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Rear wheel drive.

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Rear wheel drive. Empty Rear wheel drive.

Post by Leytonexile 2nd October 2016, 11:40

I'm about to pick up a new van, a Windsor. With rear wheel drive. Are there any differences I should be aware of? Wikipedia says fwd gives better grip in wet/icy conditions. Could be a problem as my Ace Milano was useless in the wet. Front wheels would spin at the drop of a hat.
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Post by roli 2nd October 2016, 12:09

Better Traction on Grass
Better Steering Lock than FWD
I seem to have better tyre wear on the Windsor compared with previous Pug
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Post by dbroada 2nd October 2016, 12:15

The majority of my vehicles have been rear wheel drive, my Nuevo being my first front wheel drive camper. As far as I am concerned there is no practical difference. I may choose to keep the driving wheels closest to the road if the grass is wet when parking at right angles but at van speeds I find them the same.

I am sure more experienced users will have more to say.

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Post by rogerblack 2nd October 2016, 13:28

I have found traction on our front wheel drive motorhome to be very poor on mud, sand or wet grass especially going up an incline. My theory is that although the engine is at the front over the drive wheels, most of the heavy fixtures in the motorhome are not, with the cooker, loo, sink, kitchen cupboard, microwave, fridge, heater, etc all behind the rear axle, hence lifting the front.

I now have mud & snow tyres fitted all year round and this helps, but I am still wary of anything other than hardstanding in wet weather.  I also use Monster Mats to prevent the wheels sinking into a rut overnight.

I would guess that rear wheel drive should help to overcome this but I have no experience of rear wheel drive motorhomes.

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Post by Leytonexile 2nd October 2016, 13:32

Front tyres on my Milano would last about 20,000 miles. Continental Campervan tyres. Rear would last 60,000. I did have Michelin tyres but these only lasted 13,000 on front.
Thanks for comments so far.
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Post by Dave 418 3rd October 2016, 17:23

Having driven front and rear drive vehicles with quite a heavy load on board I would prefer rear.
When pulling away  a vehicle like a motorhome will try and lean back so anything like wet grass or even loose surfaces like gravel will mean the front wheels will loose traction. Wet grass is better known as green ice.
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Post by harry h 3rd October 2016, 17:56

Agree better traction and tyre wear with rear wheel drive
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Post by Peter Brown 3rd October 2016, 18:01

These days most people will only ever have driven fwd as eliminating the prop shaft and rear axle reduces costs and allows more load space. RWD gives much better traction and stability but you have to be familiar with both to detect the difference.

If you lose traction then fwd will understeer (go straight on) but rwd will oversteer (start to spin). Oversteer is much easier to control.

We have two rwd and one 4wd..........

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