ok im going to sound like a total n00b but i dont care
if someone wanted to do a burnout in their front wheel drive car with manual transmission with the e-brake on, would that totally F anything up??

ok, yes and no. No burnout is good for the car. It may help to heat tires prior to a drag run, but still not good for the car. I would advise against it. If you really want to, set the e-brake, hold like 4k rpms, and drop the clutch. You should be able to get the front wheels to spin pretty easy. Then release the e-brake and go. You do stand a chance of breaking something when you pop the clutch, like an engine mount or something. There is a possibility of a transmission or axle failure with repeated abuse. What you choose to do is up to you.

Modern quality cars should have 4 wheel discs thus you should be able to do it without touching the e-brake. Also if its a quality car like I'd hope the cobalt is you should be able to drop the clutch without doing any damage except maybe wear the clutch out faster. I use to drop and abuse my clutch in my V6 mustang daily and it never broke anything though the clutch wore out faster. Now I have an auto :( and miss the fun. E-brakes are garbage I think everyone of my friends's are broken including my own.

If you are truely a noob and wish to know how to do it with regular brake this is how.

1. Heel of right foot on brake

2. Toe of right foot on gas

3. Left foot on clutch :rolleyes:

4. Lightly press brake with heel while reving engine with toes

5. Drop clutch as fast as you can obviously in 1st gear

6. Rock right foot back and forth to regulate gas to brake ratio for optimum effect

Also if you have any type of traction control turn it off otherwise it probably won't work.

ok yeah it is a 06 Cobalt SS and it has discs all around, but i was just wondering how to do a standing burnout...i've popped the clutch a couple times but i want to do one badass burnout because there wasnt a lot of smoke and i just want to do one badass stand still burnout without moving forward as much as i did when i popped the clutch.

You can't use the standard "hold the brake and dump the clutch" on a front wheel drive.

This is how I blew my 2nd half shaft.

If you want to do a burnout:

Pull the parking brake up as far as it will go

Rev the engine; high.

Release the clutch, floor it immediately after.

Bounce off the rev limiter, as your tires smoke

Release parking brake.

Yea, I admit I've only used my method on RWD cars, I was guessing it might work for FWD but what do I know I've never owned one. :cool: Wonder if you can do donuts in FWD cars??? :confused:

Yea, I admit I've only used my method on RWD cars, I was guessing it might work for FWD but what do I know I've never owned one. :cool: Wonder if you can do donuts in FWD cars??? :confused:
With the ebrake locked you can spin around in almost PERFECT circles given the car has the power to sling its ass end out cause it sure aint gonna push it out like a rwd car would.... but i still dont know if Id call it a donut.... not in TRUE fashion anyways....

Modern quality cars should have 4 wheel discs thus you should be able to do it without touching the e-brake. Also if its a quality car like I'd hope the cobalt is you should be able to drop the clutch without doing any damage except maybe wear the clutch out faster. I use to drop and abuse my clutch in my V6 mustang daily and it never broke anything though the clutch wore out faster. Now I have an auto :( and miss the fun. E-brakes are garbage I think everyone of my friends's are broken including my own.

If you are truely a noob and wish to know how to do it with regular brake this is how.

1. Heel of right foot on brake

2. Toe of right foot on gas

3. Left foot on clutch :rolleyes:

4. Lightly press brake with heel while reving engine with toes

5. Drop clutch as fast as you can obviously in 1st gear

6. Rock right foot back and forth to regulate gas to brake ratio for optimum effect

Also if you have any type of traction control turn it off otherwise it probably won't work.

This is known as POWER BRAKING with a manual

Well thank you all for your input, I feel like the biggest n00b ever hahahah :D

using the e brake around turns helps the front wheel drivers drift too. just thought id throw that out there for ya

Thats not TRUE drifting though.... just kind of sliding.... true driftings makes USE of the rear wheels...

my "self adjusting" e-brake is way loose due to many manuvers such as these, but let me tell you this car can get some mad drifting fun in the right kind of snow. Now the wrong texture of snow may give your car a black eye, not like I would know or anything.

i tried to ebrake around a stop light turn at 60mph, it started to slide the ass end around but as soon as i droped the ebrake it went straight again. Almost like i slowed down to 5mph to take the turn normaly it huged the road so well.

i tried to ebrake around a stop light turn at 60mph, it started to slide the ass end around but as soon as i droped the ebrake it went straight again. Almost like i slowed down to 5mph to take the turn normaly it huged the road so well.

no offense but that is stupid to be doing on public roads. you can NOT drift a fwd car. stop watching the new f&tf movie.

Well did the burnout with the e-brake on I must say it was a LOT better than when I did a burnout without the e-brake on. 3 pics first pic is e-brake not on, other 2 e-brake on. Plus a link to the vid. BTW this is the last burnout I will be doing for a looooong time!!

SMMMMOKE!! (http://videos.streetfire.net/video/f9624e23-1394-440e-bc81-9ec8f2ca987c.htm)

This is known as POWER BRAKING with a manual

Funny how everyone has a name for it and everyone stresses how thiers is the right one. Power braking, brake stands, brake burns, burnout, plz people spare me. I should start describing everything in pictures so save me trouble. :mad:

Oh if you do it alot make sure you check your tire or tires if you have a good differential. As cool as slicks are, I don't think homemade ones are that safe. Also good to clean the rubber shavings out from under the wheel wells, can get some nasty build up in there from doing those. :cool:

You can't powerbrake with a manual, duh.

Powerbraking is on automatics, you hold the brake and rev the engine to get the torque converter loaded up; giving you a springy launch when the brake is released.

You can't powerbrake with a manual, duh.

Powerbraking is on automatics, you hold the brake and rev the engine to get the torque converter loaded up; giving you a springy launch when the brake is released.

but you can still brake torque ;)

As much as I would LOVE to do a smoky burnout, this stuff seems WAAYY to scary for me. I really cherish my car and would die if i broke something while trying to show off. But heres a question;

How much will a burnout help track times at a quarter mile drag strip in the SS/SC? Does it contribute that much to your track time where it is actually worth the wear on the engine and clutch? (ie bouncing off the rev limiter)

lol you can hold the clutch in and rev then let out and go...lol but no brake standing

As much as I would LOVE to do a smoky burnout, this stuff seems WAAYY to scary for me. I really cherish my car and would die if i broke something while trying to show off. But heres a question;

How much will a burnout help track times at a quarter mile drag strip in the SS/SC? Does it contribute that much to your track time where it is actually worth the wear on the engine and clutch? (ie bouncing off the rev limiter)

On stock tires, it wont help. They are not designed to get much stickier when hot. You will just wear them out faster.

yea ive tried both techniques and saw the same results both ways. except doing a standing burnout does wear out ur tires ALOT faster.On stock tires, it wont help. They are not designed to get much stickier when hot. You will just wear them out faster.

If you do it long enough you will burn off the tread and will get homemade slicks which do help however increases the chance of a blow out and I wouldn't recomend it. It does help a tiny bit, I know :p

As much as I would LOVE to do a smoky burnout, this stuff seems WAAYY to scary for me. I really cherish my car and would die if i broke something while trying to show off. But heres a question;

How much will a burnout help track times at a quarter mile drag strip in the SS/SC? Does it contribute that much to your track time where it is actually worth the wear on the engine and clutch? (ie bouncing off the rev limiter)

Low HP FWD cars should drive around the waterbox at the dragstrip, and do a short burnout to clean the tires. If it's really cold, or you still get too much tire spin, you can roll thru the water 15' (so you don't spin the water into the wheel well) then do a more aggressive burnout to heat the tires, letting it pull forward. Almost all tires will be a little softer when hot. Hope that helps. :D

Sixty foot times are always the easiest place to gain ET when dragracing. Tires and launch technique are how to do it in a FWD car.

PS you can do donuts in a FWD.
just crank the wheel to one side and floor it in reverse.


oh another fun thing to try is putting mcdonalds trays under the rear wheels and pulling the e-brake up and sliding around on the trays. (almost like the rears are on ice!) but the trays melt VERY quick.

lol ^_^

PS you can do donuts in a FWD.
just crank the wheel to one side and floor it in reverse.


oh another fun thing to try is putting mcdonalds trays under the rear wheels and pulling the e-brake up and sliding around on the trays. (almost like the rears are on ice!) but the trays melt VERY quick.

lol ^_^

Not as much fun as forward donuts in my experiance. And if you really want to have fun with trays: do it on ice and don't drive straight. You lose them faster if you drive straight and if you use ice than you get double the effect with more than double the life of your standard pavement trayness.

PS you can do donuts in a FWD.
just crank the wheel to one side and floor it in reverse.


oh another fun thing to try is putting mcdonalds trays under the rear wheels and pulling the e-brake up and sliding around on the trays. (almost like the rears are on ice!) but the trays melt VERY quick.

lol ^_^

Not as much fun as forward donuts in my experiance. And if you really want to have fun with trays: do it on ice and don't drive straight. You lose them faster if you drive straight and if you use ice than you get double the effect with more than double the life of your standard pavement trayness.
ROFL

Kids!






j/k, I gotta do that one day!

the tray thing is entirely too fun. lets just say the taco bell where everybody hangs out with there cars has to keep a closer watch on their serving trays as they tend to run out somehow :rolleyes:

For the record, on the last FWD I owned (I'm getting a Cobalt SS in the next couple months...) the trays lasted all of 1.5 seconds on pavement... then again, it was in a Lumina Z34... the heaviest W-Body in existence (at least mine was, lol)

on a side note: 2 pieces of plastic (Lumina Z34 hood protectors), a tow rope, and the trunk latch hook, with a parking lot covered in fresh freezing rain = Canadian Water skiing...

You can't powerbrake with a manual, duh.

Powerbraking is on automatics, you hold the brake and rev the engine to get the torque converter loaded up; giving you a springy launch when the brake is released.
Yes you can. My brother did it with an 89 camaro rs v6 with a -speed non-worldclass tranny. Don't tell me you can't or else I'll have him show you.

On another note. If you want a good burnout on a fwd then just buy the Ingalls stiffy torque damper and set to 12mm. Rev engine to 4k then launch. You'll get 2 great strips of rubber on the road.

And for better launches, always take a few feet to heat up my tires to make them a little stickier. I always do this before a race. Helps out. I don't get as much broken traction vs. when I race with cold tires.

Well did the burnout with the e-brake on I must say it was a LOT better than when I did a burnout without the e-brake on. 3 pics first pic is e-brake not on, other 2 e-brake on. Plus a link to the vid. BTW this is the last burnout I will be doing for a looooong time!!

SMMMMOKE!! (http://videos.streetfire.net/video/f9624e23-1394-440e-bc81-9ec8f2ca987c.htm)
Awesome for the SS/NA. Now I'd like to some with the SS/SC.

For the record, on the last FWD I owned (I'm getting a Cobalt SS in the next couple months...) the trays lasted all of 1.5 seconds on pavement... then again, it was in a Lumina Z34... the heaviest W-Body in existence (at least mine was, lol)

on a side note: 2 pieces of plastic (Lumina Z34 hood protectors), a tow rope, and the trunk latch hook, with a parking lot covered in fresh freezing rain = Canadian Water skiing...

They last the longest when you are spinning. Driving in a straight line destroies them quick.