in snow and ice which is safer to drive ?

[anyweb]

hi guys, I had this discussion yesterday with my wife as we have two cars, one is a chrysler voyager (front wheel drive) and of course I hve my w202 (rear wheel drive) and the roads here were icey yesterday and this morning, so long story short, what type of car is safer to drive in these conditions, a rear wheel drive car or a front wheel drive car,

my thinking is that with a front wheel drive you can 'pull' the car out of a skid with the front wheel drive power, but with a rear wheel drive you are limitted to slowing down and attempting to regain control once you 'hit' a skid/ice/snow

so are there any technical documents or discussions anywhere (or your advice) as to which really IS safer, rear or front wheel drive

please do let me know

cheers
anyweb

 

[Glenn Smith]

This is really more dependant on tyres than which wheels are driving, but in general rear wheel drive is better as the driving wheels only have to drive and the steering only have to steer, not so with a front wheel drive where the fronts have to do the driving and steering, rear drive gives better traction due to weight transfer, however after saying that front wheel drive tends to promote under steer rather than oversteer, which to many will feel safer, so to answer your question on which is safer, i don't know, but winter tyres make a huge difference and as important is knowing your car, ie how to control a skid, which wheels are driving and how this affects the cars handling and traction and what effect your inputs have on the balance of the car.

 

[anyweb]

thanks for the reply, I was going to add that I wanted to keep tires types out of this as in sweden winter tires are mandatory anyway,

however, assuming two cars have identical winter tires on, which would be safer to drive ?

 

[television]

I think the FWD has the edge over RWD Dont forget that Volvo and SAAB were both developed in Sweden, and they pull their way through,, and that's easier than pushing

 

[Myros]

I'd say it probably all hinges on grip

rather than which end drives. My old beetles did very well in snow, as the traction was improved by having the engine over the rear wheels. Hence all the advice about sacks of spuds or sand in the boot of rwd cars. I used to put a sack of spuds in the front of the beetle to try and give the steering better grip.
I live on a bit of a hill, and can have the odd wheely going up it in snow in my 202, or the 124. If i knock the ASR off the wife's Skoda, I can do exactly the same. So it's grip for me rather than end-driving.

 

[Rory]

my thinking is that with a front wheel drive you can 'pull' the car out of a skid with the front wheel drive power, but with a rear wheel drive you are limitted to slowing down and attempting to regain control once you 'hit' a skid/ice/snow

My opinion would be that once you get into a skid on ice, it probably doesn't make much difference whether the car is FWD/RWD/AWD. Physics takes over and the real world isn't like a skid pan with acres of space - chances are that you'll stop only when you hit something.

As far as avoiding a skid in the first place, I would think FWD must be better although my own experience is that it depends on the size of the car. I've driven a Fiesta in snow and it was no problem, whereas a Mondeo was hopeless. You can however generally get going in a FWD car in conditions where a RWD would be stuck.

 

[kid-jensen]

Anyweb,

What you need as a driver in slippery conditions is some indication that it IS slippery, as the roads may not look any different until it's too late.
It's in this case that RWD has the advanage because it's much more prone to tail-out antics if you're less skilled than Lewis Hamilton and sink your boot too much.
The driver then gets a wake-up call (as our colonial cousins would say) and takes it easier after that. With FWD, the effects of the front tyres loosing grip (because that's what will happen first) are much more subtle and usually result in running wide, to which the driver just applies more lock. This is fine up to the point where you leave the road, not much use after........
It's this single feature of FWD, combined with the weight of the engine over the driven wheels, which makes it easier to make progress in slipery conditions, and at the same time, is morre likely to steer you into a ditch....

 

[JEZ.S320L]

I think the FWD has the edge over RWD Dont forget that Volvo and SAAB were both developed in Sweden, and they pull their way through,, and that's easier than pushing

Remember 'Rallycross'? In muddy/slippery/icey/wet conditions - Mini's were far superior and more successful, than many of their RWD competitors. FWD (in the absence of 4WD) were proved to be the best, by far.

I remember one Saturday afternoon Rallycross, where one competitors racing Mini had broken. The day was grim - with sleet and lots of mud. The competitor simply changed his wheels/tyres and put them on his road-going Mini. He won.!! The main field of RWD Imps etc, were left bogged-down in the mud.

 

[David Nock]

FWD Autos are interesting on ice and snow. I had an auto Mondeo once and had to watch it at junctions etc. When you put the handbrake on (good old proper handbrake on Mondeo), the car used to drag its rear wheels, locked along the ice, against the auto idle. Great fun!

 

[JEZ.S320L]

FWD Autos are interesting on ice and snow. I had an auto Mondeo once and had to watch it at junctions etc. When you put the handbrake on (good old proper handbrake on Mondeo), the car used to drag its rear wheels, locked along the ice, against the auto idle. Great fun!

 

[whitenemesis]

I agree, FWD/RWD, it's all down to grip. The FWD has the engine weight to help. I used to put 4 council paving slabs in the back of my Chevette to have any hope of getting moving

 

[David Nock]

I agree, FWD/RWD, it's all down to grip. The FWD has the engine weight to help. I used to put 4 council paving slabs in the back of my Chevette to have any hope of getting moving

Private paving slabs no good then?

 

[carabind]

guess council ones are cheaper!!

 

[JEZ.S320L]

I agree, FWD/RWD, it's all down to grip. The FWD has the engine weight to help. I used to put 4 council paving slabs in the back of my Chevette to have any hope of getting moving

Nowadays, you are most likely to find 4 illegal immigrants living in the boot.

Cheaper to maintain than paving slabs, though.!!! :roll:

 

[jberks]

I'd go with FWD. More weight over the driving wheels, more feedback when something starts to slip and a better chance of pulling yourself out. I've been stuck in rear wheel drive cars far more often the fwds. In fact, when I was a cabbie a few years ago, it snowed one new years eve. After a couple of hours, all the ford mondeos and granadas (RWD) have given up and gone home, leaving us Cavalier drivers (FWD) to clean up. I had a 1.7tdi cavvie. Pointed it up a snowy hill, in 2nd and up she went.

I'd rather have a little understeer than oversteer unless I was playing, in which care rwd is more fun.
I fell foul of a rwd manual once. Feeling the slip, I backed off the throttle - seemed logical...until I spun off the road. The rear wheels had effectively stopped under engine braking, giving no feedback, whilst the front wheels continued to roll along at 40, until it all hell broke loose. Took me a few days to figure out what I'd done wrong but after that I remembered to bang in the clutch when it happened again.
However, it wouldn't have happened on a fwd.

 

[angus falconer]

Myros is correct.

It's more about weight distribution than anything else. Rear engined RWD and front engined FWD cars best for traction.

To make the Merc more effective put some weight in the boot.

 

[television]

Putting things in the boot does make a very heavy car at both ends, with a front wheel drive the back will always follow

 

[angus falconer]

Putting things in the boot does make a very heavy car at both ends, with a front wheel drive the back will always follow

True - I was not really recomending he did it - I guess it was a back to front way of saying that a Merc doen'st have as large a % of it weight over the rear wheels

 

[television]

True - I was not really recomending he did it - I guess it was a back to front way of saying that a Merc doen'st have as large a % of it weight over the rear wheels

I know that it is a good way to get out of trouble and cheaper than buying a new car

 

[JEZ.S320L]

I know that it is a good way to get out of trouble and cheaper than buying a new car

Easy solution - just get a 4x4 - easy peasy :lol::lol::lol: