disappointed...

[malecoke]

i find myself fishtailing a lot or sliding sideways when im in Auto mode (4wd), but when i turn it off and back to Fwd mode, ive no trouble going in a straight line. >:(

huumm......isnt 4wd supposed to have more traction in the snow like today ???

PS: no i didnt drive crazy, barely went over 40 on my way to work...

[VorteC]

4WD/AWD does give you better traction because it spreads your torque into 4 wheels. You're experiencing loss of traction/fishtailing in 4WD because of the rear wheels being active. If your car has no traction control/differential, then it will result in fishtailing beacuse the rear wheels slip too easily. In FWD you can't fishtail unless you use the handbrake/scandanavian flick because the rear never looses traction, they aren't drivingwheels and you understeer.

[Mit_LanZer]

:o

[mudmojo]

Just leave it in FWD since you are uncomfortable with anything else.

People pay tens of thousands more dollars to have a car that's tail happy. One should only do this if car control skills are there to support this habit.

[Pete_Coach]

It depends on your vehicle and what proportion (percentage) of the power is distributed to the rear wheels when in the auto mode. The traction is supplied as you need it in the auto mode. Each manufacturer has it's own system and you need to know how yours works to get the most out of it.
http://autos.canada.com/winterdriving/story.html?id=35eb7f93-dbbd-4172-9835-fd8578534b5b
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-wheel_drive

[slim_shady]

i find myself fishtailing a lot or sliding sideways when im in Auto mode (4wd), but when i turn it off and back to Fwd mode, ive no trouble going in a straight line. >:(

huumm......isnt 4wd supposed to have more traction in the snow like today ???

PS: no i didnt drive crazy, barely went over 40 on my way to work...

You do have snow tires, right? AWD or 4WD is not a replacement for proper tires.

[malecoke]

You do have snow tires, right? AWD or 4WD is not a replacement for proper tires.


yes i do have snow tires...toyo observe+ bought them just last year

[DaLurker]

i find myself fishtailing a lot or sliding sideways when im in Auto mode (4wd), but when i turn it off and back to Fwd mode, ive no trouble going in a straight line. >:(

huumm......isnt 4wd supposed to have more traction in the snow like today ???

PS: no i didnt drive crazy, barely went over 40 on my way to work...

What kind of car do you drive?

[ES_Revenge]

4WD/AWD does give you better traction because it spreads your torque into 4 wheels. You're experiencing loss of traction/fishtailing in 4WD because of the rear wheels being active. If your car has no traction control/differential, then it will result in fishtailing beacuse the rear wheels slip too easily. In FWD you can't fishtail unless you use the handbrake/scandanavian flick because the rear never looses traction, they aren't drivingwheels and you understeer.
I would argue you can't really fishtail at all in a front-driver. You can put the rear end out, spin, or create oversteer with the handbrake but fishtailing isn't exactly easy to accomplish. IMO, fishtailing requires that the rear moves side to side (not just one direction) without the ability to spin the rear wheels you really can't do it well.

And the rear can indeed lose traction on it's own in a front-driver if you have less traction on the rear and more on the front. This is why it's a stupid idea to put two winter tyres on the front of a FWD car and leave the rears as all-seasons.

As for the OP, out of curiosity what vehicle is this? Most 4WD vehicles usually are RWD most of the time and drive the front wheels only when you change the mode/transfer case. I suppose it can be either way though and sounds like you have the other way around. If you're spinning the rear wheel enough to start losing control when you engage 4WD it sounds like, as others mentioned, there's too much torque and/or not enough traction in the rear.

Are you engaging some type of lock or "LO" mode that is fixing the torque split or is that the only mode you have available on the vehicle?

4WD is not AWD so in your case it sounds like you're better off using that only if you have a hard time moving forward or backwards, instead of for normal driving. Alternately you could try putting weight in the rear to increase traction (I'm willing to bet the vehicle doesn't have enough weight in back and that's why the rear spins with the torque it's getting). However while adding weight will help the rear wheels gain acceleration traction, adding weight often makes for longer braking distances. Again, I would just stick with the 2WD mode unless you're getting stuck or excessively spinning the front end.

[hytong]

4WD? does the vehicle has a center differential?

[kleptodathief]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P90u365ilHM&feature=related

too bad it dusn't snow in saudi land!:cheesygri