Is this tire problem the same for all cars?
For all AWD cars
Are AWD vehicles really safer?
Sort of. AWD and 4WD do not stop faster, nor do they handle better in good weather nor do the stop faster in good or bad weather.
What they can do is to help you drive out of the ditch after you slide in and find out AWD and 4WD don’t keep you on the road any better than 2WD.
They are really good at helping you get through deep snow that will not be plowed or to get down that lonely back road that has never seen a plow and mud and snow makes driving iffy.
In snow country winter tyres will help a lot. They are not the old snow tyres, they are far better. They use a different technology
For staying on the road under slippery conditions the various traction control devices that automatically selectively apply brakes under bad handling conditions may be a far better idea.
I am certainly NOT a fan of FWD in places with little or no snow and ice. I know of no significant advantages over RWD.
Just to belabor a few points and to contradict what has been said here…as a owner of 2 wd/awd/4 wd vehicles for years, here is what I have found.
For modern AWD cars…
They are NO more of a maintenance/reliability problem IF you buy Toyota/Honda
The DO use more gas.
In comparably equipped, similar size and “attired” FWD vehicles,
-They offer better control than FWD in ALL conditions good and bad which infers they do help keep you out of ditches.
-They offer better control on power on for acceleration in conditions good and bad.
-They offer safer towing in conditions good and bad at or near tow limits.
-They offer better balanced engine braking.
-They offer superior performance negotiating HILLS in any condition; the worse the bigger the difference.
-They are NOT subject to excessive tire/drive train wear if you follow normal tire maintenance procedures. If you don’t, they can be then less forgiving. If you do, tires actually last LONGER in hard use situations. Esp. during towing and frequent inclement and dirt/rough road (not off road), and aggressive driving.
-Their biggest fault is the increased sense of security can lead you to drive beyond the coefficient of friction of your tires and the inability of others around you to react to YOUR increased speed. Think of driving a Vette on the streets in dry weather too aggressively as you drive an AWD Subaru too aggressively in snow…tires aren’t going to save you if you drive too fast for conditions in any vehicle from yourself or anyone else.
Feel free to disagree with any of these assertions and I’ll feel free to refer to you has a “flatlander”.
I live in NE PA, on top of a mountain, in a local snow belt, so I can definitely appreciate that every bit of extra edge you can give yourself is valuable. That said, I haven’t owned a 4wd vehicle in years, and have managed to get around without getting stuck. I would second the advice of others: invest in a good set of winter tires, preferably with an extra set of rims, so you’re not stretching be bead every time you swap them. I always put 4 steel-studded tires on every vehicle – in the long run, it costs you nothing extra - you get x miles on y sets of tires, regardless of how you allocate them over the life of the tires.
As to negatives of 4wd, in my experience, the most prevalent issue is that they do tend to give less experienced drivers a false sense of security. They drive as if 4wd negates any requirement for caution, and more often than not, end up off the side of the road as a result. Similarly, I see SO many people with their 4wd SUVs running all-season tires, not realizing that regardless of how many wheels you have turning, if you don’t have a good grip on the surface, it’s not going to do you any good.
I’ve also found that, in the case of rear-wheel-drive vehicles (pickups, vans, etc.), having a limited-slip differential is nearly as effective as 4wd in many/most situations.
That said, the absolute best vehicle I ever owned for snow driving was a 1995 Ford F350 dually flatbed, with 4WD, and six studded snows. That big boy would go through ANYTHING.
“Their biggest fault is the increased sense of security can lead you to drive beyond the coefficient of friction of your tires and the inability of others around you to react to YOUR increased speed”
“As to negatives of 4wd, in my experience, the most prevalent issue is that they do tend to give less experienced drivers a false sense of security.”
This is why I keep saying “don’t forget that everyone has all-wheel brakes”.
This is why I keep saying “don’t forget that everyone has all-wheel brakes”.
That my friend is the obvious reason why awd (please don’t confuse it with part time 4wd) is superior to fwd. If brakes on all 4 wheels provide better control in braking, awd for all wheels provide better control in all situations where power is supplied to all 4 wheels…yes the obvious is true.
FWD is an engineering compromise that meets the needs of most at the expense of reduce performance. It’s engineering on the cheap. The most expensive, best handling, safest, most comfortable vehicles for the most demanding use are NEVER FWD. They are rear or awd/4wd.
Argue if you will, as I do, that you personally may not have a need because of your reduced vehicle demand in many situations or don’t want the added expense and use FWD…but there is no denying it’s inferior in almost every driving respect to ALL other drive systems.
About the ‘safer’ question.
I just learned, unfortunately from experience, that my truck has seat belts that retract and pulled me back when the airbag deployed.
Point is; there are safety features you may not even know about.
Something like Audi, Land Rover, Mercedes and I presume Suburu, Cadillac and other ‘full time’ four wheel drive systems do much more than turn wheels. They are part of a ‘dynamic control system’ that keeps the proper amount of power to each wheel and even brake as few as one wheel for the proper traction.
Today, average drivers, without even knowing they are doing it, have their vehicles doing things only very good drivers used to be able to do.
Is AWD worth the expense? Every penny…if you know it saved your butt.
The reality is that you cannot do any ‘high speed touring’ so, unless you live where there is serious weather, having more than one drive axle is a way to increase your operating costs.
But…
You can’t take your AWD car on the Rubicon Trail, but there are lots of off-road treks you can take…
Since I watched the VW ads, from the 70s, where the VW Bug, from a dead stop, goes up a snow covered hill, while several well know American rear wheel drive cars just spun their wheels, I must disagree that FWD or RWD with motor over the drive wheels is a engineering compromise. One of the best scout car during WWII, which was sold in the US by VW as The Thing, out preformed the WWII Jeep. The Thing got better fuel economy and could go places the 4 wheel drive Jeep could not.
I have a Toyota Yaris. I had to pull into my driveway, which had 4 inches of snow with 1/2 of ice on top of the snow. With all season tires, I was able to pull the Yaris up the 30 slope driveway enough to get the Yaris off the road. When I got out and looked at the tires, both front wheels had dug through the ice into the snow. So my Yaris has duel front wheel drive. I later saw at a Toyota dealer a display of the axle Toyota uses in some front wheel drive vehicles. Solid axle with teeth to transmit the power from the trans-axle to the wheels.
I have driven single front wheel drive vehicles, with all season tires, the Horizon and the Escort, over a 19 year time frame. I never got stuck in snow.
Of course if the snow is over the axle then problems will occur driving any vehicle.
I have also driven the AWD Outback. Only difference I could tell between AWD and duel FWD is that if I have to back out with the duel FWD Yaris, I need to shovel enough snow to get a running start. The AWD Outback is better at getting out of a parking space that has not been shoveled.
I live in Stow Ohio. I have to drive to the Cleveland VA Hospital for medical treatment for chronic pain.
I must disagree that FWD or RWD with motor over the drive wheels is a engineering compromise.
Please don’t misstate what I said…I NEVER mentioned RWD as a compromise. Any poorly prepared vehicle or one over designed for a specific task can be poor in snow conditions. Corvettes, Porsche and the like. Of course having the weight over the drive wheels with my FWD cars offered some traction advantages…but their overall safety never approaches the RWD police cruisers I drove with gear weight in the back and snow tires. FWD is at a huge disadvantage going up hills. I drove VWs for years and they had excellent deep snow traction…FWD is the engineering compromise.
Please again don’t read what you want to hear.
BTW…I’m still waiting for someone to list a FWD car as one of the ten best handling cars on the road. Be prepared to have your choice laughed at if you think you can come up with one. So many of us have drive FWD for so long, we wouldn’t recognize a good RWD/AWD handling car if we drove one; not having the faintest idea how to use one to it’s full advantage in both good and adverse conditions.
How bad could the differential wear be if the front tires differ in size from the rear?
Everything is by degree. How much difference are we talking about and for how long? Is it due to uneven wear or improper inflation that may be rectified at the next oil change ? Or, did you swap out your 225/55/16 in the rear for 235/75/17 and immediately took a 1000 mile trip ? (An exaggeration of course) Small changes for short periods times are easily handled by the slippage in a modern AWD car. My 4wd tractors are designed for different size tires front and rear; most AWD cars are not.
Always found that a Focus, would backup were it wouldnt go forward ,at least where I live.The Taurus with good snow tires seemed to have a lot better traction in wet snow,then a Focus,those old VWs would go very good in snow .The old Squarebacks had enough weight on the back to go pushing snow.
When driving on a beach in an AWD Cherokee, should I engage the gears into 4-wheel HI ?
They are part of a ‘dynamic control system’ that keeps the proper amount of power to each wheel and even brake as few as one wheel for the proper traction.
You don’t need AWD to get the breaking portion of the “dynamic control system.” In fact, that is how active stability management works on 2WD vehicles. I would like to see the difference in emergency handling between a 2WD “dynamic control system” and an AWD “dynamic control system” to see if there is a benefit in emergency handling.
Only if you get stuck. Jeep AWD is excellent and top tier.
I disagree. I would stay out of awd in sand. AWD is not made for off road, but paved and rough roads. Sand is off road. Use setting that locks center differential. If you can’t on your car, limit your sand driving. Drive sensibly in locked 4 low in sand. Read your manual.
Growing up near sandy beaches AWD or 4wd both worked quite well. However that being said driver sand experience matters much more than vehicle and drive train.