Toyota Matrix - one wheel drive?
 

Today I saw a toyota matrix or something but it was toyota for sure spinning out in the snow and only one of the 4 wheels was spinning out in the snow. All the other ones were not even spinning or moving at all. His front right one was spinning out because it was on top of ice and his left front one was on pavement and I was like the car should be moving and he said the engine gives power to the wheel with least resistance (the one spinning on ice) thus the other front one not getting any power?

Is his transmission screwed up or what? I have never heard of anything like that before.

Nope, thats how it is.
If it were a LSD though, both would be spinning.

it's called open differential

beat me to it.

basically all power goes to which ever wheel is easiest to move.

even worse when u have AWD, the wheel that spins free'est, gets all the useless power.

Precisely why the 135i blows in the snow!


Fun to drive though...

Thats why you need a RWD car with a welded diff.
Haha.

Welcome to open diff.
Any kind of diff/Posi Trac is great in the snow if you have it. I wish all cars came with a ?way/Positrac diff. Any car would be better in every way.

Doesn't the 135 have the Electronic diff or something?
I heard its about as useless as a VLSD.

What's the advantage of that? It's so useless in snow and mud.

Why not just have front 2-wheel drive and forget about open differential? My 2004 carmy doesn't have open differential.

Your Camry has an open diff.

Most people will never utilize the LSD in their cars anyways, and it is cheaper for the car manufactuers to build cars without it.

I didn't know. Is that a standard with carmy's?

I suppose there's no way for me to turn off open-differential when I have one-wheel spinning out in the snow and the other one is on pavement eh?

I swear that is so useless in the snow.

usually only performance cars come with a LSD from factory.
and a lot of them are still optional.

If you drag your brake a little while on the throttle, you can reduce some wheelspin, and gain a bit of traction in some situations, but it's still not as good as having an LSD.

It's how a differential works. All diffs without an LSD works this way. There is no real way to turn it off.
To fix this problem, BMW tried to do that with their electronic LSD which activates the brakes on the drive wheel that is spinning, which will force power to the wheel that has traction.

There are a few types of true LSD's.
You have the Viscous type, that uses a liquid. When one wheel spins, that heats up the liquid and gets thicker in viscosity and sends power to the non-spinning wheel.
A lot of older Nissans like the Maxima's, NX2000's, and Subaru's use this type of LSD.

There is the Torsen (helical) LSD that is mechanical. Some work better than others. The torsen LSD in the Cooper S only locks 30%, so you still get the one tire fire. The Sentra SER Spec V's, ITR, 08 Civic Si's, S2000's, 350Z, BMW M cars, older BMW's are some examples of cars with a torsen LSD. On the S2000, if the traction difference is quite huge, then one wheel will spin like an open diff.

Another type of mechanical LSD is the clutch type LSD. These are adjsutable with plates and clutch discs, and I don't think any manufacturer uses them stock.

I have LSD and it's still useless in the snow! LOL Or maybe coz I'm lowered too much? Or I have all-seasons? K, fail on all counts.

where was this?

i was stuck today trying to make my own parking spot.

my car has a VLSD and i hate it... i liked the Clutch type LSD from the previous series a lot better.

I just prefer my AWD.

I prefer my 4wd, with a Welded rear diff and front locker. 4 wheels spinning ftw.

My 944 turbo had an open diff, and when I put a LSD diff in, it was a HUGE difference. I mean absurdly huge difference. I will NEVER buy another car without LSD, or if I have to, I'll install an aftermarket LSD immediately.

Open diff = 1 wheel drive = sux! LSD FTW!

FYI, All Porsche Boxsters and Caymans come with an open diff from the factory. When Porsche put an LSD in the Cayman S, it was actually faster around the weissach test track than the entry level 911 Carrera. That is how awesome LSD is. Needless to say, you can't have the cayman be faster than a 911, so they ditched the LSD for caymans.

also great for off road situations before the lockers get installed. It's amazing how well that trick works

word! stock Michelins FTL! LSD FTW! lowered cars in the snow FTL!

All about diffs:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/differential.htm

Fun little threadjack.

Rich, you still don't think that the 911 is "broken", just a little bit? ;)
Just ribbin' ya.

i want the supra's 3.76 LSD... expensive mod for my GS...

^^ I want a Quaife helical rear diff.
But nobody seems to want to trade one for my left nut.

peloquin LSD FTW