Downsides of AWD

[avacado11]

Them getting stuck is 100% driver error. The car slipped on ice and went into a ditch. Even with a true 4wd system, tires, nothing's really gonna do anything unless you're on tracks or have studs/tire chains and get lucky.

Off road recover gear is essential and if going into remote areas you need a survival pack too.

 

[Andrew1972]

I did something similar stupidly age 16. I took a side road called Passaconwsy road to Kangamangus highway in NH also portion not maintained for winter in my parents AMC Eagle wearing sneakers.

The fresh snow at first left two tracks but eventually it was getting deeper and deeper leaving 4 tracks with diffs dragging. I was smart and never slowed down at least but biggest challenge was the snow bank back to pavement

I floored the car and got speed and pretty much "sent it".

It was clawed it's way through however the snow packed the engine bay and pushed a bunch of radiator fins through so the old Jeep/AMC 4..2 was running poorly.

I could have gotten pretty stuck and did not have a celll phone in 1987.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
My wife is stuck at the bottom of our driveway in 2 inches of packed near frozen slush.

That even defeated my new 826 HD Toro snwblower- snapped the two bolts off the impeller fan. It's supposed to be a non-shear pin design.

TORO: "Yes it's not; It is a shear shoulder-bolt design!".

Funny my cheap MTD Yardmachine I bought from Valdemort 27 years ago never let me down.

Car can't do it. AWD = 2WD. 1 front + 1 rear. Both with the least traction.

Blasted open differentials. Hmmm.

This snow was kinda annoying. It would just pack whenever I would move it. I could see how it'd overcome all seasons pretty easily, especially if any slope was involved.


Her tires are pretty aggressive tread replacement Sumitomo HTR A/S .
But maybe not enough silicates in the rubber?

Or maybe it's the wife trying to go up at 5mph unlike my 15mph.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
My wife is stuck at the bottom of our driveway in 2 inches of packed near frozen slush.

That even defeated my new 826 HD Toro snwblower- snapped the two bolts off the impeller fan. It's supposed to be a non-shear pin design.

TORO: "Yes it's not; It is a shear shoulder-bolt design!".

Funny my cheap MTD Yardmachine I bought from Valdemort 27 years ago never let me down.

Car can't do it. AWD = 2WD. 1 front + 1 rear. Both with the least traction.

Blasted open differentials. Hmmm.

This snow was kinda annoying. It would just pack whenever I would move it. I could see how it'd overcome all seasons pretty easily, especially if any slope was involved.


Her tires are pretty aggressive tread replacement Sumitomo HTR A/S .
But maybe not enough silicates in the rubber?

Or maybe it's the wife trying to go up at 5mph unlike my 15mph.

Yeah, those tires look like they would not have dealt with the packing snow we got. Siping looks ok on the edges but needed bigger voids to grab the snow, and probably more siping in the middle to grab ice. And a winter compound too.

In this case, yeah your extra momentum is probably the trick. Wife's car is a slip & grip AWD, right? Once the tire spins, it was game over, no more traction for that tire.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by JLTD
Originally Posted by jcartwright99
Glad that made it out safe. However, this is the not the downside of AWD. This would be the downside of not knowing the capability of your vehicle and not knowing the area signage.



I'd say it is the downside of not being able to read a map coupled with slavishly following the gps, which is of course a specific set of problems caused by lack of common sense.

I daresay, not being able to read a road either. No tracks should have been a warning sign. I don't know if the road was narrow but often these unmaintained roads are like that--which should be another warning sign (single lane wide, for long distance? not a regular road).

 

[4WD]

Ok … well, open differentials alone have downsides and upsides too … depends what you are trying to get through.
Agree with fully understanding how your vehicle works and predictions of technical limits. At least some new AWD units can have a knob with sand, snow, etc … for those who need the computer assist.
While Subbie is a master on snow over asphalt … don't expect it to do what Canadians do with a ZR2 Bison diesel

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite


Her tires are pretty aggressive tread replacement Sumitomo HTR A/S .
But maybe not enough silicates in the rubber?

I had those on my wife's 2005 Legacy GT wagon 5mt with pure mechanical bliss AWD(45/55 LSD). They were very average in winter traction. Not surprised a recent Subaru and its traction nannies would not make it.

 

[Surestick]

Originally Posted by jcartwright99
Glad that made it out safe. However, this is the not the downside of AWD. This would be the downside of not knowing the capability of your vehicle and not knowing the area signage.


This is the downside of not having a brain.
Not knowing the area signage doesn't excuse not reading said signage, or noticing the tracks on the trail are from snowmobiles, or that the snow seemed rather deep on the "road" they chose...

 

[Andrew1972]

He results turned out okay of this mans admitted error. I recall that couple with baby who did similar in their Saab 92x(fancy Subaru WRX) which got them far up a similar closed road in CA out of cell service too. Unfortunately they spent a week or so and the young father died seeking help for family.

The point is people make bad choices and AWD makes a bad situation worst.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by 02SE
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by Delta

Almost all part time 4wd vehicles in the past decade are shift on the fly for 4wd, my Tacoma for example (and more than likely exactly like Supton's Tundra) you can switch from 2 high to 4 high up to 62mph. Now, why any soul is doing that at speed in bad weather is beyond me. 4wd low requires you to be stopped and transmission in neutral.

Goes back further than that. 1996 Explorer, 1997 Expedition...etc all had shift on the fly 4x4.

Even further than that. Shift-on-the-fly 4wd was available on various makes and models in the 80's.
Before that there were selectable hubs that could be left engaged, then it was just a matter of shifting from 2hi to 4 hi and back at any speed. Of course the front axle and driveshaft were always turning with the hubs engaged, whether 4wd was selected in the T-case providing power to the front axle or not.

Yep, can shift up thro 60-something mph. My vintage Tundra was known for bad front diffs from the factory (something about bad preset on one of the bearings; the way to diagnose was to see if the rumble went away in 4Hi while going at a good clip. When the front diff went bad I tried to shift out of 4HI at over the speed, and all it did was beep at me. I've also learned that it won't disengage if there is any loading, like not going straight.

Thanks for the info...I test drove some kind of big Ford vehicle some time ago, I think it was an F150 but it also could have been some kind of SUV, and the salesman told me I could only engage 4WD driveway at a full stop. Salesmen say all kinds of things, though.
My first thought that it was the Aerostar I test drove, but I googled that and it had a full time AWD kind of system. I was having a hard time making up my mind as to what kind of vehicle I wanted and the Ford salesman got pretty exasperated with me...ended up buying an Outback. All I knew was that I was not going through another New England winter with a CRX, especially after we built a house up in the hills.

 

[SeaJay]

There was an old saying that went along the lines of the better the 4WD system, the further away from civilization is where you will get stuck.

 

[littleant]

Originally Posted by SeaJay
There was an old saying that went along the lines of the better the 4WD system, the further away from civilization is where you will get stuck.

^Agree^ Been there done that

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted by madRiver
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite


Her tires are pretty aggressive tread replacement Sumitomo HTR A/S .
But maybe not enough silicates in the rubber?

> photo of tires was here


I had those on my wife's 2005 Legacy GT wagon 5mt with pure mechanical bliss AWD(45/55 LSD). They were very average in winter traction. Not surprised a recent Subaru and its traction nannies would not make it.

It was pretty bad. 2-3" of melting, dense slush with the bottom inch almost frozen. Like Moly in the motor oil, lol.

There was a plow truck stuck in my neighbors flat drive way. big truck with a drop in sander on the back.

Spinning all 4 with the plow raised. Just one of those days.

Plus the wife doesn't "go for it" with reckless abandon like me.

 

[Pew]

I loved the AWD on my evo but it made it fat! You could feel the understeer if the S-AYC was turned off. Average of ~3500 pounds and the maintenance on that thing was like having a $100k mercedes. Trans fluid, TCase, Rear diff (twice because of the separate AYC fluid compartment).

Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite

Her tires are pretty aggressive tread replacement Sumitomo HTR A/S .
But maybe not enough silicates in the rubber?


My roommate and I had a set of those and they actually worked a lot better in the snow on his Saturn L200 than we thought. It was a blast not caring about the car and screwing around with it, seeing where these Sumi's broke loose.