Car Articles

Car Blog & Car News

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Cookie Policy
  • Polls Archive
  • Privacy Policy

Why Four Wheel Drive?

March 17, 2012 by Mr Butterscotch Leave a Comment

During the really cold snap we had, you may have heard people discussing the merits of four wheel drive and the potential for an 4×4 to really shine in bad weather. However, do you know how it works or have the merits been advocated to you without an understanding of the technology? It’s not perhaps quite as simple as that due to the fact that no two manufacturers seem to fit the same system, however, we will look at the ‘basics’ and consider manufacturer specific developments in later articles.

Engineering it in
Taking an example of a front wheel drive car because it is most common on our shores, your car is set up with an engine, a transmission, a front differential and a front drive shaft. These are all key components in sending power to the ‘driven’ front wheels. In four wheel drive, there’s a transfer case (the important thing – this transfers power to the rear wheels), a rear drive shaft and a rear differential. This further engineering allows the rear wheels to also be driven, thus the engine is making all cars rotate with power.

Why does it help?
This is the simple part. Sticking with the front wheel drive example, if you try to put power down and you have no traction, the front wheels will spin. Because the rear wheels are not driven at all in our example, they won’t move an inch. If they were driven, you have an extra chance to gain traction on the ground and drive away.

Is it on all the time?
This tends to be manufacturer specific. Some systems operate permanent four wheel drive, however others will activate only when they feel slip. The car will try to regain traction by sending power to the normally non-driven wheels (probably the rear!).

When does it not help?
Four wheel drive will not help at all when it comes to stopping. The best way to ensure you have optimal stopping power is regularly servicing your brakes to ensure they are in tip top condition and having tyres fitted that are most suited to the conditions you are driving on.

Filed Under: Driving Advice, Editorial, Maintenance & Breakdown, Safety & Security, Technical Tagged With: Car technology explained, Differential, four wheel drive, Mechanical information, power, Traction, Tyres

Recent Posts

  • Campervan Care Guide September 26, 2023
  • British Landrovers – a short history April 28, 2023
  • Sir Jackie Stewart’s Golden Milestone At Silverstone Classic July 30, 2019
  • Kia Shows Off One Of A Kind Stinger GT420 Race Car July 29, 2019
  • Could Your Tyres Generate Electricity In Future? July 28, 2019

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow this blog by email

Sign up to receive email updates when we post new articles.

FacebookTwitter

Categories

Popular Posts

New Vauxhall Corsa Limited Edition

382 Comments

This is the new Vauxhall Corsa Black & White … [Read More...]

Car Windscreen Damage & Repair

15 Comments

The windscreen is an extremely important part of … [Read More...]

Coil Spring Damage

67 Comments

A lot of modern cars are equipped with coil spring … [Read More...]

Buying A Mazda RX-8

284 Comments

Test Drive an RX-8 or request a … [Read More...]

Vauxhall Corsa VXR Arctic White

62 Comments

For many, the Corsa VXR is the darling of the VXR … [Read More...]

Vauxhall’s Handbrake Problems Part 2

104 Comments

Well, don’t say that we don’t care about you all, … [Read More...]

Five Cars That Are Cheap To Insure

19 Comments

I've made no bones about my passion - and that … [Read More...]

The Top F1 drivers of all time.

42 Comments

This top one hundred may raise a few eyebrows; one … [Read More...]

Vauxhall Dealership

Vauxhall Hit by renewed faulty handbrake alarm

376 Comments

Vauxhall has been hit by fresh claims that it is … [Read More...]

Water & Flood Driving Advice

82 Comments

It is likely through the winter months that you … [Read More...]

Polls

Are you going to buy a car in 2024?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Tags

Aston Martin Audi Autocar Auto Express BMW Car Articles Car events Cars Cars we like Car videos Classic Cars Concept cars Desirable cars Driving advice Driving tips Electric Cars Events fast cars Ferrari. Ford GEM GEM Motoring Assist Hot hatchbacks hot hatches Hypercars IAM Jaguar McLaren motoring events Motorsport New Cars nissan Performance cars porsche Quick cars Rare cars road safety Sports cars supercars SUVs The Law Top Gear vauxhall Videos Volkswagen

Copyright © 2025 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This site uses cookies: Find out more.