Posted on 4/28/2025
It’s not something you see when you pop the hood, and most drivers never think about it until there’s a problem—but the differential is a key part of your car’s drivetrain. It allows your wheels to spin at different speeds, especially when turning, which is essential for traction, stability, and overall drivability. Whether you drive a front-wheel, rear-wheel, or all-wheel drive vehicle, you’ve got at least one differential working behind the scenes. So what exactly does it do—and what happens if it starts to fail? What the Differential Actually Does When your car goes around a corner, the outside wheels have to travel farther than the inside ones. That means they need to spin faster to keep up. The differential makes this possible by distributing engine power to the wheels while allowing them to rotate at different speeds. Without it, both drive wheels would be locked together, which would cause tire scuffing, uneven wear, and v ... read more