My question is, is it better to have your BACK wheels lock up BEFORE the front wheels do? I always thought the front wheels were supossed to lock up first. This is of course on non-abs cars. Its actually a friend of mine with an MR2 that is arguing with me..but it should be the same concept.
Anyone explain this to me?

 

well you would want your front to lock up first. the weight of the car is on the front and it's easier to control a understeer situation than a oversteer lock up condition. that's just my thoughts.

 

Back wheels generally lock up first because of weight shift, especially FWD cars. It's a lot harder to lock up wheels holding more weight. This is why aircraft dont brake until they slow down and start losing lift created by the wing, thereby putting more weight on the tires. Ttherwise the tires will smoke up and ignite. This is generally a bad thing!

 

It's only better to have the rears lock first if you want to rotate the car - good for autocross, bad for street. If the front tires lock first at least the car will go fairly straight.

Dave