Cross weight, also called wedge, is the percentage of the car’s total weight sitting on two diagonally opposite corners, front-left and rear-right, versus the other diagonal. Adding cross weight tightens the car (reduces understeer) in one turn direction and loosens it (adds oversteer) in the other, which is why it’s most relevant on ovals and other tracks that turn mostly one way.
Why weight isn’t evenly split across four corners
A perfectly balanced car would carry 25% of its weight on each corner. In practice, ride height, spring settings, and chassis adjustments shift small amounts of weight around, and cross weight describes one specific pattern in that distribution: how much sits on one diagonal pair of corners versus the other. A car with exactly 50% cross weight has no diagonal bias; anything above or below that shifts weight toward one diagonal.
How cross weight changes handling
- More cross weight (above 50%). Loads the right-front and left-rear more heavily. In a left-turning oval, that tends to unload the right-rear in the corner, tightening the car and reducing forward bite off the corner.
- Less cross weight (below 50%). Loads the left-front and right-rear more heavily instead. On the same left-turning oval, that keeps more weight on the right-rear through the corner, loosening the car and improving forward bite, at the risk of oversteer if pushed too far.
Because the effect is direction-specific, cross weight is a much bigger factor on ovals and other predominantly one-direction tracks than on road courses, where left and right corners roughly cancel out its impact over a lap.
Cross weight vs. corner weight
Cross weight is a specific way of describing corner weight distribution, not a separate physical adjustment. It’s usually set through ride height or spring perch adjustments at individual corners, changing how much static weight each wheel carries before the car ever moves. That makes it a baseline-setup decision rather than something adjusted lap to lap.
The bigger picture
Cross weight is one of the more specialized tools in a setup, most relevant when your track only turns one way. Get your basic front-to-rear and side-to-side balance right first with springs and bars, then use cross weight to fine-tune direction-specific handling on ovals. See Learn Setup Engineering for how cross weight fits alongside the rest of your setup tools, and how onRails treats direction-specific balance as part of a full diagnosis.
Related questions
Does cross weight matter on road courses?
Much less than on ovals, since road courses turn both directions roughly equally, and a cross weight bias that helps one direction hurts the other. Most road-course setups run close to a neutral 50% cross weight.
Why does adding cross weight tighten my car in the corners?
Adding cross weight shifts static weight onto the front-right and rear-left corners, which on a left-turning oval unloads the rear-right tire in the corner and reduces its available grip, producing understeer.
Is cross weight the same as a sway bar or wedge bolt adjustment?
Wedge bolts and chassis jacking screws are common ways to physically adjust cross weight by changing spring preload at one corner. The term “wedge” is often used interchangeably with cross weight for this reason.