Understeer and Oversteer

Understeer and oversteer are two such arcane terms used by reviewers. These terms describe how it handles when you push it beyond the limit of tyre grip.

It's worth remembering, people who drive more slowly will not fall victim to over- or understeer and, on modern cars, there is a raft of safety equipment to make absolutely sure the below eventualities do not happen. Still confused? Let us help ...

Understeer - what is it?
This is when the car's front wheels lose grip through a corner due to excessive speed. This causes the front end to push towards the outside of the corner and for steering to become useless.

Understeer - what causes it?
Understeer occurs when front tires start slipping. This happens when the front tires are asked to turn while also managing a lot of braking or speed. If you 're going rather fast or braking very hard and trying to turn the wheel, the extra momentum can cause the front tires to slip in the direction you are traveling so, instead of turning, the car plows straight on.

Understeer - what is it?
This is when the car's front wheels lose grip through a corner due to excessive speed. This causes the front end to push towards the outside of the corner and for steering to become useless.

Understeer - what causes it?
Understeer occurs when front tires start slipping. This happens when the front tires are asked to turn while also managing a lot of braking or speed. If you 're going rather fast or braking very hard and trying to turn the wheel, the extra momentum can cause the front tires to slip in the direction you are traveling so, instead of turning, the car plows straight on.

Oversteer - what is it?
Oversteer is an extremely similar set of circumstances to understeer, but affecting the back of the car. It's the tendency in powerful rear-wheel drive cars to back the front to want to overtake the front during cornering. If you've ever seen an episode of Top Gear, the presenters rarely test a fast car without performing some sort of oversteer. Professional racing drivers are trained to hold the car in this state in the sport of drifting.

Oversteer - what causes it?
Oversteer normally occurs on cars that drive the rear wheels and happens when the car is turning and the driver applies more power than the tires can deal with. This makes the tires slip and try to push in the opposite direction to the turn, kicking the back end of the car out. The same effect can happen by braking too hard while turning or by suddenly removing your foot from the throttle.

Oversteer looks great on a racetrack or at a drift competition, as the rear of the car slithers about and billows tire smoke into the stands, but it's not as fun on a public road as it usually foreshadows a very big accident.

Oversteer - how to stop it?
Much the same advice applies as for understeer - slow down! The power oversteer is often caused by the driver speeding too fast in the corner, so if you're at this stage, you need to reduce your speed. If you're unlucky enough to get into an oversteer situation, try to remember some basic tips - keep looking and steering in the direction you want to go and do not suddenly jump off the accelerator or slam on the brakes. If you can, try to modulate the throttle to gradually bring yourself to a halt.

While all road cars are prone to understeer, in the rear-wheel driven ones you will need to watch oversteer too, so take particular care if you're an inexperienced or not particularly confident driver if you buy a car that drives the rear wheels. It should go without saying, do not deactivate your traction or stability control unless you're at a racetrack.




Other advice
In cold, rainy weather, a car's willingness to oversteer or understeer is greatly increased because there's less friction between tire and road. This is even worse in the snow and always pay close attention to weather conditions.

Since tires are a significant component of the phenomenon, make sure that you are always at the appropriate pressure and sufficient tread depth to deal with surface water. If your car is starting to display more oversteer or understeer than usual, check your tires and also consider having checked wheel alignment.