Rear-Wheel Steering How Does It Work?
Matt from Suspension Secrets delves deep into active rear-wheel steering systems. Are they a blast from the past or a refined piece of technology here to stay? Written by: Matt Cowley
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Rear-wheel steering systems can now be found on some of the elite handling machines of today such as the Mercedes AMG GT R, Porsche 991 RS models and Ferrari F12 TDF to name a few. In this feature, we are going to take a look at some of the technical aspects of the systems and find how active rear-wheel steering (which we will refer to as ARS for the remainder of the article) makes such a big difference to the handling and cornering potential of the car. The idea of rear-wheel steering is not a new concept. Looking back to the late ’80s and ’90s, Japanese engineers were breaking new ground for the road market by designing a system that allowed the rear wheels to be steered when the steering wheel was turned. The first car to feature this, a very unlikely suspect, was the
Honda Prelude. Fast forward to the ‘90s and Nissan saw the appeal of using this system on their Godzilla range, so tested the idea out on the R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R.
The system worked well; it allowed the car to generate more rear-end grip and also help such a big car (at the time) rotate and enter corners in a more smooth fashion and help to reduce the understeer. However, ARS slipped back out of sight due to the clunky and heavy mechanical systems required to make the idea work. Furthermore, the maintenance costs of the systems were climbing as their reliability over time came into question and moving parts began to wear, generating quite a sloppy feeling at the rear end.
