More power- and torque steer

[RandyH2]

When we first bought our Ex I thought I would love to have a bit more horsepower, if only because more is better. I know- it is a personal preference and not worth a discussion of the merits here.

Yesterday I made an aggressive passing maneuver on a 2 lane road. It was aggressive because the posted limit is 55, the car in front of me was going 45, and the passing zone was very short. I know the road well and thought I would have room for the pass, safely, but as it was my first such attempt in the Explorer I decided to be as quick about it as I could be, just in case.

I put the pedal to the floor, waited for the shift and surge of acceleration and then made my transition to the left lane. The Ex accelerated well and I was quickly passing the other vehicle. Just as I was about to change back to my lane, the Ex shifted gears and gave a significant tug of torque steer which combined with the just-initiated lane change was an unpleasant combination. No loss of control or anything terrible, but definitely not confidence building. Just a reminder that this SUV is a truck at heart and not a BMW X5 (which has no torque steer). If ihad another 50 hp on tap, things could have been interesting. Time to start making use of the manual mode for the transmission!

And, in case you are wondering, I would still like to have a little exhaust burble and some more HP.

 

[Sgt1411]

I had the exact same experience.

I think the only way we are going to get more power is through programming.

 

[RandyH2]

I'm hopeful someone will be able to make the turbos from the Ecoboost 3.5L in the Flex work on the Explorer. I realize there is more to that motor than just turbos (different heads and fuel management with the direct injection, if I recall correctly) but I can still hope.

 

[Moo26]

I hear alot of mention of Torque steer and seeing as I am not a "car guy" can someone please explain what the discussion is about? I was coming back from the lake this past weekend and had to pass (two lane highway, lots of acceleration) alot coming home and did not feel anything different than when I was driving my old Tahoe.

 

[RandyH2]

The mechanics of torque steer are beyond me but have to do with applying power to the wheels which also do the steering (4wd, fwd, awd). When a lot of power is applied, torque steer will cause the vehicle to veer to the left or right even though the steering wheel is held steady.

 

[RandyH2]

I drove the Explorer pretty hard this evening for a little while and it handled much better. I'm guessing there was some bad combination of road and load that caused the previous episode. The front end definitely gets a bit light feeling under full throttle but there was little or no torque steer when acclerating full throttle in a straight line.

 

[Explorer209]

I drove the Explorer pretty hard this evening for a little while and it handled much better. I'm guessing there was some bad combination of road and load that caused the previous episode. The front end definitely gets a bit light feeling under full throttle but there was little or no torque steer when acclerating full throttle in a straight line.

Took mine out yesterday and floored it on a straight road, no issues, no torque steer at all