7 Things You Should NEVER Do In AWD & 4WD Cars!

opting for an all-wheel drive vehicle provides a vastly different driving experience than that of its two-wheel drive or wheel drive counterparts some may even consider all-wheel drive superior to all others however the way you drive an all-wheel drive vehicle not only significantly affect its lifespan but yours as well and there are several fatal mistakes that should be avoided when driving an all-wheel drive car from lazy driving maneuvers destructive car modifications and even poor driving skills there are countless ways that you can unintentionally obliterate your all-wheel drive vehicle so here are 7 things that you should never do in an all-wheel drive car never put mismatched tires on a all-wheel drive car front tires on all-wheel drive vehicle can often wear more quickly than those on the rear axle as a result it could be tempting to only replace the two front tires but a new tire is larger than one of the same brand type and size that's part way through its tread life a difference in diameter of less than half an inch between front wheel drive tires on your all-wheel drive car can mean trouble for the drivetrain if two tires on one axle are spinning faster than the others your car's electronics may think the faster moving tires are slipping and put you in the wrong gear most all-wheel drive systems and cars use sensors on each wheel that monitor traction and will speed hundreds of times per second this is what allows the all-wheel drive system to work in slick conditions by sending power to whatever wheels that have the most traction when smaller tires are spinning faster the system may put your vehicle into four-wheel lock the gear that's used for driving in slippery conditions in vehicles equipped with all-wheel drive systems the transfer case gears that transfer power from the transmission to both front and rear axles and the car's internal computer work together to send power out to each wheel the amount of power per wheel can vary depending on the wheel's individual workload for example in a straight line each wheel carries a reasonably similar load in a cornering situation the stress on each wheel is very different the amount of power the internal computer sends to each wheel based on what your all-wheel drive vehicle needs to go down the road helps manage how hard the transmission and transfer case are working inconsistent outside diameters caused by different tire sizes tread patterns or tread depths can force an all-wheel drive's computer's readings to fluctuate and various wheels will receive inefficient or incorrect power loads as a result the drivetrain computer transmission and transfer case must constantly readjust doing more work than necessary and eventually may break down never fail to tailor your driving technique when cornering an all-wheel drive car this is particularly common for drivers who have switched to an all-wheel drive car after years of driving a wheel wheel drive performance car in rear wheel drive cars you can use the throttle to help you churn using the power to rotate the car mid corner so you can release the brake early carry high corner speed to the apex and if the car starts to push you can use the power to bring your car back to a neutral stance this technique doesn't work in the majority of all-wheel drive vehicles the reason for this is quite simple when you get on the throttle mid corner the weight moves to the back of the car causing the rear of the car to squat this makes the front end lighter and because power is being sent to the front wheels the tires can become overwhelmed inducing understeer understeer happens when the front wheels lose grip due to excessive speed or because of hard braking through a corner which can lock the front wheels the side effect of this is that instead of churning the car is commanded by the driver the front wheel simply rots across the road surface in a straighter than desired line understeer is most common in front-wheel drive cars and all-wheel drive cars because the front wheels have to churn and accelerate at the same time when understeer occurs especially in an all-wheel drive car the easiest way to correct it is by reducing steering rock and easing off the throttle to allow the front wheels to gain grip in recent years better chassis setups clever transmissions and advanced electronics have given us all-wheel drive cars that will happily oversteer at the limit however for most all-wheel drive cars the best way to drive them on the track is to brake deep turn in early trail brake to the apex get the car turned and then straighten the wheel as soon as possible on the exit this way you can minimize the time snapping front end push and you can actually utilize the car's four wheel drive traction on the way out always use a flat bed for towing the golden rule is that one should never leave the drive wheels of a car on the ground when towing otherwise significant transmission damage can take place with all-wheel drive all the wheels of your car are drive wheels the simplest answer is use a flatbed that keeps all four wheels off the ground however there are other methods that involve a bit of extra work you can find information in your owner's manual detailing safe ways to tow your all-wheel drive car or suv never launch your manual all-wheel drive car hard hard launches take their toll on all transmissions but all-wheel drive cars fare the worst this leaves a transmission to bear the brunt of a hard launch as a result we don't recommend full throttle launches in manual all-wheel drive vehicles but if you're determined to do it anyways there are some quick tips to minimize the damage to your car the first thing you should do is to make sure that the car is cooled down you should then depress the clutch bring the revs up to 5000 to 6000 rpm slip the clutch creep forward around one mile per hour and then release the clutch quickly and smoothly by slipping the clutch first gear is almost engaged taking slack out of the drivetrain so when you release the clutch the jolt sent through the transmission is lessened granted this technique will take a toll on your clutch but think of it this way you're sacrificing the clutch to save the drivetrain we all know which one costs more to replace never do handbrake churns in an all-wheel drive car this one might come across as common sensical but we've seen plenty of all-wheel drive cars yanking their handbrakes at autocross events ignoring the damage that they're causing to their transmissions the reason that this is a bad idea is the simple fact that pulling the handbrake causes the rear wheels to slow suddenly putting a lot of stress on the transfer case which is a drivetrain component not designed to deal with the sudden and prolonged change in speed between the front and rear wheels this is also one of the reasons why you should only transport your all-wheel drive vehicle in a flatbed the engine will also be under heavy load trying to fight the handbrake to turn the wheels you probably won't break anything if you use the handbrake occasionally but it's not good for your all-wheel drive car ultimately if you want to slide an all-wheel drive vehicle use trail braking or scandinavian flick instead always keep your all-wheel drive car's transfer case lubricated your transfer case the mechanism that distributes torque between the front and wheel wheels is an important part of your all-wheel drive vehicle's drivetrain and a clean fresh supply of fluid is absolutely necessary to keep it functioning properly a transfer case is attached to the transmission and provides power output for the rear drive shaft the rear drive shaft transfers power from the transfer case to the rear axle any mechanical device with moving or rotating parts wears out and over your all-wheel drive car's lifetime products of wear and tear mix with oil and this causes gears and other internal components to age faster in many cars a transfer case is located close to hot exhaust components which also causes transfer case fluid to deteriorate sooner your wheel drive car's transfer case is filled and lubricated by a special fluid or gear oil fluid choice is critical not all systems use the same fluid and often there could be up to three different types of fluid within one all-wheel drive system including the front differential transmission transfer case and rear differential the fluid used can vary greatly between makes and models so the owner needs to follow factory recommended fluid use and change intervals if the car is driven hard tracked raced or sees a lot of stop and go driving your all-wheel drive car's transfer case fluid change interval should be halved never assume that you have endless levels of grip in winter weather go anywhere ability sure-footed handling and all-weather grip are just some of the terms used by marketing executives to describe all-wheel drive vehicles but in most cases these claims are completely disingenuous it doesn't matter what you're driving because when you don't have the right tires you're not going anywhere quickly ultimately tires are the only thing between your car and the road something the majority of drivers overlook the general public buys a large amount of suvs in the us based on a false notion of infallibility but those same people would never purchase winter tires because quote they're too expensive a deeply flawed logic according to the federal highway administration 41 of all weather-related car crashes in the u.s are due to conditions involving snow sleet ice and slush accidents caused by winter weather result in 150 000 injuries and 2 000 deaths each year but can an all-wheel drive system save you when weather turns really ugly consumer reports evaluations show that all-wheel drive may provide some benefit but it's no guarantee that it will get you through a grueling storm their evaluation showed that using winter tires matters far more than having all-wheel drive in many situations consumer reports conducted braking tests in all-wheel drive 2015 cr-v the best-selling compact crossover with its original all-season tires and then with winter tires when the all-wheel drive cr-v wore winter tires it stopped from 60 miles per hour in about 300 feet but when the cr-v had its original all-season tires it took more than 650 feet to come to a stop more than twice as far and an increased stopping distance of an entire football field compared to when it had winter tires a significant factor was the available grip provided by their all-season tires therefore we strongly recommend buying winter tires for your all-wheel drive car as the benefits far are weigh the costs never put your car in park before it comes to a complete stop some newer cars won't even let you do this due to speed sensors in the car's software but if you have an older car and you've been known to do this from time to time this next point is very important it could save your all-wheel drive car's transmission from irreversible damage you should remember that park was made to keep your car from rolling away but not to stop the car while moving when your car is in park its transmission is locked up this means your car's wheels can't move or that they can but with great difficulty when you put the vehicle in park a pin locks the transmission's output shaft which are connected to the wheels of your car shifting the park while moving causes a locking pin to be inserted into a gear the car's moving wheels are also connected to so when you lock it and keep the vehicle rolling at the same time there's a risk of breaking the locking pin which can cost you thousands of dollars to fix under any and all circumstances never coast in neutral in an all-wheel drive car some people may believe that coasting in neutral in an all-wheel drive car will save them gas but unfortunately they're sadly mistaken in general cars with all-wheel drive get worse gas mileage than models equipped with two-wheel drive and there's a reason all-wheel drive vehicles have to send power to each wheel which requires extra energy two-wheel drive cars are less complex than those with all-wheel drive and their simpler drive trains mean improved fuel economy in the long run all-wheel drive systems can add hundreds of pounds to a car's curb weight and that extra bulk can have a big impact on your fuel economy which means more fuel is used to move an all-wheel drive car the same distance as when with two-wheel drive so you say why not coast in neutral while driving in your all-wheel drive car to save gas and this somewhat makes sense you're driving downhill so why not let gravity take over by putting the car in neutral but in reality it's the opposite today's modern cars are designed in such a way that they save fuel even if the gear is in drive they simply cut the fuel supply when going downhill secondly and most importantly putting your car in neutral while driving downhill actually puts you in danger it reduces your ability to control the vehicle and we're sure that's the last thing that you want when going downhill in neutral you'll only be able to slow down and not speed up during an emergency maneuver but the problems don't stop there doing this also cuts the car's oil supply so the transmission doesn't get the proper lubrication for smooth operation this results in significant wear and damage which can cost you an arm and a leg furthermore your car's engine runs at its lowest rpm and the oil pump works the slowest when you move in neutral as a result the engine doesn't cool down as well as it should it could actually fail due to overheating well guys those are things that you should never do in an all-wheel drive car if you guys like this video give it a thumbs up also if you like what you see at the channel subscribe and put post notifications on you could also follow the channel on instagram and modernmuscleyt also if you guys like the channel want to support more want exclusive content go to patreon.com modernmuscle and be a patron i'm jeff from modern muscle and i'll see you next time

Channel: Modern Muscle

Views: 28,386

Keywords: modern muscle, modernmuscle, car, cars, car facts, AWD, all wheel drive, all wheel drive cars, 7 Things You Should NEVER Do In an All Wheel Drive Car, family friendly, automatic vs manual, driving techniques, how to drive, how to drive an automatic, manual transmission, driving habits, driving course, car tricks, how to drive a manual, stick shift, automatic car, automatic transmission, how not to drive an automatic, what you should never do to your car, 4wd vs awd, awd vs 4wd

Id: -og8j5_cmcc

Length: 11min 45sec (705 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 22 2022