No power is transferred to the other wheel. It's an open diff.

It just puts the breaks on thespinning wheel(s)...

SOHC

 

Sorta --an open differential sends an even amount of torque to both wheels at all times -- which is limited to as much as the wheel with the LEAST traction can handle -- so if one wheel's spinning, the other's receiving exactly as much torque is needed to turn a wheel with pretty much no grip, ie just about none. When the brakes are pulsed on a spinning wheel, it has the effect (as far as the diff's concerned) of increasing the traction that the spinning wheel has, so the torque to the non-spinning wheel increases, and control therefore increases

An LSD, of course, removes the necessity for that, by biasing torque towards the wheel that has MORE traction, not less,which will keep wheelspin away for much, much longer, therefore better control and more stability, especially withtail-happy cars like ours.

'course, bothis optimal (I have TCS and a Trac-Lok), but if I had to choose, I'dgo for the LSD.

 

all i can tell you dude is i had my TCS turned ON one day while driving home during some heavy rainstorms...i had no traction. i found it to be better to turn off my TCS while i'm going from a dead stop then turning it on during 2nd gear.

again, watch the turns. once i was a 'tard, shifted from 1-2 in the middle of the turn and foot slipped on the gas and i spun. this was with my TCS on btw....it didn't spin as fast but it spun. just like the other dude said, you have to know how you're car reacts in diff situations and deal with it.

 

I spun out in a manual Jeep Wrangler (33" Mickey's) on a iced exit ramp going up hill. I did a complete 360 that scared the hell out of me! Luckily, there was no cars coming at the time. All I could think about was keeping it on the road and not going down the embankment!

 

I feel left out -- never spun a car out, ever!

'Course, my first and last car before Limey was a FWD turbo Daytona, that thing understeered standing still.

 

I spun a Chevy Corsica twice - both times in slushy snow. First time was on a paved country 2-lane road, went in the ditch backwards, up a field driveway and one of the front wheels caught a culvert and stopped me instantly. Almost ripped off the wheel - was connected by the half-shaft and that was it!

The second time - same car - I was on I-29 from Fargo to Sioux Falls, and was overtaking a slower car. This was back when I was young and fearless. As I got about side-by-side, my back wheels lost it, and I did a 360 - most of it in the center median (which was a shallow ditch, fortunately). When the car came back around to the right direction, I gunned it and got out of the ditch. I had to stop at the next exit to clean out my shorts! [X(]

I learned that even though front wheel drive cars normally understeer, they can also spin. I also learned to hate Corsicas.

Back when I had my 86 Mustang GT, people used to ask me if it was difficult driving it in the winter. I always replied, "once you understand that the back end always wants to be in the front, it's not bad!". At least it was honest, where the Corsica was a sneaky SOB.

One of the last posts made a good point - TCS may not recognize a spin or slide, because there's no way for it to sense sideways movement. If the drive wheels go the same speed, there's not much TCS can do.

 

You don't need TCS. You just need to adjust your driving to a rear wheel car. I've owned nothing but Camaros, Firebirds, and Mustangs since I was 16 -over a decade ago- and all obviously rear wheel driven. None with a TCS and none with ABS. Test drove, bought, and drove home my 1st car (the Camaro) in the snow in the mountains of Virginia. They don't drive anything like a front wheel drive car when the conditions are anything other than dry. My wife is trying to talk me in to letting her get a rear drive car, but I won't let her becuase I just know she's gonna do the same thing even if I get her one with some sort of TCS.

 

I agree with this guy! Hell, I went from a FWD Daytona to this Mustang in the middle of Canadian winter, including driving it 160 miles home, into a foot-deep snow dump. Open diff, stock tires. I learned how to drive RWD with no traction in a BIG hurry... Still managed not to spin it, even with a few, er, spirited corners before it all got plowed

 

Had a 2004 auto v6 with tcs. It all depends on the road conditions and the asphalt. I could send mine sideways on purpose on certain roads in light or heavy rain. It's mostly about smart driving and not turning too hard. Traction control won't save you, but being smart will. On another note, the 2004 was auto with tcs. just got a 2007 without tcs, have to get back to you on that since I just got it yesterday.

 

fyi...got the response edge goodyear tires. So far, pretty sweet. Thanks for all the responses.