Spoiler alert! It does. There’s more to it that you might expect.
What car is the best for driving on snow? You need to have an all-wheel drive vehicle with winter tires. However, many comparison tests have shown that there are other options. An RWD car with a small rear is likely to be the most inept, regardless of tire choice.
Tyre Reviews’ YouTube video on this topic, How weight affects traction for RWD cars, is the latest from Tyre Reviews. Although the obvious answer is that more weight on the driving wheels equals better traction, not everyone considers the other aspect. Is the increased weight of the rear axle better for handling or traction? The test was conducted using a rear-wheel drive Volkswagen Amarok TDI. Although it isn’t the most American truck, it is available only in the United States. However, in theory any RWD pickup should perform identically in snowy conditions to this Amarok V6 TDI.
Let’s get back to the core question: What happens if you increase the weight of the cargo bed on an RWD truck to increase traction? The Amarok V6 ran around the track Tyre Reviews uses for this video with no load at its back. It took 1:45 minutes. Next, the truck was loaded with four wheels into its cargo bed. This gave it a 50/50 weight ratio, but also added 440+ lbs (200+ kg) of load to the rear axle. How does it affect the weight? While we won’t spoil all the video, traction is clearly better regardless of which MT off-road tires were used in the tests. What is the lap time? You can see the video below.