Which Drivetrain Handles the Best in the Snow?

hey kids this video is sponsored by Firestone today I'm going to help you understand the different Drive trains meaning rear wheel drive front-wheel drive four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive and I'll help you feel more confident and informed while driving in Winter conditions but first I have a dad joke for you so what does the Snowman take when he's worried about melting a chill pill ah so anyway let's get started so I made a short clip about each drivetrain and how basically how each one works so first let's start with rear wheeel drive with rear wheeel drive the rear wheels turn which essentially pushes the vehicle since the weight of the engine is over the front wheels this isn't ideal for driving in wintry conditions which is why some people will put weight over the back wheels when driving in the snow rear wheeel drive was the most common type of drivetrain until the end of the 20th century you know they were once standard for most vehicles uh that's was pretty much it out there at the time uh and now nowadays you basically find them in pickup trucks uh sport vehicles and performance cars uh since the front wheels aren't powered the this type of drivetrain can offer excellent steering and cornering in dry conditions so it's great for that however when things get rainy or slippery rear wheeel drive vehicles can lose traction and in Winter conditions rear wheeel dri cars can dig a hole for themselves and just keep spinning and they get stuck spinning in the snow right uh since there isn't much weight over the wheels they may have difficulty gaining Traction in the snow so some people will add weight to those uh rear wheels to try to get some traction but really really it is an ideal for driving in this snow so now I'm going to show you how front-wheel drive works with front wheeel drive the front wheels turn which essentially pulls the vehicle since the weight of the engine is over those front wheels it handles pretty well in the snow okay let's talk about front-wheel drive both of my vehicles are front-wheel drive we don't have extreme conditions where I live so they've been adequate for our needs to get us around town so compared to rear wheeel drive front-wheel drive systems can offer better traction on snow or ice like we saw rear wheeel drive vehicles push themselves down the road where our front-wheel drive cars pull themselves down the road front-wheel drive cars with their engines in the front over the wheels the wheels that are turning uh will give the give you better traction than rear wheel drive however front-wheel drive vehicles May struggle in extreme winter conditions where power to all four wheels is essential okay next let's talk about four-wheel drive with four-wheel drive the back wheels turn during normal driving conditions then if you run into snowy conditions you can switch it into four-wheel drive and all the wheels turn okay so now let's talk about four-wheel drive like I showed four-wheel drive vehicles are rear wheeel drive until you switch them into four-wheel drive that then splits the power when more traction is needed this can be really useful when towing heavy loads off-road plowing through deep snow or traversing off-road conditions because power is split evenly all of the wheels will turn at the same speed four-wheel drive vehicles generally have three settings 2H 4 4 L and 4H for driving in the snow at slow speeds you would use 4 L and for higher speeds in the snow you would use 4H four-wheel drive vehicles are good in the snow because they can deliver power to all four wheels it can help provide that oomph that you need to escape snow drifts or climb icy inclines and lastly I'm going to explain to you what all-wheel drive is with all-wheel drive all the wheels turn independently to give you the best traction which makes it ideal for regular drivers finally let's talk about all-wheel drive you know they become really popular because they strike a balance between front-wheel drive and rear wheeel drive making it a great choice for diverse driving conditions whereas rear wheeel drive does well in dry conditions and front-wheel drive Drive does decently in wet snowy conditions all-wheel drive can handle both without sacrificing performance in either one of those areas all-wheel drive is a relatively recent invention to keep it simple power is delivered to the wheels that have the most traction at any given moment there's actually computers that are used to measure each wheel's grip speed and other data to determine if power should be sent to the front or back back wheels and even which individual wheel pretty amazing all-wheel drive is typically always on and is perfect for regular drivers who drive in ice or rain or who live in an area that experiences many months of winter weather conditions all-wheel drive in my opinion is potentially the best option for snowy driving conditions because all-wheel drive systems can both push and pull your vehicle corner ing abilities traction and general handling normally increase this applies to any condition dry wet and even snowy or icy when a deep pocket of snow or a slick patch of ice causes a tire to lose traction all-wheel drive will optimize power for the other tires to get over it so no matter which drivetrain you have if you're going to be driving in Winter conditions for any kind of extended period of time it's important to get tires designed specifically for snowy or winter conditions they'll give you better traction shorter stopping distances and better handling in cold temperatures the main thing that I learned from my experience driving in the snow and Montana last month was that it has a lot more to do with your tires than I previously believed we drove a Porsche 911 which is rear wheeel drive with stock tires and it we could barely even get it to move the wheels just kept spinning then we drove the exact same car with snow tires and we were able to move freely throughout a slom course on the snow it was all because of the tires so choosing the right tires for your vehicle and weather conditions is essential for your ride regardless of your drivetrain type visit your local Firestone complete autoare and they can help you make the right decision for your area car and budget all right so I hope that was helpful for you just to understand um all the different drivetrains uh sounds complicated but it really isn't once you kind of break it down I think it'll help you when you're buying a vehicle or if you have a vehicle understanding which wheels are spinning and and why so uh yeah and also in the description of this video I'm going to include some winter driving tips too as well as you know just to have some things in your vehicle and that sort of thing and things to look for uh when you're driving just to try to help you be safe uh and tires are super important so just wanted to make sure you understood that um it's the drivetrain is important but if you have bald tires that's not going to not going to help you so you want to make sure you have good tires for regular driving conditions and you also want to have good tires uh snow tires if you're going to be driving for any extended period of time so all right so thanks for watching and God bless you