Weight transfer

A car's weight does not move, but the load on each tire does. Braking shifts load to the front tires; accelerating shifts it to the rear; cornering shifts it to the outside tires. You feel it as the nose diving, the tail squatting or the body rolling.

Because a loaded tire can generate more grip, weight transfer changes balance. Loading the fronts helps the car turn in; loading the rears helps traction. But a tire's grip does not rise as fast as its load, so a car with more transfer side to side generally has less total grip than one that stays level.

Smooth drivers manage weight transfer deliberately. They squeeze the brakes on to load the front gently, release smoothly into the corner, and roll onto the throttle. Abrupt inputs throw load around and can overwhelm one end of the car, causing understeer or oversteer.