M&S Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Hi all, Just a question regarding the handling of the D2 in the snow this week. There's nothing wrong with the vehicle I'm sure of that, it's just an observation. Twice now I have drifted of to the kerb as you would in a front wheel drive vehicle when loosing grip (understeer). I'm wondering why this may be as I thought that there was a bias to the rear wheels? I expected to be able to blip the throttle and push the back end out but nope, the front kept on drifting away... I guess I need to change my driving style a bit, or get some AT's fitted I know I was going a bit to quickly for this to have happened in the first place, but as I say, I expected to be able to correct it. On a plus side, given a large carpark of untouched snow it handles really well. Give it some gas, let it squirm a bit, then off it goes, all four wheels sliding but really controlled and actually does seem to have a rear bias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 The reason it does this is because when you boot it on low traction surfaces the front wheels spin first (same in any 4x4 vehicle with open diffs, usually the passenger side front) and so it has the same effect as in a front wheel drive car. Being a reactive traction control system, it needs to have wheels spinning to work properly and so because the front wheels are spinning and the rears aren't, it behaves much like a front wheel drive vehicle would with wheelspin. If you had one with fully locking diffs you could do a glorious powerslide at any speed. Freelanders are quite good at doing this on ice with the viscous coupling If you have a Defender or an old Discovery with no ETC, you can do a 360 on the spot with a perfectly flat icy surface if you heave the handbrake on, dial in full steering lock and spin the front wheels (centre diff open) it will spin the whole vehicle round on the rear wheels. Doesn't do the transfer box much good though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Hi, I have a d1 and it does the same, you just have to slow down for the bends. We have had a lot of snow this last couple of weeks and i have to travel 20 miles to get to work (dufftown to the braes of glenlivet) and the disco has been brilliant with only road biased tyres. I used to have a series three which was ok but not as good as the disco. Regards, rocky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landmannnn Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 If you just turn in to a corner where grip is limited in any vehicle it will understeer, regardless of which wheels are driven. Getting out of it is one thing, backing off the throttle normally, the real skill is not getting there in the first place. The "scandanavian flick" is fine for a rally stage, works with rwd and 4wd. In the real world the best technique is engineer some weight transfer to the front wheels by braking into the corner. If you practice this in the dry and damp situations you will be surprised how much more grip and balance you will find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Webster Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 You don't say whether you had the centre diff locked or not, as that will cause more understeer into corners as the rear tries to push you wide! This is one of the reasons that we use a viscous centre in my rallying Discovery. Yes scandinavian flick is a good technique for eradicating understeer, but it needs plenty of room and you rarely have the room for that on the public road, let alone the run-off for when you get it wrong. Some examples! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&S Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 You don't say whether you had the centre diff locked or not, as that will cause more understeer into corners as the rear tries to push you wide! This is one of the reasons that we use a viscous centre in my rallying Discovery.Yes scandinavian flick is a good technique for eradicating understeer, but it needs plenty of room and you rarely have the room for that on the public road, let alone the run-off for when you get it wrong. Some examples! Cheers all. I agree, I went into the corners a bit quick for this to have happened (I say quick, I doubt it was more then 10mph ). I used to own a Freelander which was happy for the rear to slide out a bit before settling into a 4 wheel drift. Now I know why... cheers I have no intention of driving like this normally though so will settle with taking corners at 2mph n the snow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparg Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 incidentally, AT's aren't that good on the snow, or ice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamP Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Just a quick question about the TC, don't really want to start a new thread! We were reversing a loaded car trailer up a fairly steep driveway in the snow and it got to a point where is sat with either one wheel or one axle spinning. Should this technically be possible? This is a Disco 2 TD5 Auto btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 my dads disco 2 did exactly that (understeer) when we were having drifting contests on the farm, i suspected it was something to do with the TC, because my disco 200tdi rear end steps out nicely and keeps drifting all day at first though i thought it was my dads rubbish driving until i tried in his. mikey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
q-rover Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 incidentally, AT's aren't that good on the snow, or ice! Not even if they have the snowcrystal/ mountain symbol. Oh well, snow claims a RR.Attempted to go round a round-about, but compacted new snow polished by other passing vehicles, meant the car didn't want to go round, but straight ahead. I wasn't the only one to do it either as there were already tracks going up the curb. So drove a sulking P38 to the garage (luckily a few 100m away) front axle on bumpstops, steering all over the place, no EAS fault and very bouncy. Suppose I'll have to get intouch with the insurance company once their office opens. I was being really carefull as well, only doing 15- 20 Km/h, but if 2300Kg doesn't want to go round it won't. It's not the 4wd system, it's the tyres, get decent tyres and you won't notice the difference between driving on snow or normal asphalt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 If you have a Defender or an old Discovery with no ETC, you can do a 360 on the spot with a perfectly flat icy surface if you heave the handbrake on, dial in full steering lock and spin the front wheels (centre diff open) it will spin the whole vehicle round on the rear wheels. Doesn't do the transfer box much good though Mate of mine would do this in order to get round impossible corners when trialling his 90. A while back we found his CDL was stuck 'semi-on' - in other words if you jack up one front wheel with the vehicle in gear it should free-wheel but his was trying to drive the vehicle off the jack, but not locked either. He knew the risks (to his pocket) though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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