Anytime I lose traction while accelerating it is always the driver's side wheel. (I know an LSD would fix it, but I can't afford it) It did it with my 18's and Nitto's and now its doing it with my 16's and Yokohama's. Is it the same for everbody else or does your passenger side wheel spin sometimes?

 

It's different for me...I love it.

Just depends on the road.

 

If both wheels have the same traction, then it will always be the driver's side wheel that breaks loose because of the shorter axle on the driver's side. A shorter axle will transmit more torque to a wheel for a given amount of twist than a longer axle.

 

Good stuff. That makes a lot of sense. But I forgot to mention that it also does it in turns, both left and right. Always the damn driver-side wheel.

 

Maybe the driveshaft support bearing, located on on the passenger driveshaft, is going bad and causing the drivers' side to spin. I know VW makes the shorter shaft thinner than the longer shaft to compensate for the car pulling to one side under heavy acceleration, then suddenly pulling to the other and then back again under a hard shift.

Sure sounds like something's wrong if the left wheel spins on right turns!

You could always try soaking the right tire in clorox!

 

Are you stick or auto? Just wondering.
Also positraction or whatever is gay. If I am to "peel" out in my Durango, only the right rear tire spins... Theres a way to get rid of it but I dont know how.

Also in my '97 SE 5-speed, ive never had the "one-wheel-of-doom" problem.

 

3 pedals for me

Timmax - Thanks for the insight into the bearing. I never thought about that. I'm going to really push it through some right-handers this weekend to see if it consistently does it every single time. If so, I'm still under warranty so I'll tkae it in to get looked at. I just don't know how I'm going to explain how I diagnosed the problem. I'm just expecting a "what the hell are you doing to this car" look from the dealer.

 

Is this what causes torque-steer? (Sorry if it sounds like a newbie-question!)

 

Exactly (not a Newbie question, BTW)

 

Okay, hopefully this follow-up question is not a "newbie" one either then... does the LSD/VLSD serve to reduce the torque-steer?

No flames please unless person replying yells "Fore" or "Fire in the hole" first!

 

Good question, actually, but I don't think a LSD/VLSD will do anything about torque steer because there is no slip involved with torque steer.

 

Well, it’s official. It rained this weekend so I had ample opportunity to test it out in the turns. The left wheel ALWAYS spins instead of it switching back and forth depending on conditions. Its pretty scary in right hand turns when the outer wheel starts spinning. It just pushes the front end completely out.
So here is my follow-up question. I am under warranty up to 84K and I need to know how to take this in to the dealer and have them address the problem without them looking at me like I’m some crazy hot-rodding retard. (When I asked him about their unavailibility of an 02 sensor and its effect on my gas mileage, he said it really shouldn't matter to me since I have an intake, 18-inch rims, and a "zoomy" muffler ) I also need to know if there is something that could be wrong with the factory differential that could be causing this or if it could be something with the driveshaft support bearing like Timmax suggested? Thanks in advance guys.

 

Yes, VLSD will help with torque steer.

"Nissan offers a "Viscous Limited-Slip Differential" or (VLSD) which they say, "improves traction under various driving conditions and provides directional stability in hard cornering situations by automatically distributing engine torque to the driving wheel with the most traction. In vehicles equipped with VLSD, the sealed differential housing is filled with temperature-sensitive, silicone-based fluid and contains two sets of interlacing plates, connected to either drive wheel. If one wheel begins to spin, that set of plates will turn much faster. This increased friction causes the fluid to heat and expand, forcing the plates together, which allows the slower-turning plates to absorb torque from the spinning wheel." The "limited" slip means the system is set up to decide when it needs to lock into place to send power to the needed tire."

-A

 

A torque biasing differential like the Quaife will help with torque steer, but not a vlsd, the reason being that there is no wheel slip involved with torque steer, and only a minute (if any) difference in the rotational velocity of the two shafts. If there is little or no relative velocity between the shafts there is no viscous friction developed in the vlsd to counteract torque steer.

Torque steer arises from a preferential flow of torque to the shorter, stiffer driver's side shaft to the wheel. The difference in torque results in a tendency for the car to turn away from the wheel with the most torque applied, due to the unbalanced wheel forces and also partly due to steering geometry. Torque steer can be corrected by making the shorter drive shaft smaller in diameter so that the overall stiffness of the shafts, determined by diameter and length, are equal. Or with a torque biasing differential like the Quaife.