Editing Weight transfer (section)

==Cause==
The major [[force]]s that accelerate a vehicle occur at the [[tire]]s' [[contact patch]]es.  Since these forces are not directed through the vehicle's CoM, one or more [[Moment (physics)|moments]] are generated whose forces are the tires' traction forces at pavement level, the other one (equal but opposed) is the mass inertia located at the CoM and the moment arm is the distance from pavement surface to CoM. It is these moments that cause variation in the load distributed between the tires.  Often this is interpreted by the casual [[observation|observer]] as a pitching or rolling motion of the vehicles body.  A perfectly rigid vehicle, without suspension that would not exhibit pitching or rolling of the body, still undergoes load transfer. However, the pitching and rolling of the body of a non-rigid vehicle adds some (small) weight transfer due to the (small) CoM horizontal displacement with respect to the wheel's axis suspension vertical travel and also due to deformation of the tires i.e. contact patch displacement relative to wheel.

Lowering the CoM towards the ground is one method of reducing load transfer.  As a result load transfer is reduced in both the longitudinal and lateral directions.  Another method of reducing load transfer is by increasing the wheel spacings. Increasing the vehicle's [[wheelbase]] (length) reduces longitudinal load transfer while increasing the vehicle's [[Axle track|track]] (width) reduces lateral load transfer. Most high performance automobiles are designed to sit as low as possible and usually have an extended wheelbase and track.

One way to calculate the effect of load transfer, keeping in mind that this article uses "load transfer" to mean the phenomenon commonly referred to as "weight transfer" in the automotive world, is with the so-called "weight transfer equation":

:<math>\Delta \mathrm{Weight}_\mathrm{front} = a\frac{h}{b}m</math> or <math>\Delta \mathrm{Weight}_\mathrm{front} = \frac{a}{g} \frac{h}{b}w</math>

where <math>\Delta \mathrm{Weight}_\mathrm{front}</math> is the change in load borne by the front wheels, <math>a</math> is the longitudinal acceleration, <math>g</math> is the [[Standard gravity|acceleration of gravity]], <math>h</math> is the center of mass height, <math>b</math> is the wheelbase, <math>m</math> is the total vehicle mass, and <math>w</math> is the total vehicle weight.<ref>{{cite magazine
| url = http://www.caranddriver.com/features/the-physics-of-wheelstands
| title = The Physics of Wheelstands
| magazine = [[Car and Driver]]
| author = John Pearley Huffman
| date = June 2010
| access-date = 2013-07-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.fkm.utm.my/~arahim/daimlerchrysler-gritt.pdf
| title = Introduction to Brake Systems
| publisher = [[Daimler AG#Merger with Chrysler|DaimlerChrysler]]
| author = P. Gritt
| date = 2002-08-20
| access-date = 2013-07-13
| archive-date = 2019-11-24
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191124054050/http://www.fkm.utm.my/~arahim/daimlerchrysler-gritt.pdf
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

Weight transfer involves the ''actual'' (relatively small) movement of the vehicle CoM relative to the wheel axes due to displacement of the [[chassis]] as the suspension complies, or of cargo or liquids within the vehicle, which results in a redistribution of the total vehicle load between the individual tires.