To all those that previously defended it … now do you believe me that it’s rubbish on anything but dry tarmac? My 5 spins the wheels in the wet in 4th. gear at 5000rpm!
I notice you say wheels, so presumably both wheels are spinning, in which case the diff is working as it should.
Boris - what did you expect at 5000 rpm when you have this setup:-
Aussie 2004 Mazdaspeed Turbo; Full FM Exhaust; AEM Inlet; GFB Bypass
Valve; Bodgy Throttle Body Elbow; FM Intercooler; FM Boost Controller;
DIY Airbox; Boost Gauge; Pro-Race 2 Wheels; 215x40x17 Contact-3s; 218hp
196 ftlb
With that impressive power & torque I’d be surprised if you didn’t spin them in the dry too!
I’m sure there’s someone who would swap you an open diff for your Torsen if you wished…
I fully understand what you’re saying - the Torsen is fab in the right conditions, but in snow & ice they’re useless! (I still wouldn’t swap though).
Hi
Just in the interests of science you understand, I’ve taken the “5” out for a quick spin in the snow. We are in South Devon, and if you have been watching the news you will know that we have a fair bit of it down here. I didn’t go far, I was too worried about meeting some plonker coming the other way not able to control his car in the conditions and bending the precious “5”. Anyway the main reason for going out was to test how effective the torsen diff is in these conditions so that I am fore-armed if conditions change while I am out anytime.
Admittedly the test was only short, up the steep hill out of our hamlet, sufficiently slippery that I only just made it, but application of power had the rear snaking, so I can only assume that the torsen was working as it should. Perhaps with only one driven wheel on sheet ice there might not be sufficient resistance to transfer drive to the wheel with good grip, but I did not meet that condition so cannot comment.
Having said all the foregoing, my experience does suggest that a plate diff might be better than the torsen used in the “5’s” under most conditions, even including dry roads, but I would not go so far as to say that the torsen was useless. I have 4 cars, two with plate diffs, one with viscous diffs (the plural is not a mistake, its 4x4 and has one open diff and two viscous diffs) and the “5” with a torsen. On tight turns in the dry even on light throttle the torsen causes uncomfortable snatching of the inside wheel whereas the plate diffs only do this when expected under more vigorous throttle (one car has 300hp). The viscous diffs are as smooth as anything of course and do transfer drive when required. Shame that car is currently not in use!
I notice you say wheels, so presumably both wheels are spinning, in which case the diff is working as it should.
You presume wrong. The Torsen design does not prevent one wheel spinning with all the power; it simply behaves like an open diff. when either wheel loses traction. So, either of the wheels can spin independently of the other.
If there is absolutely no grip at all a Torsen will behave like an open diff. There is a trick pulling the handbrake a bit introduces resistance locking the diff so you will get drive to both wheels. Useful if you get stuck, but don’t drive around with the handbrake on.
That looks like a really good tip, I’ll try it later. [:D] Shame it wouldn’t work using the acceleration lanes (in the wet) getting onto the motorways!
It took me 10 minutes to get off the drive in the 5 (backwards and up hill) this morning when our fwd cars had no problems of course. It would be interesting to get (the avatar) out and see how a rear weight bias rwd on skinny tyres would behave. I suspect it would work quite well.
Anyone want to put an order in for my Torsen? 48k use.
I left my handbrake on during a launch at the Pod the Torsen went haywire. Got it on film somewhere the back end bobs up and down side to side. Then I realise, take off the handbrake and it straightens out.
How can you identify a Torsen from the outside? Perhaps I got the only MSM with an open diff! By the way, the handbrake trick works a treat. Ta! [Y]
You can’t, unless you can see worm gears through the filler plug (tricky). I don’t think Type 2 Torsens on later cars have worm gears anyway.