Not understanding LSD - how LSD works

[Mux213]

hamsupjai,

Very simply put, when cornering your inner wheels and outer wheels turn at a different speed. So if both your wheels would be directly connected to your engine and turning at the same speed you would have a problem.

This is why they invented a normal differential, it allows the wheels to turn at different speeds, this maximises the effectiveness of both wheels. The problem with a normal differential is that when one of those two wheels no longer has grip for whatever reason (it lifts of the ground or when drifting) then that wheel that does not have grip gets all the power and the wheel that does have grip doesn't get any and that means no power is transmitted to motion.

So this is where LSD comes in. During cornering it allows the wheels to turn at different speeds just like a normal diff, but when one of the wheels starts to loose grip, and the speed difference between the two wheels increases, the LSD starts to lock the two wheels together. This way the wheel that has the most grip still gets power.

Depending on the type of LSD defines how this effect is produced and in which situations it works best.