Rear Wheel Drive

Rear wheel drive, abbreviated RWD, was the first method used to get power from the transmission to the tires. The first mass produced rear wheel drive car was the Curved Dash Olds, in 1901. The system was easy to produce and was used in all of Henry Ford's early automobiles as well. Much later, the power created by the large engines manufactured in the late 1960s and early 1970s (or classic muscle age) required extra strength, as the smaller drive shafts and axles of the previous years would break under the stress. Only the simplicity of the rear wheel drive system allowed to the ability to make the components larger and hence stronger and more durable, as room for those components is far more limited in front wheel drive vehicles.

Due to the fact that more materials are required to produce a typical rear wheel drive system, production costs and overall weights are higher, thus the popularity of rear wheel drive vehicles all but faded out in the economical and small car market when the front wheel drive systems were developed. The performance gains from rear wheel drive systems were not forgotten, though, and many new performance car and truck models feature it.

Owners of nicer rear wheel drive vehicles often customize them to have even better performance with wider tires and lower vehicle stances. The wider tire creates a larger footprint on the ground, which works well to spread out the engines power over the road, creating more traction. Changing a vehicles suspension to lower its stance makes the car have a lower center of gravity, as well as improving the aerodynamics of the car. For that reason police cars are often rear wheel drive and are slightly lowered, due to the handling benefits at high speed.

Rear wheel drive systems have special benefits that do not occur in front wheel drive cars. First, rear wheel drive cars tend to have more balanced weight, since the differential in the rear of the car counteracts the heaviness of the engine being in the front. This makes the weight more evenly spread over the tires, creating more overall road stability in dry conditions. Another benefit is the ability to over-steer, or drift. When an experienced driver performs a drift, the rear wheels break free and spin around the front tires, allowing the car to turn much sharper at high speeds than a comparable front wheel drive car. Takeoff on dry surfaces is far better in rear wheel drive cars as well, since on acceleration weight is "shifted" to the rear of the car, creating a larger force from the tires to the ground.

Rear wheel drive systems do not outperform front wheel drive systems in all ways though. Since the center of mass of the car is pushed by the rear wheels at a distance instead of being pulled, the horizontal stability of a rear wheel drive system is significantly less when the rear tires break loose, particularly on slick surfaces. This can easily lead to an accident if a driver is inexperienced and loses control of the vehicle, causing it to spin around. Another disadvantage of rear wheel drive is takeoff in wet or slippery conditions. If the tires break free on takeoff, the weight isn't "shifted" to the rear as it is in dry conditions, meaning the weight that usually goes towards traction instead needs to be pushed to get going. Front wheel drive cars keep that weight up front with the driving wheels, making traction on slick surfaces typically much better. The best of both worlds though, lies in four wheel drive systems.

<- Front Wheel Drive Four Wheel Drive ->

Russell Gillmore 2004