AWD, 4WD, what...?

[duragezic]

What's the difference between these? And traction control? 4WD is on big rucks for like getting out of snow and crap but AWD is good for traction I think on like snow and traction control I think is a very minor AWD?

Please keep it relatively simple, I don't know much abotu cars.

 

[Alienwho]

All wheel drive means that all 4 wheels are always pulling.

4 wheel drive you can turn on and off. Like on your 4x4 truck why would you need all 4 wheels pulling the car around? you don't, so you turn it off.

 

[Soybomb]

Alienwho is wrong. The only vehicle with the guarentee of all 4 wheels turning is one will part time 4wd and locked front and rear axles.

fulltime 4wd = the front and rear axle are joined together and can turn at different speeds though to help you negotiate corners. This is useful for 4wd on roads that are only slick in spots, etc.

Part time 4wd = 4wd that is engagable when needed. There is no differential between the front an rear axles. Driving around town with it engaged on dry roads will break something.

AWD = a percentage of power is transferred and the vehicle will attempt to adjust as necessary. IE: Front wheel drive with 80% power and 20% rear, the vehicle might make that 60-40 if it detects slipping, etc. Not a "heavy duty" 4wd system.

Traction contol = not necessarily related to 4wd at all, often will just modulate the vehicle's brakes to attempt to regain traction.


As far as best on the snow, either awd or all time 4wd.

 

[Alienwho]

Yeah you're right soybomb, I knew that, just didn't say it.

 

[LAUST]

I have an Auto-Trac transfer case on my truck, basically I can go into 4 wheel hi or low as Soybomb stated where it's no slip just grip and is very bad on anything but a 4x4 trail or mud, dry pavement will tear it up, if you make even a normal turn the front end will begin to hop, the auto-trac system it has uses the power distrabution, so it's great for the times it snows here.

 

[Cyberian]

There are also differences in terminology to contend with.


<< There are almost as many different types of four-wheel-drive systems as there are four-wheel-drive vehicles. It seems that every manufacturer has several different schemes for providing power to all of the wheels. The language used by the different carmakers can sometimes be a little confusing, so before we get started explaining how they work, let's clear up some terminology:

Four-wheel drive - Usually, when carmakers say that a car has four-wheel drive, they are referring to a part-time system. For reasons we'll explore later in this article, these systems are meant only for use in low-traction conditions, such as off-road or on snow or ice.

All-wheel drive - These systems are sometimes called full-time four-wheel drive. All-wheel-drive systems are designed to function on all types of surfaces, both on- and off-road, and most of them cannot be switched off. >>


How stuff works.

 

[Bozz]

A bit of info on the 4WD that isn't necessarily like the 4WD used in offroad vehicles

The WRX and EVO 4WD system is based on a FWD vehicle with a viscous coupling to the rear diff.

The Skyline is only RWD until the ECU senses via the ABS sensors at each wheel that the back wheels are rotating faster than the fronts, what it then does is applies hydraulic pressure to a wet clutch in the transfer case which is the rear housing (4th assy) of the gearbox. There is a shaft going to the front axle which is simply part of the sump of the engine - it supplies drive to the front wheels. For this reason the Skyline is a fantastic drifting machine, great for getting into powerslides through corners... The fantastic thing about it is that the computers keep you in control all the time by only allowing a certain amount of slip to the back wheels... fun fun fun fun..

 

[jjones]

i used to own an awd subaru XT6. that was their sporty car that looked something like a toyota MR2. that was a fun car until i totaled it.