I've read a few posts concerning towing and Audi behind a truck (not on a flatbed) and how it can ruin Quattro. How about pulling the e-brake while sliding around in the snow? Isn't this basically the same idea? One pair of wheels locking up while the others are spinning? How bad is this for Quattro? I know it's not "good" for Quattro, but will this ruin it?

If this is indeed bad, then how does the ESP system not harm Quattro (braking wheels independently)?

Wanting some input before I mess something up...

 

Towing your quattro damages the transmission because the wheels are still engaged. Towing it like that for long periods of time usually damages the syncros in the tranny. This will damage any awd or rwd car. I don't think pulling the hand brake to make a turn will do any damage to the quattro system or tranny, as long as you aren't driving with it up (but then you really do more damage to the brakes than tranny[8D])

 

If your car w/ quattro is towed behind a truck, it will f*ck up your quattro. Don't ever try this at home:



By the way, the A4 in the picture has quattro!

 

On a wheel lift, yeah it will **** it up, but if you are just pulling at behind something with all 4 wheels spinning @the same rate it shouldnt **** it up should it? only the front/back spinning at a different rate should cause any damage if im not mistaken... quattro is pretty robust though compared to the counterparts.

And honestly when I do that crazy ebrake **** I put in the clutch first.

 

Hi, sorry can I drag up this old thread please? It seems according to you guys that handbrake turns are a bad idea in a quattro, however almost everywhere else I've read online says that it's fine.

Does anyone have any more input please? I just bought new alloys (old ones were trashed - not by me!) so I have a set of tyres I want to ruin at an airfield next week.

 

You won't do any damage sliding it around. The torsen diff itself is virtually bulletproof, and you would have to spin the rear or front tires independently for long periods of time to damage the transmission internals.

 

That's great, thanks for clearing that up!

 

wow. that genius driving the truck should pay for the damage.

 

LOL, that is not true. I blew up my Torsen while on the dyno when the e-brake ended up being engaged and the car was driven at 5 mph to center the car, only the front wheels were spinning. If you want I can show you the stripped torsen gears if you like. lol

There was a girl on one of the forums long time ago named Jakie, she went to an Audi event where they told her to pull the E-brake to slide the car. She blew up the torsen or the rear diff, cant remember which one.

Greg blew up his Stasis torsen twice IIRC sliding the car around on a road course.

 

Statistics mike, just because you and a couple other people have blown them up doesn't mean they all just go kaboom. Its very hard to do damage to them unless you're actually trying to....
Not to mention sliding it around on snow puts a LOT less stress on the torsen than someone sliding it around a dry track with a high output engine....just saying.