Quattro got stuck on ice!!!!

[rhencullen1989]

How embarassing, went to visit my parents the other day and dad was spouting off about the road been icy etc, don't worry i said, i have 4 wheel drive!!

Anyhows, his driveway is steep and icy, so decided to park side on along the bottom of it, started to reverse, then swung the front around, suddenly there is no drive from the wheels, tried fowards, then back, but nothing at all, get out and notice that the rear right wheel is basically in the air, as is the front left wheel, my baby Quattro aint movin! tried turning on traction control still nowt. Dad says "thought you said it was 4 wheel drive" embarassingly enough that's what i thought too:Blush2:.

eventually got it moving with the help from some unsuspecting walkers.

So, question is why did i get stuck, is the chassis too stiff, 18" alloys with 235/40/18 tyres not enough give in the side wall? why not have diff locks like my old Audi coupe? Quattro go anywhere has turned into quattro watch where you go, especially steep icy hills!!!:biglaugh:

[GoldieLoc]

Hi,

Ppl commonly have sum sort of silly misconception that havin a 4 heel drive means ur invincible.... ********! Yeah, u do have an advantage but thats all. My quattro woz a breeze to drive during the heavy snow, but u still have to be very careful. Drive too fast and unexpected heavy breaking could mean catastrophe. Taking a bend fast also tends to veer towards under/oversteer because of the weight of the car. And reversing down a moderate to steep hill is a nightmare especially if it involves u needing to steer left/right! Believe me, I know! I had an old skool front wheel drive civic hatchback and I can honestly say, I cud drive that in the snow with ease and very confidently! Don't get me wrong, going up steep hills were a breeze in the quattro and as long as ur in the right gear, u won't generally have probs in ur quattro as long as u remember the above, but ice...... Ur asking for trouble! I once also parked on a steep uphill drive which I had no probs doing at a friends, but when it came to me having to reverse back down the hill out of the drive, it ended up with the car spinning out side ways and no amount of opposite lock woz proving helpful. If anything, it made it worse! Ended in me having to drive back up to correct it then slowly using the clutch in 1st as braking to ease myself back down the hill! The next time I went, I ended up reversing up the hill and driving down woz then a doddle! I don't understand the bit about ur rear right and front left up in the air.... obviously its the suspension physics taking play but do u mean these weren't touching the ground?

[benjie]

I read something the other day saying about generation 4 quattro (that we have on our B6's). Your problem was that the electronic diff lock didn't like one front & rear wheel being off the ground. It's not as good as mechanical diff lock.

Here's the article (http://www.awdwiki.com/quattro.html) - scroll down to "Quattro IV."