Hey everyone, thanks for any response. I am here in MD, and as most of you know, we got probably 8 inches or more of snow here. Anyway, I went to my girlfriends house on Friday night, and tried to drive my 01 Turbo home yesterday(Monday) in some snow yesterday. As I was trying to make it up a street, I had to turn PSM off to try to get some wheel spin, but noticed that the front wheels were not spinning at all. I tried it both ways with PSM on and off, but only the rear wheels spun. Well, after 30 minutes and alot of side to side movement, I went in reverse almost a half of a mile to get to a main street. I thought that these cars were in AWD all of the time, with something like 10% power always to the front and more when needed. Is this normal, or is there something wrong with my car.

Also I know, I should not drive the TT in the snow, but thought AWD vs. the M3 cab's rear wheel drive would be the lesser of two evils. Thanks everyone.

 

5% to the front minimum. I, too, noticed that they didn't always spin while watching some video of Pierre's car in the snow.

 

I thought like other AWD cars that they would shift more power to the front as the rear wheels start spinning. I thought I read somewhere that up to 40% power goes to the fronts, but maybe I was wrong. I know I didn't buy a 4WD, but thought I had somewhat of a fighting chance in this snow.

 

You are correct on your percentages. The front can get anywhere from 5-40%. Why it wasn't working very well in the snow is beyond me.

 

Without snow tires, it can be 8 wheel drives and still not get you anywhere...

 

They do spin sometimes and other times they don't The only answer I can come up with is this...if the Turbo was sending only 5% of the engine's torque to the front wheels there would only be ~18 lb-ft of torque to the front wheels after transmission losses, and that amount of torque won't spin the front wheels. As the ratio is increrased towards 40% then there is enough power to spin the front wheels.

 

I remember the 993tt Car and Driver road test had said that the car left 4 skid marks at the drag strip.........

Bond

 

Well, I had pressed the accelerator with PSM off, and probably showed about 20-25mph, but of course was not moving at all. At one point, I has giving the car gas, and stuck my head out of the window and just watched my rear wheels spin, but saw no movement on the fronts at all. I feel like both the rears were spinning, just like a rear wheel drive car, causing me to go side to side.

 

Were you on a level surface?

 

Not at all, it was a slight incline. If it was dry out, and no e-brake, it would take a few seconds and roll down the street backwards. Funny thing was in the snow, it did go just fine in reverse with no wheel spin at all. Was thinking if I could turn around and go backwards uphill, maybe I could have made it...like a front wheel drive car, but the street was too narrow, and there were cars parked on one side.

 

Just a theory, but maybe only 40% to the front when PSM is on. Maybe with PSM off, its 5%?

Maybe your Turbo has GT2 envy?

 

JakeMate, I had thought the same thougts with PSM on vs. off also, so I tried both, but no luck with front wheel spin. Sounds funny, but I was thinking maybe the previous owner disconnected the front wheel drive to dyno the car, and never had it reconnected. I always with drive PSM on in the dry, and only have the back end kinda lose it ever so slightly then PSM takes over and corrects it. Maybe I am a coward with PSM off in the dry, but lost it once in my S2000 in the rain, and went offroad doing 360's in a field, but had no damage except probably about 100lbs of mud underneath the car, and in the rims. Have to say my 2002 M3 Cab cannot lose it around a turn with DSC off, since she is a, overweight pig...joking.

Like the thought of GT2 envy...

 

Road & Track said it required 5000 rpm drop clutch launches before the front wheels would break loose.

With 40% torque going to the front wheels, and a 15% drivetrain loss, there's only 141 lb-ft of torque at the front wheels.

 

Dock, I have to say I have never dropped the clutch at 5000 rpms to launch....would I still have a clutch left? I can say I am an aggressive driver, but not an abusive driver at all. I am not saying that you said that, but R&T must be harsh on their test cars. I have launched at maybe 3k before, but first is so damn short, it hits the limiter before I can even think of pressing the clutch to shift to second. Needless to say, my car is 100% stock with the exception of the Baileys DV's.

 

Dock, I think my S2000 only had 141lbs (in that range) of torque total... and with your calculations, the front of my TT is getting that much. If in theory my front drivetrain was disconnected (probably not), how much rear wheel torque would there be? Wouldn't Turbos be alot more spirited in driving with the removal of front axles, drivetrain, and maybe diff. also. I figure the weight loss would help to make the car lots more fun.

Sorry I feel like I am getting off of why my front wheels won't spin in the snow.