Twitchy LSD?

[mgro]

In last sunday's Top Gear (UK tv show) the presenter made a comment about the Focus RS2000. He stated the Quaife differential made the ride "twitchy". Can anyone help me understand this statement, and perhaps shed some light on the difference in the "feel" of the Quaife vs the Honda LSD?

Regards,

Mark.

[BXSI]

no idea what twitchy means, but i have the quaife lsd in my b16 tranny and let me tell you it is my favorite mod on my car besides the supercharger of course. I am on stock suspension, and with the quaife it feels like i did an entire suspension upgrade. I can only imagine what it will be like once i start modifing my suspension. Twitchy is the muscles in my back when i go retarded speeds around turns barely screeching tires. The honda lsd in the itr tranny is suposed to be just as good as the quaife, but i would still opt for the quaife.

[gsrteggie]

i have no clue, except that he felt the car was not very stable under hard acceleration. Who knows..... My phantom Grip isnt twitchy... hehe

[klintman]

thats a pretty ambiguous statement . i think the source of the comment is the only entity who could explain it w/ authority .

i would postulate however that because the quaife has a more agressive or direct action the driver may need to take more control of the power delivery . the stock 1.5 way helical lsd's are usually not effective until very heavy acceleration or cornering forces occur . there is a general misconception that mechanical lsd's function like some of their electronic counterparts in keeping the car in control when the car is being outdriven or overdriven . while a mech lsd will increase the cars ability to put effective power down during cornering it wont necessarily make the vehicle more forgiving to driver error . in fact because the high performance lsd's can put power to the ground more effectively stepping on the gas too hard or at the wrong moment can make thing get real hecty real fast . the factory lsd's are designed to be pretty weak in action for this reason .

[mgro]

Klintman: thanks for your reply.
I think the offending entity is a good driver, so if he'd pushed the car past the (high) limit the Quaife allows for, I'd expect him to know whats going on... [img]smile.gif[/img]
I was thinking along the lines of a problem with the combination of engine, diff, suspension and tyres. Perhaps pushing the system to the limit can cause oscillations- after all, the diff has to have some kind of negative feedback mechanism which can oscillate when the whole system is poorly designed. With some phantasy I can imagine that leading to a "twitchy" ride. Based on the other reactions on this and other boards I guess this problem doesn't occur in Hondas for some reason. Before I invest I want to understand why.

Thanks,
Mark.

[cpa]

I wouldn't let one commentator's vague statement stop you from investing in the Quaife. I'd also agree that it was the best thing I did other than the charger, and it makes that much more of an impact because of the extra power from the charger - you can actually put it to the ground.