Turning radius - wikipedia Turning radius This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia 's quality standards. The specific problem is : No sources, needs better sectioning, needs better examples, and clarity in prose. Please help improve this article if you can. ( August 2017 ) This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( August 2017 ) Turning radius of a passenger car - wall - to - wall radius at the top, taking the front overhang into consideration, and curb - to - curb radius at the bottom. The turning radius or turning circle of a vehicle is the radius of the smallest circular turn ( i.e. U-turn ) that the vehicle is capable of making. Contents 1 Usage 2 Curb to curb 3 Common uses 4 See also 5 External links Usage The term turning radius is a technical term that has become popular automotive jargon. In the jargon sense, it is commonly used to mean the full diameter of the smallest circle, but in technical usage the turning radius still is used to denote the radius. The less ambiguous term turning circle avoids the mistaken jargon use of the word ' radius '. As an example, Motor Trend refers to a curb - to - curb turning circle of a 2008 Cadillac CTS as 35.5 feet ( 10.82 m ). But the terminology is not yet settled. AutoChannel.com refers to turning radius of the same car as 35.5 feet ( 10.82 m ). It is often used as a generalized term rather than a numerical figure. For example, a vehicle with a very small turning circle may be described as having a `` tight turning radius ''. Curb to curb Two different measurements can be quoted for a vehicle. A curb or curb - to - curb turning circle will show the straight - line distance from one side of the circle to the other, through the center. The name `` curb - to - curb '' indicates that a street would have to be this wide before this car can make a u-turn and not hit a street curb with a wheel. If you took the street curb and built it higher, as high as the car, and tried to make a u-turn in the street, parts of the car ( bumper ) would hit the wall. The name wall or wall - to - wall turning circle denotes how far apart the two walls would have to be to allow a u-turn without scraping the walls. One can find these two ways of measuring the turning circle used in auto specifications, for example, a van might be listed as having a turning circle ( in meters ) of 12.1 ( C ) / 12.4 ( W ). A notable exception in this description is of vehicles that are capable of spinning around their central axis, such as certain lawnmowers and wheelchairs as they do not follow a circular path as they turn. In this case the vehicle is referred to as a `` zero turning radius '' vehicle. Some camera dollies used in the film industry have a `` round '' mode which allows them to spin around their z axis by allowing synchronized inverse rotation of their front and rear wheel sets, effectively giving them `` zero '' turning radius. Common uses Aeroplanes Watercraft Wheeled vehicles See also Breakover angle Minimum railway curve radius Overhang ( automotive ) U-turn ( maneuver ) External links Grounds Maintenance Magazine Article about Zero Radius Lawn Mowers Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Turning_radius&oldid=796515664 '' Categories : Vehicle technology Engineering concepts Hidden categories : Articles needing cleanup from August 2017 All pages needing cleanup Cleanup tagged articles with a reason field from August 2017 Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from August 2017 Articles lacking sources from August 2017 All articles lacking sources Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Español Français Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 21 August 2017, at 11 : 01. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what is meant by turning radius of car
Answer: the radius of the smallest circular turn (i.e. U-turn) that the vehicle is capable of making