[Aredubjay]

This is going to be my final post on this subject. I've pointed to several explanations, I've cited articles, I've cited engineers, I've plead my case.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it is now up for you to decide. I offer my final evidence -- Exhibit Z. The following is an e-mail I sent to a tech (Todd Erickson), the tech's response and a brief bio on the tech who answered my question. There will, no doubt, be a response to this, my final response but, I will try, with all my might to ignore it. From this point, I leave it to you to draw your own conclusion.


MY E-MAIL:

I got your e-mail address from the wrx.org site. I hope you don't mind my bothering you.

I've been embroiled in something of a "debate" over something called "passive rear wheel steering" which is mentioned in much Subaru literature, and also in the Road and Track Guide to the New SVX (Oh, I own a '92 Subaru SVX) and a terminology widely used on other cars (Citroen, Peugeot, Porsche and others). This, of course, is not the "active" all wheel steering available on the Japanese models, but more the "passive" toe-in, toe-out, under load in the vein of the Weissach Axle developed for Porsche in the '70's.

Could you possibly shed some light on this for me. Does the effect exist in fact? In theory? Your response would be appreciated.

Randy Johnson


TODD'S RESPONSE:

Yes it does. Think of rear suspension side loads and bushing compliance. When cornering hard the side load on the 2 lateral links is a lot. The bushings on the front (closest to the front of the car) lateral link are softer than the one towards the rear, thus that corner of the suspension toes in slightly. Does that make since?

Todd

TODD'S BIO:
Todd Erickson is an IDENTIFIX Asian specialist. Erickson is an Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) with 16 years of diagnostic experience. He is a certified Subaru senior master technician, as well as ASE master certified, L1 and alternate fuels.

If anyone would like, I also have a link to Todd's full resume.