Should I drive my new E55 in winter or not?
11-05-2003, 06:36 PM
#43
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ABS and traction control offer no advantages on gaining traction
This and my other post are not stuff of opiniion, they are fact.
Not a soul has said that an AWD car has better braking traction (your ABS statement). Traction control prevents slippage on the drive wheels, but does nothing to promote traction. All quality cars have traction control delete specifically for the purpose of getting unstuck, giving the driver the ability to spin the tires to gain traction. Without it, you will never become unstuck with no tire rotation.
All you need to prove your theory is wrong is to put an AWD car with the same tires as an RWD car on ice and see how long it takes for vehicles of similair weight and HP/TQto reach a pre determined speed.
The comparison is embarassing to the RWD car. On 22F 30% humidity day (standard test for winter tires) on 12" of hard pack with a moderate snow moisture count, an AWD car traditionall accelerates to 100kph in roughly 37% more time than normal. A rear wheel drive with traction control takes 131% more time, and a rear wheel drive without traction contraol takes 134%.
These are stats from the Dunlop Winter Driving School in Colorado from two years ago comparing a merceded E class with AWD to the same car without AWD utilizing RWD with traction control.
You can likely find this on the net.
Mike S
Not a soul has said that an AWD car has better braking traction (your ABS statement). Traction control prevents slippage on the drive wheels, but does nothing to promote traction. All quality cars have traction control delete specifically for the purpose of getting unstuck, giving the driver the ability to spin the tires to gain traction. Without it, you will never become unstuck with no tire rotation.
All you need to prove your theory is wrong is to put an AWD car with the same tires as an RWD car on ice and see how long it takes for vehicles of similair weight and HP/TQto reach a pre determined speed.
The comparison is embarassing to the RWD car. On 22F 30% humidity day (standard test for winter tires) on 12" of hard pack with a moderate snow moisture count, an AWD car traditionall accelerates to 100kph in roughly 37% more time than normal. A rear wheel drive with traction control takes 131% more time, and a rear wheel drive without traction contraol takes 134%.
These are stats from the Dunlop Winter Driving School in Colorado from two years ago comparing a merceded E class with AWD to the same car without AWD utilizing RWD with traction control.
You can likely find this on the net.
Mike S
11-05-2003, 07:28 PM
#46
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You're right, but awd is hardly different from rwd when it comes to sopping or turning...
Yes, if you want to go through deep snow on an unplowed road -- AWD is the way to go, but for city folks...that's not so much the case. Take my S4 that i tried running on stock P6000's in winter. Several times i almost rear ended cars in front of me (brake to the floor, ABS full on and just skidding on a icey road) because of the "all season tires". A RWD car in the city should perform very similarly to a AWD in everything but acceleration and going up slopes.
11-05-2003, 07:46 PM
#48
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I did a quick Google search, and I couldn't find these results. What tires were they using? My
point is, that as tires become better suited for the conditions, the drivetrain is less a factor. If this was done on all-season tires, I have no doubt those numbers are accurate. I'd be very surprised if they were the same, or even similar, with a good set of snows.
Further, I'm well aware that and AWD car has no better braking traction, I put that in there because people often don't realize this. They think "AWD=invincible in the snow", they don't make the fairly obvious realization that only going is dependent on AWD, not stopping. Also, acclerating, turning, and stopping are all rather large components of winter driving, are they not?
If you find a link to this test you refer to, please post it. I'd be interested to read it.
Further, I'm well aware that and AWD car has no better braking traction, I put that in there because people often don't realize this. They think "AWD=invincible in the snow", they don't make the fairly obvious realization that only going is dependent on AWD, not stopping. Also, acclerating, turning, and stopping are all rather large components of winter driving, are they not?
If you find a link to this test you refer to, please post it. I'd be interested to read it.