replygirl 4y ago

most knuckles on drift builds are between 60 and 70 degrees--putting 80 on a RWD electric car is just a great way for the average driver to spin when they try to avoid a collision