Topic: Northern Exposure: Rear-Wheel Drive in Winter

[wing]

Certainly not for the masses.   Coworker had a Mustang for 3 years when he claims one day the car out of nowhere spun on the highway and he totalled it so he replaced it with an AWD vehicle.

Totally the cars fault. 

[99 Silver]

I have driven a lot of RWD cars in the winter over the years - two Miatas, a G35 and a M35 Infiniti.  I put winters on all of them and had no problems at all.  I live in Kitchener which gets lots of snow and it is very hilly in my neighbourhood.

I never put any weight in the trunk, but tried to keep the gas tanks fairly full.

One thing that I think is significant is that my cars were all close to 50/50 balance.  I think that makes a big difference.

Miatas are actually fun in the snow as they are very tossable and easy to control.

[CanuckS2K]

I grew up driving RWD in the winter and to this day, I'd much rather drive RWD over FWD in the snow.  Of course, proper winter rubber and common sense is always key no matter what drive wheels power the car.  What I hate is the infinite amount of folks that think that they are facking superman because they drive an AWD/4WD.  Usually the first ones that you see out in the bushes off the road.   

[Noto]

a simple carpet runner you'd use on your foyer. 

Not everyone is as fancy as you, Ron..."foyer".  Jeez. 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

"Honey...why are there tire marks on the carpet runner in the foyer?"

[Fobroader]

"Honey...why are there tire marks on the carpet runner in the foyer?"

Pffft.....more like, "what the H-E-double hockey sticks did you do to the carpet in the foyer??......T...T...TRACTION AID?!?!?!?! Are you out of your cotton pickin mind?!?!?!?! Do you know how much I spent on that and how long it took me to find one that matches the "X"?!?!?!?!?!?!?".

[Sir Osis of Liver]

"Honey...why are there tire marks on the carpet runner in the foyer?"

Pffft.....more like, "what the H-E-double hockey sticks did you do to the carpet in the foyer??......T...T...TRACTION AID?!?!?!?! Are you out of your cotton pickin mind?!?!?!?! Do you know how much I spent on that and how long it took me to find one that matches the "X"?!?!?!?!?!?!?".

Ah, the memories. 

You know what I do now? WHATEVER THE I WANT! 

[Fobroader]

"Honey...why are there tire marks on the carpet runner in the foyer?"

Pffft.....more like, "what the H-E-double hockey sticks did you do to the carpet in the foyer??......T...T...TRACTION AID?!?!?!?! Are you out of your cotton pickin mind?!?!?!?! Do you know how much I spent on that and how long it took me to find one that matches the "X"?!?!?!?!?!?!?".

Ah, the memories. 

You know what I do now? WHATEVER THE I WANT! 

She got really ornery when I baked some valve covers in the oven....hey, where else am I going to find a 300 F heat source 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

^ Exactly

Same happened when I did some powder coating. 

[Gurgie]

You guys that are running additional weight in Mustang/Camaros, etc. Do you really think it helps? I am just curious; I needed it in the Sonoma since the weight was entirely in the front of the truck with nothing in the rear. In my Camaro/Firebirds I've never felt the need to add weight because the car is better balanced. I feel like weight in those case might just do more harm than good (more momentum to stop, reduced fuel economy)

Full tank of gas will give you that additional weight in the rear end.

[roundupready]

We had a 89 Cressida and drove it through even the ice storm. Sure, you can make RWD works in the winter, but since I had my first Subaru, there is no going back. I don't need the white knuckles.

[tooscoops]

feel bad that i haven't put winters on my wrangler yet... the bfg's on there now are knobby and would do fine in heavy snow, but they sure aren't made for ice...

with this "winter" thus far, i just haven't felt the rush to get it done...

but yeah, i like the feel of rwd in the snow... lane changes i just feel more confident. also against my wife's wishes, i can "test" the conditions a little more confidently... by the way, do others do that?... in a controlled area, either hit the brakes harder than normal or hit the throttle to test traction?

[2JDM]

Do rubber floormats work? I recently swapped out my OEM rubber floor mats to Findway Floorliners.

Maybe I'll keep one in the trunk.

[mixmanmash]

feel bad that i haven't put winters on my wrangler yet... the bfg's on there now are knobby and would do fine in heavy snow, but they sure aren't made for ice...

with this "winter" thus far, i just haven't felt the rush to get it done...

but yeah, i like the feel of rwd in the snow... lane changes i just feel more confident. also against my wife's wishes, i can "test" the conditions a little more confidently... by the way, do others do that?... in a controlled area, either hit the brakes harder than normal or hit the throttle to test traction?

I test the conditions like that as well.

[Cord]

Do rubber floormats work? I recently swapped out my OEM rubber floor mats to Findway Floorliners.

Maybe I'll keep one in the trunk.

No.

I've seen people stuff all kinds of garbage under their wheels while stuck in snow. I've also seen lots of "helpers" get hurt when this debris is fired out from under the wheel at high speed. The worst was a smashed ankle bone when a folding metal traction plate was launched into an innocent "pusher's" foot. Never stand directly in the path of the wheel track when some stuck fool floors it.

[MJMontreal]

I just bought a 2WD Mazda B-Series from a neighbour. It's a second vehicle for us and I am hoping I don't end up in the ditch. My neighbour is an 85 year old woman and she goes off the road at least twice a year... she sold me her pick-up because she bought a newer one, same exact model so she'd know where all the buttons where (also 2WD).

[Gurgie]

feel bad that i haven't put winters on my wrangler yet... the bfg's on there now are knobby and would do fine in heavy snow, but they sure aren't made for ice...

with this "winter" thus far, i just haven't felt the rush to get it done...

but yeah, i like the feel of rwd in the snow... lane changes i just feel more confident. also against my wife's wishes, i can "test" the conditions a little more confidently... by the way, do others do that?... in a controlled area, either hit the brakes harder than normal or hit the throttle to test traction?

I ran the Xice 2's on my Wrangler last winter and wasn't that impressed overall with them, they weren't the greatest in the snow, were good on ice though.  This winter I decided to ditch the Xice 2's and the stock Duelers & went with Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac's which are a winter rated AT tire.  As Fobroader has already pointed out to me, they won't be as good on ice as the Xice 2's were, but are good in snow... so we'll see once it snows.  On cold pavement they seem fine so far, not as bad as the stock Duelers were.

I always do a test like that to make sure I know what's underneath my contact patch 

[X-Traction]

I had a '79 Impala full-size wagon for 11 years.  It had a huge engine and a positraction rear end.  Without a load in it, it was lost on slippery roads. But loaded, and with old-fashioned snow tires on the back end, it was amazing.  (I added air shocks to cure the bumper-dragging problem.)  When needing to start from a stop on a steep uphill, the weight shifted onto the rear drive wheels.  No problem.  Fwd was the opposite, shifting weight off the driving wheels.  Despite all the pro-fwd bs around at the time, the wagon could get up snowed-in logging roads far better than any fwd.  Throw a set of truck chains on the rear wheels, and it was as good as a 4wd without chains.

A problem with fwd on slippery roads is if you go into a corner too hot, and suddenly lift off the gas, you'll lose the rear end and fishtail into trouble.  Rwd, on the other hand, is easy to hang out the back end and countersteer around slippery corners.  The Impala could do this in ho-hum simplicity.

I also had a small fwd sedan. It was completely hopeless in slippery conditions.  The heavier it was loaded or the steeper the climb, the worse it got.

[Noto]

A problem with fwd on slippery roads is if you go into a corner too hot, and suddenly lift off the gas, you'll lose the rear end and fishtail into trouble.

Jacob did this beautifully in the Nissan Versa Note, IIRC (one of the subcompact hatches).  He did not fishtail into trouble, he fishtailed into my respect and into my heart. 

[Fobroader]

I've always found a FWD is way harder to reel back in when the a$$ end goes, I mean a bit of throttle and countersteer, but for most of the cover my eyes with my hands, jesus take the wheel types, its hard. I can't tell you the amount of AWD cars I've seen spin out here because the buffoons behind the wheel braked instead of staying on the gas and letting all those wonderful electronic nannies fill in the blanks where their talent ran out.