Break the brakes
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Don't have details, took those stats from here : http://www.wheels.ca/news/its-official-winter-tires-really-do-cut-collisions/
Another extract :
Even Quebec, which already had 96 per cent of drivers using winter tires before they became mandatory in 2008, showed a 5-per-cent drop in collision injuries that year. After the law received royal assent, winter-tire use increased to 98 per cent — meaning there was a 5-per-cent drop in collisions after just a 2-per-cent increase in winter-tire use. Deaths and serious injuries declined by 3 per cent.This proves (to me at least) that all-season tires are dangerous.
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No, I'm showing you how much winter tires are way much better than all-season.
Tom-ay-toh, tom-ah-toh.
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you can't go anywhere when things get really bad
You seem to be lacking some crucial understanding here. Allow me to introduce to you, the Below-Average American Adult. When the BAAA's plans are potentially disrupted by anything, the BAAA will fail to account for this disruption and continue as planned, which will often result in its plans failing halfway through. In cases such as seriously bad weather, this often means becoming stranded in an immediately hazardous situation such as a flooded road or a snow-filled ditch in the middle of nowhere, miles from anything and anyone that may save the BAAA.
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meaning there was a 5-per-cent drop in collisions after just a 2-per-cent increase in winter-tire use. Deaths and serious injuries declined by 3 per cent.
Meh, I am unimpressed by those stats. That is margin of error territory. The German stats have me intrigued though. I would be very surprised if there were not significant differences between those samples, as there is a fair difference in the years.
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Late to the party, but could not resist.
All 4WD with locked diffs does is spread the total braking force evenly over all four wheels (as if it had one giant brake on the prop shaft, as already suggested as visualisation). If a wheel cannot cope with that braking force, it will slip (or slide, or whatever).
There is no point where a wheel says "oh no, I'm losing grip, I better offload some braking force to another wheel so it can brake harder". Only multi-channel ABS can do that (and that doesn't offload the force, it just reduces it for that specific wheel).So, the only thing 4WD can improve while braking is that no wheel will lock up until all four wheels have lost grip (and then all four wheels will lock up at once, which may come as a nasty surprise to you). And it will do nothing whatsoever to improve steering while braking.
At the same time with locked diffs you turn your multi-channel ABS into a 80's style single-channel ABS (if your car even has one and it doesn't give up entirely. I don't know).So, if your car has ABS, locking the diffs will make your braking worse and more dangerous. If it doesn't, it might slightly improve your braking and still make it more dangerous. Your call. Give me ABS over 4WD anytime.
