Thank Audi for Quattro/ESP

[S3Bangs]

Got home to my street last night to bout 4 – 5 Inches of snow.. Now the roads had about half an inch of Ice on it, so I decided to have a look at the other cars just moving around..

You could see either RWD or FWD cars spinning their 2 wheels furiously just to make slight progress .. Now I think with ESP on I actually felt good about my car for once as it just trundled along effortlessly.. I also decided to try a few things.. Switch ESP of and put your foot down (no cars about mind you), the car just becomes uncontrollable, sliding in all directions… same scenario ESP on, the car will go where you point it though sliding slightly in the direction its moving..

Got home, put the car on the drive, pull handbrake, get out of the car and notice the cars sliding backwards.. (My driveways on a gradient u see)…. Frantically get back in, go back on the street and have to clear the driveway before parking up…..Well I didn't think Audi had figured this one out yet!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[AL_B]

Great stuff Tony.

Has anyone got any other Quattro & Snow tales? Plus any tips for driving in snow?

Stories in the past seem to suggest: don't get too over confident with quattro and snow/ice, you can't defy the laws of physics and limited grip of the tyres.

AL

 

[DuncS3]

TBH - the estate where I live was covered in snow/ice last night. I found ABS came on at like 5 mph, and I narrowly missed hitting the car into the kerb, as my estate has like these chicanes with traffic islands in the middle, which are a bit difficult to negiotate with no grip...

MY opinion of Quattro in the snow/ice (on normal tyres) is it is no better than 2WD cars (I had to use my wifes front wheel drive Polo and it was no different to my S3) - NOTE this is the snow you find on ungrittted roads - not slushy, just white and very smooth - icey looking stuff...

Also the junction from my estate onto the main road - nearly slipped forward on to the main road!!!

 

[Gren]

Same situation as Dunc with the old traffic islands. Quattro and ESP are great when you put your foot down but just try breaking and you may as well be in a 2WD car.

Fatter tyres and ABS just make thigs worse as I found out this morning.

Neighbour with TT came back home last night with scuffed wheel and lower part of front bumper - courtesy of a kerb /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Went out in wifes Golf yesterday and TT today - verdict : no real difference. Only the fact that if I even clipped the kerb in my 18" RSs I'd have cried.

Gren

 

[toasty]

Chaps,

We have a big car park at work, which when I came to work this morning was:
a) empty
b) covered in snow/ice

I spent a while ploughing it up in my S' !!

I've never really felt this phenomenon on the road (but have heard people speaking about it) but if the front cannot get traction you really feel the power shift to the back (it's really obvious and it works too)

Amazing also how even ABS is of little use when the ground is so icy, I had real difficulty stopping the car once it was moving, but steering didn't seem so affected

...so I just kept doing big circles!!

Hopefully no one else saw me, I don't think most people around here (they all drive diesel mundaneos) would understand!

-Dan

 

[Joshie]

Yes I agree that big tyres make things worse - like great big snowshoes which mean that pressure on the point of contact with the snow is lower than with thin tyres.

Interesting as well reading about all the accidents just from a couple of contributors - imagine what the impact on the insurance industry would be if we had a proper, icy, snowy winter in this country.

 

[S3Bangs]

Aah... maybe its my fault in the way I put it... For driving in the snow obviously with the Quattro/ESP on, driving gently, you'll get where youre going safely but with the ice around, stopping is another ball game, obviously without any traction from the tyres, the ABS thinks you're power sliding and comes on even at the slightest touch.. I wouldnt think it'd be that bad if you had snow chains on would you??

 

[amoffat]

Braking is a nightmare, especially with these tyres! Last year I was driving down my small street at about 10mph, it was iced over snow, and the car understeered towards somebody's driveway, I tried to gently brake and all I got was the clack clack clack of the abs. No stopping power at all and ended up halfway on their driveway /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

This morning I tried booting it in 2nd on the same type of road conditions and it slipped of to the left, bit spooky, but I did boot it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Generally it is very good for traction with all 4 tyres working hard for traction, but I was surprised that with ESP on, I still managed to wheel spin /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[alexc]

I used to love driving in the snow in my RS2000 (a few years back now), rear wheel drive and lots of wheelspin! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I used to take some of the corners (when there weren't many cars about) by handbraking them, as long as you can control/correct the car you can have some real fun.

Not the same in a FWD car! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[sidicks]

I think the key thing to remember is that <font color="red"> traction </font> and <font color="blue"> grip </font> are not the same thing.

When accelerating, quattro helps, as by having 4-wheels being driven, you get more <font color="red">traction</font>. This is the advantage over 2-wheel drive cars.

In terms of grip, you've got no more <font color="blue">grip</font> than a 2-wheel drive car with similar tyres hence stopping and turning on snow/ice is still difficult/impossible, as I found out this morning !!

sidicks

The

 

[Gaunty]

[ QUOTE ]
Great stuff Tony.

Has anyone got any other Quattro &amp; Snow tales?

[/ QUOTE ] Haha, love to but it isn't snowing up here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[worfke]

[ QUOTE ]
Generally it is very good for traction with all 4 tyres working hard for traction, but I was surprised that with ESP on, I still managed to wheel spin /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

The EDS and ASR systems are actually responsible for stopping wheelspin. ESP uses these systems to control spinning wheels.
ASR is always active and either changes the injection characteristics (when your petrol engine is still cold) or disables injection in one or more cylinders (when engine is warm or for diesel eninges).
EDS is active to about 28 Mph for 2wd or 55 Mph for Quattros. EDS uses the brakes to slow a spinning wheel.
However, ASR and EDS have limited capabilities. ASR can only reduce so much power and EDS automatically disables itself after some time to prevent overheating of the brakes (And this happens rather soon).
So, this is why you can still spin your wheels with all these systems.
Basically, audi (actually bosch bacause they developed these systems) engineers expect you to actually reduce the gas once you notice the ESP/ASR light is flashing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif