A 2013 Outie 3.0 auto trans, s-awc.

When towing my boat (1100lb), will using the snow setting help or just put unnecessary wear on the s-awc system. With my 2011 4cyl awc,cve trans, I would put it in 4wd (not locked-the first setting), it seemed to help on hills and such.

 

I find (even without towing) that snow mode cuts the torque steer when accelerating at mid to higher throttle settings. You can see from the graphic that there is more clamping so there would be more wear but I think it would be worth it (and I have used it) for towing. I would use it and if doing a lot of towing in that mode would get the rear diff oil changed at the severe service interval to be safe.

 

When towing my tent trailer (2500lb), I just leave it on tarmac unless I'm on gravel. I done find any significant different on pavement for the different modes.

 

in AWC, 4WD lock would send the most torque to the rear under acceleration (I believe up to 60% under harder acceleration). I would imagine S-AWC is similar.
More torque to the rear = more grip when accelerating when towering, since the front gets less weight than usual.