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Asked: Dec 27, 2007 - 01:22 PM

Status: Closed

What is torque steer?

What is torque steer and is there any way to eliminate it? My Grand Prix pulls to the right when I accelerate. My friend tells me this is something called torque steer.

In Maintenance & Repair > Steering
In Maintenance & Repair > Suspension
5 answers - 25 days ago

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madmanmoo

Date: Dec 31, 2007
Time: 11:47 AM

Your friend got it right. The engines power is pulling your steering. The only way to eliminate this is to not stomp on the accelerator so hard or trade-in for a new vehicle!

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aznraptor

Date: Jan 10, 2008
Time: 02:49 AM

Torque steer is when a transversly mounted engine *side ways* particularly front wheel drive vehicles steer to a certain direction. It's caused by the engine making too much power. Since one side will always be more efficient at putting power from the engine down to the ground, that side will accelerate faster than the other side, leading to torque steer.
In general, the only way you could fix it would be to be less aggressive with the throttle. You can help alleviate some of the symptoms with aftermarket suspension pieces, better tires, and probably performance driveshafts. But that's expensive so for the Average driver: just dont be so aggressive, or get ready and fight the wheel when you stomp on the gas

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actualsize

Date: Mar 26, 2008
Time: 12:02 AM

Torque steer in front wheel drive vehicles is mainly due to the offset of the transmission to one side. The drive axles are unequal in length, so one will twist more than the other, resulting in a delay or lag the side with the longer axle. More power (torque, actually) applied more quickly results in more of a problem.

Automakers have multiple solutions for this. One is to increase the diameter of the longer axle, so that its angle of twist equals the other side. But the two are only equal at one level of torque. Very high stompage on the pedal will still result in an imbalance.

Another is to put an inflexible intermediate shaft from the transmission output on the long side to a fixed "pillow block," positioned on the opposite side so that both drive axles are the same length. This eats up space and costs money, so you won't see it in low-priced cars, but it enables a lot more torque to be applied

The third is more subtle, and hard to execute. But if the transmission output axis is substantially higher than the hub centerline, torque steer is worsened. The only cure here is to lower the transmission output flanges, but this isn't always possible.

You can't make any of these mods yourself. Whatever the designers did or did not put in your car is what you've got. But you can look under the hood of any new FWD vehicle you might be considering for purchase to see what's up. Meanwhile, don't stomp too hard on the pedal.

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cramton80

Date: Apr 07, 2008
Time: 02:19 PM

this is more apparent if front wheel drive cars because the power is put upfront and pulls the cars steering. the fix can only be eliminated when the car is manufactured. the only way to somewhat remedy it is with dampers. costly and does not get rid of it completely. best thing to do is when test driving a car pull out onto a street and if you feel like you have to hold onto the steering wheel for dear life and force it to not go out of contol do not buy this car as a sports car for racing.

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vsisco

Date: Aug 10, 2008
Time: 08:01 PM

torque steer is common on front wheel drive as to when you acelerate the car takes off to the right no big deal just stay off the gas

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