All true, but I would add, when FWD looses traction on the front end, you are going where ever physics takes you. You have NO control. With Rwd, when the drive axle looses traction, you fishtail, but you can still steer. To me, that is BIG difference, having slid around some in the FWD Dog Caravan. Sliding around in that Caravan is the most scared I have ever been in a vehicle.
That is why I like to buy tires in pairs, and put the new tires on the front. As long as the steering axle has traction, you have some control. FWD OR RWD. Doesn't hurt as much ($) to buy pairs rather than 4 at a time. At 08:22 AM 9/10/2008, you wrote: >Not a motorcycle rider are you? The books "Proficient Motorcycling" >and "More Proficient Motorcycling" taught me more about riding and >by extension driving than the 15 years I have behind the wheel... > >Once you lose traction it doesn't matter if the front wheels are >pulling or not all they'll do is slip. If you've got good tires >you've got more traction. If you're trying to pull and steer you can >do one or the other but not both, or rather not both as well as you >could do one or the other. > >Boils down to front wheel drive or rear wheel drive doesn't matter >so much as really good snow tires. I don't think I've ever had >really good snowtires but even cheapo snowtires are better than all seasons. > >-Curt > >Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 14:01:29 -0500 >From: "R A Bennell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: [MBZ] What would you buy now? >To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > >Maybe on braking but my experience would indicate that the weight >over the driving wheels helps in other ways. It >was similar with the old rear drive VW bugs. They went through snow >well. Might have partly been the narrow tires >but I believe the weight over the driving wheels helped. Also an >issue similar to ABS I think in the sense that one >can still steer. The front drive vehicles steer better in snow. The >wheels pull the car in the direction one wants >to go. Often with rear drive, one would plow straight ahead even if >one kept moving with the wheels cranked to the >side. That was an issue with my old 2 wheel drive Suburban. Lots of >weight so it didn't spin but it was not great >at turning. We would get ruts in our back lane and the truck didn't >like climbing out of the ruts. Turn the wheel >and slide down the rut straight ahead. Had to remember to climb out >of the rut at some speed before I got to my >garage so that I could turn across the ruts into the garage for parking. > >Randy > > > > >_______________________________________ >http://www.okiebenz.com >For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ >For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com Loren Faeth _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
