(car engine revs)
(tires squeal)
(onlookers shouting)
- In case you're wondering if we're all young bucks,
we're not, because Steve wears knee braces
outside of his pants.
Let that sink in really quick that we have a videographer
that wears his knee brace outside of his pants.
He's like 49,000 years old.
Hey, guys, what's going on?
It's Alex from Fitment Industries
and today we're talking about rookie mistakes
when driving a fast car
because it's better to drive a slow car fast
than a fast car slow.
(car engine revs)
(smooth music)
(car engine revs)
That doesn't make any sense in today's day and age,
especially when we're talking about the mistakes
that you're gonna make when you're driving a fast car fast,
but if you've ever stayed around long enough
to catch all the cars leaving from Cars n'Coffee,
You probably have seen one or two cars decide
to jump a median, smoke a curb.
(tires squealing)
Usually it's some person that has no idea
what it is that they're driving
but they had the money to buy it so then they did.
Typically, we as car enthusiasts
don't start out with cars like that.
We actually usually end up with something
really slow, like a Cavalier,
and we decide to maybe go into a faster car, like a WRX,
so then our hopes are high
until we realize that actually,
really a WRX is not inherently that fast
just right out of the gate with stock modifications.
And you get a little bit older
so then you get a faster car.
The next thing you know, you're driving a GTR,
or a Mustang, or a Camaro,
or maybe an AMG or maybe whatever car
you dreamt about as a little kid
and now you can actually afford.
And, of course,
this car is gonna both drive and feel
a lot different then any other car
that you've owned in the past.
Not really a Cavalier anymore, is it Jerry?
You're driving something that's a little bit quicker
on the wheel, and a little bit scootier
underneath the tushie.
You're gonna have some issues,
which means that there should be probably some things
you have to keep in mind if you don't want to end up
on the next viral crash compilation on YouTube,
or maybe you're just, somehow the kid that's 16-years-old
that gets a 2020 Camaro that comes
standard with like 400 horsepower, or which in case
you're just a lucky bitch.
Oh yeah, wheels, tires, suspension,
fitmentindustries.com, you get it, but subscribe.
Alright, so the first tip, numero uno,
is know your drivetrain.
There's a difference between front-wheel drive,
rear-wheel drive, and all-wheel drive.
And the differences are substantial.
So if you have a front-wheel drive vehicle,
you are more than likely to get picked on,
and I'm sorry.
Along with that, if you're gonna have a fast
front-wheel drive vehicle, you're gonna have some issues
with torque steering.
Maybe a small amount or maybe a large amount,
but in regardless, torque steer is something
that is very finicky, and it can put you
into another lane.
Who knows, so torque steer.
You remember it because, I remember, you probably
dropped a gear with your first car
that was front-wheel drive and you felt torque steer.
Torque steer's a common issue with front-wheel drive cars
because the engine, trans, and diff are usually
combined into one neat and tidy package in the engine bay.
Obviously, the weight of this can't be distributed
evenly, and typically the trans is hanging off
one or more of the other, and which it makes it
less centered between the actual wheels,
and makes for an unequal length half shafts.
Because everything is a little uneven,
one wheel typically puts down power
quicker and more efficiently which will cause the vehicle
to veer in that direction under heavy load.
After the initial shock of the torque steer,
the half struts snap back into sync,
and the vehicle settles down a bit.
That's why you typically only feel it
when you're accelerating quickly,
which means it's only gonna be worse
on a high horsepower car.
Torque steering is actually a lot of fun, kind of.
It's like kind of having fun when you're staring off a cliff
with no guard rail.
It's cool, but there's still a feeling
in your gut that you're gonna (beep) something up.
Usually people don't really desire
a front-wheel drive car because typically,
front-wheel drive cars
are generally wanted for their ability
to get through snow better.
To get better fuel economy, it'll just be a better
economy car in general, which makes for not, really,
an enthusiast car.
Unless you're getting a stripped EG hatch,
which is just (beep) awesome.
However, when you get into rear-wheel drive
and an all-wheel drive car, that's when you really start
to have some fun.
Get some magic.
Magic.
With those platforms, because rear-wheel drive cars
have the weight of the vehicle evenly spread out
better, not perfectly, but so the balance
of the vehicle, as a whole, is just that much better.
Because the rear-wheels are actually the ones
that are getting power, the transmission components
are much more balanced out throughout the car.
Makes it a better driving experience,
and it just makes the handling that much better.
Which is why you find most performance vehicles
coming in a rear-wheel drive transmission.
And because all rear-wheel drive vehicles
have much better handling,
turns and corners make for a very fun experience.
Also, you're gonna have a good old time just doing burnouts
and donuts, and doing a little bit of over-steering,
because over-steering is the, it's just the cat's (beep),
it's the most fun you can probably do,
it's the most fun to just lose traction
and kick the (beep) end of your car
every once in a while.
It's like the coolest thing to do, that's why
everybody does it at Cars n'Coffee, and car shows,
and then they realize that they are driving
a 700 horsepower Dodge, and then they just slam it
into an electrical pole, and then they wonder
how did this happen?
A lot of that over-steer, they happen a lot more frequently
if you're not prepared for it, and there's a couple things
you wanna know if you're over-steering
that you don't get super hurt.
There's a reason why you see the videos of people
crashing into stuff, and it's typically, almost always,
90% a rear-wheel drive vehicle.
And that's because since they're the most exciting platform,
they're also one of the most difficult to handle.
rear-wheel drive vehicles are aimed towards
the testosterone that's built in all of us,
because it just is (beep) fun.
It's just a good time.
It is great.
There's nothing better than a good old classic burnout
of the rear ski rubbers, hands down,
just, mm, can't argue with it.
You just can't do it.
But hey, over-steer happens.
You just gotta be careful with it.
Now if you have an all-wheel drive car,
this is where it gets really funky,
because all the wheels are getting power
rather than just two.
So the vehicle's gonna get pretty much
the maximum amount of traction as possible.
That also means that all-wheel drive cars
can have a couple issues in and of itself.
Really, all-wheel drive vehicles are the best
to take in difficult terrain and weather,
because they're gonna handle it the best
and push through it.
While rear-wheel drive cars are more often than not
going to get stuck in the ditch unless they have
snow tires, in which case, snow tires
are the magical get out of jail free card,
and just make everything work.
But if someone has a fast all-wheel drive vehicle
with a ton of power, they're gonna have to watch
their launches, since power is going to be sent
to all-wheels, it's pretty much just very,
it's like a quick route
to just break axles.
Which, is not fun, and happens all the time.
So make sure that you're aware if you're getting
into the drivetrain with a high horsepower,
or you're modifying or buying a car
with a high horsepower number
that's an all-wheel drive platform,
you'll wanna make sure that those parts were treated
correctly because if they haven't you're in for a bad time
like I was when I blew up my rear axles
going to my first Cars n'Coffee with my Datsun.
And ended up just welding it back together
to just get it home.
Now, obviously since the car is fast compared
to previous cars, this one probably
has some oomf behind it.
Therefore, the car's gonna be a little bit
more difficult to control sometimes.
So this goes back to the point that I made previously
that you're gonna need to know how your car acts
and being able to control it and counter it.
Not only for the safety of others, but like, your pride.
Mostly.
It's mostly your pride.
Like if you messed up anything else, like when
you mess up in a video game, you're pretty much like,
you get seven people that look at you
in the game that judge you, but like if you do it
in front of like a group of people, now you're known
forever as that guy.
Not all platforms will behave the same.
front-wheel drive had the torque steer,
rear-wheel drive had the over-steer,
and just generally a very difficult thing to control
once they get too loose and they don't grab traction
enough in time and then they over-counter,
and then all-wheel drive just have a tendency to just
break a lot, especially with high horsepower applications,
and sometimes you can actually anticipate some lack
of traction if your tires aren't capable of
handling the power that you have.
But it's important to know
that not all horsepower numbers really matter
because this isn't high school anymore.
Horsepower is not the only number that you should
be paying attention to.
A Camaro with the same amount of horsepower as an E55
aren't gonna behave the same
just because they have the same amount of power.
They're gonna act a little bit differently
depending on the platform, the length, the weight,
how you drive it, what tires you got on it,
everything in between.
Typically, when you guys get a fast car
right out of the box, somebody wants to go and modify it
to make it faster and faster.
However, if you don't have the experience
with performance cars, and you're just getting
into the middle ground of driving a fast car,
and you're trying to make it a faster car
with modifications, you're playing
a whole new ball game, sport.
And you're probably not gonna just, you're not gonna have,
you're not gonna win.
It's not gonna be a good time.
But you're modifying a fast car, quality of parts
need to be purchased and installed correctly,
so (beep) just not gonna blow up, or if you do
end up installing it incorrectly, it's just not gonna work.
Fast cars are naturally more finicky
and they need to be modified correctly
or something will go seriously wrong and ruin the car,
especially when working with performance aspects
of that same car.
For example, if somebody typically knows the stock limits
of the vehicle and they just do a few bolt-ons
and they're done, that's fine because they understand
the car's platform.
However, somebody goes and does bolts on and slaps
a big old turbskey on it to modify it
to the sky without building the engine,
it's gonna blow up, and it's inevitable,
and if it's not gonna blow up,
you are going to kill yourself, and that's not fun.
And probably the final rookie mistake when you're driving
a fast car is not keeping an eye on your tires.
Now, if somebody has a fast car, they're gonna need
good tires on it, otherwise you're just not,
you're not gonna have a great experience
unless you just plan on burning them off all the time.
Tires are what give the car traction, and not only
make it faster, but they help keep the driver safe
around the corners, and everything in terms of spinning
and running out of area, not running out of area,
but running out of road.
So it's important to get the right tires,
and the right size tires,
and quality of tires so they last a long time.
If you're driving on poopy tires because you like
doing burnouts, you're gonna wanna be even more careful
that you're not doing something silly
in front of everybody so yo don't run into a tree.
If somebody has a high horsepower car
with skinny tires on, they're not gonna be much
of a contact patch to deal with,
and a lot of times people do that
when they end up going to get wheels or tires
for their high horsepower car.
Because they want to make something special fit,
or they've decided to get something used,
and it doesn't fit perfectly.
When you're going into the big boy league,
you gotta pay the big boy prices, and you kinda
have to put up with the big boy problem.
But if you don't have a good sticky compound
for a tire, you're really not going to get anywhere
and you're not gonna be able to enjoy the car.
The problem is, is that your inner 12-year-old
is going to want to enjoy the car regardless on
whether you have nice tires or not,
and that is a really common mistake
that a lot of people make,
because they're not gonna be thinking about their tires
when somebody's yelling from the side of the road
to do a burnout.
Because if you're 18 years old, or 22, or 35-years-old,
there will never be a time that somebody doesn't yell
"Do a burnout," and you're not gonna contemplate thinking.
You know what, maybe I should do a burnout.
So that being said, if you guys are looking to get
into fast cars and you're planning on driving
a fast car fast, you're probably gonna wanna make sure
that you know what the hell that you're doing,
especially with the newer stuff.
There's so many things out there that make these cars
do what they do, and a lot of times,
nobody actually knows how they drive.
That's why a lot of times you see even the best of the best
mess up in cars when they're going to tracks
or running it around.
You've seen Jeremy Clarkson go out a few times,
you've seen Richard Hammond just decide to drive
off of a mountain before.
Sometimes, it just happens, and a lot of times
that happens because they underestimate the capabilities
of a car that they're driving, and that's a lot of times
the reason that a lot of people end up getting in crashes,
making mistakes, or ending up doing something
that they shouldn't have done with the car
that they barely knew.
So, if I could sum it up, in like,
five words for you in this video.
Be safe out there, bud.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries, don't forget to subscribe.
If you're looking for wheels, tires, suspension:
fitmentindstries.com.
I'm Alex. (sighs)
We will see you later.
Goodbye.
(gentle music)