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Right then, I've seen several instances today of people spinning wheels and sliding about on the snow and of course some snow has arrived in London so the news is full of stories about a wintery apocalypse 🙄 - so who'd like to offer up some tips on driving on snow*?
[size=1](* hopefully this will be an opportunity for Goan to post about something other than climate change.)[/size]
It's pretty simple - keep thing smooth and plan what you are going to do well in advance. That's pretty all there is to it.
A video of how not to do it.
loads of revs, handbrake every corner, pretend your finnish...
warton for president !
high gears, low revs and very smooth, also really really make sure you leave yourself plenty of space in front of you
I love to watch low-powered cars with skinny tyres leaving X5s standing. The meek SHALL inheirit the earth!
Put as little input into the controls as is possible as if you're trying not to use them at all
i'm with warton - make the most of it! hand brake turns, skids, wheel spins. mint!
You have all forgotten the most important rule...
Wipe a small porthole in the windscreen then get in and start driving...
It's pretty simple - keep thing smooth and plan what you are going to do well in advance. That's pretty all there is to it.
Correct
-and pay attention to feedback from the wheel and the car's response.
[b]NB. Do not suddenly let off the gas if the car begins to slide.
[/b]
Of course, the above should be true for all driving, but most people seem incapable of looking beyond the end of the bonnet, use the accelerator and brake as On/Off switches and insist on stopping about 1cm from the car in front.
If you are sliding towards something and not slowing down, get off the brakes and steer!
If you get stuck on a hill in a fwd car, and can't do a 3 point turn as the back of the car slides down the hill during the manoeuvre, as you get sideways, put the car in first and spin the front wheels so they lose grip and slide downhill before the rear wheels. (I found this method after getting stuck on a long steep hill and being faced with a long reverse a couple of years ago) Use it this morning aswell which meant I was able to join the main road in the traditional forward direction, unlike the neighbours who reversed onto the main road on a blind bend.
If you have a 4x4, don't be silly...normal cars will get stuck going up a hill early enough to be able to get down safely. A 4x4 will climb further, but when you turn round you have little more control than the 2wd cars that turned round 1/2 mile back. As soon as you touch the brakes you'll over-ride any benefit of descending in 4x4 under engine braking, (assuming you remember to select 4x4/any diff locks) and be unable to stop or even be able to stop picking up speed.
Finally, clear the snow from your lights! The amount of people I saw this morning with invisible lights 😯
loads of revs, handbrake every corner, pretend your finnish...
Yes inddedy!
Get the bugger sliding on YOUR terms. Look dangerous and ragged and everyone keeps out of your way! 😉
rear wheel drive car is very important for these conditions, and london is scary in the snow, 3 cars spinning toward junction sticks in my mind last time was up there last in conditions like these, they all missed each other and then sat there confused as to why it happened!
If you're trying to back out of a steep driveway near my house in a big Jap 4x4 , make sure you put the bloody thing in 4 wheel drive you useless muppet.
Interestingly, in the NE USA, on the first day of snow there are crashes everywhere. The snow remains for months.
You'd think that people would learn from the previous years' experiences...
Don't bother queueing like all the other fools. Cut in, drive between the cars and make 3 lanes on a road where there should only be two. You cant see the lines on the road anyway so you can do what you like.
BE07UFX, a white van belonging to MSL tyres of benfleet demonstrated it perfectly on the a127 this morning.
Another good tip i picked up is to drive at 5 mph, but stay within 1 inch of the car in front.
Thats a goodun
Clear snow from your car with a broom. That way you can get it off the bonnet and lights and all the windows. As mentioned above, many crazies in Reading this morning with a pillbox slot of glass to peer through but little else.
Drive a turbocharged 4x4.... 😈
For those with front wheel drive cars, try driving backwards....
rear wheel drive car is very important for these conditions, and london is scary in the snow, 3 cars spinning toward junction sticks in my mind last time was up there last in conditions like these, they all missed each other and then sat there confused as to why it happened!
Not many cars are rear wheel drive any more are they? Not the sort of thing you can change when it starts to snow.
Nowt wrong with front wheel drive if you drive according to the conditions of the road.
a pillbox slot of glass to peer through
Perhaps they think the war is still on - Achtung Tommy !
If the news this morning was to be believed, this was the M25 earlier.
[img] 
[/img]
Note the excellent ground clearance and narrow tyres for cutting through the crust.
comprare with:
[img] 
[/img]
ps. A 2CV Sahara would probably be the ideal car for the snow.
[img] 
[/img]
Take with you:-
A shovel
Blanket or Sleeping bag
Hot drink in a Thermos
Some food
Torch
[i]A shovel
Blanket or Sleeping bag
Hot drink in a Thermos
Some food
Torch [/i]
I'm only going to the Metro Centre.
Based on my observations this morning:
Totter unsteadily on your entirely inappropriate shoes out to the car.
Scrape a small slit of clear space in the windscreen. Don't bother with the side windows, they don't matter.
Sit there revving the crap out of the engine for 10 minutes, the rest of the street needed waking up and the emissions will help warm the air.
Spin a small hole in the snow with your wheels as you try and pull out at 3000rpm and 1st gear.
Head off down the street at 3mph while trying to program the sat nav, clear the inside windows of condensation and talk on the phone to your boss explaining why you're going to be late for work.
Get halfway along the street then remember to turn your foglights on - there's a whole centimetre of snow so you probably need them.
[i] Drac - Member
A shovel
Blanket or Sleeping bag
Hot drink in a Thermos
Some food
Torch
I'm only going to the Metro Centre. [/i]
just a warm jumper and a gun then.
plus:
Distress flares
.303 Lee Enfield
.38 Smith & Wesson
Avalanche beacon
Snow shoes
Ice axe
& a car coat
Nowt wrong with front wheel drive if you drive according to the conditions of the road.
Other than a rear wheel drive has a separate axle controlling steering and power so you have more options. But most RWDs have unloaded rear ends so not much downforce for the drivetrain.
Invest in a set of winter tyres.
[i]Invest in a set of winter tyres. [/i]
And use them about 3 days of the year.
just a warm jumper and a gun then.
Nobody has a jumper in the NE
[i]Nobody has a jumper in the NE [/i]
Drac is a fairly normal person however.
Distress flares
.303 Lee Enfield
.38 Smith & Wesson
Avalanche beacon
Snow shoes
Ice axe
Don't forget a candle. If you get stuck overnight by 5cm of snow on the motorway a candle will provide light and a bit of warmth.
And use them about 3 days of the year.
They're not just for use in the snow. [img] 
[/img]
ok, so how many days of winter weather (not just snow) do most of us get? We're discussing it on here because it is so rare.
Don't forget a candle. If you get stuck overnight by 5cm of snow on the motorway a candle will provide light and a bit of warmth.
the rifle will be used to bring down some local game/obese scally and the blubber from said game will be used to make a lamp, ignited by sparking from the car battery.
I look forward to digging my car out of trouble with my Lidl folding spade....
rear wheel drive is far more fun in the snow! was what meant , find empty car park and play.!
I saw 5 cars abandoned this morning. All were BMW's with RWD. No traction you see 🙂 Really enjoyed the guy in the Evo 7 who braked hard and a whole roof load of snow slid on to his windscreen. I got a few brownie points by getting off my bike and helping him clear it off.
I love snow :-))
Wonder what the shiny stuff is all over the ground and consider it to be perfect conditions for driving right up the backside of the teetering cyclist in front (give him comething to concentrate his attention, eh?) and then thrash past a bus wheels spinning and sliding towards a lollipop lady.
And the cyclist just rolled by, smug as you like... 😀
[url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/davina-mccall-forced-to-eat-own-foot-200912182321/ ]Heavy snow across the south east of England last night forced Big Brother presenter Davina McCall to eat her own foot.
[/url]
buy a Subaru...
Failing that drive smoothly and keep a good distance between you and the car infront so when the car behind fails to stop you have an escape.
Not impressed. My car's in the garage being assessed after some rally driving went wrong last night.
I love to watch low-powered cars with skinny tyres leaving X5s standing. The meek SHALL inheirit the earth!
Was just thinking this morning how I miss my Pug 106. Basicest of basic cars but I remember making my way merrily to and from work on the steep icy hills of Sheffield while all those around were stranded. What a car. And then there was the time after New Year's Eve celebrations when we couldn't get a taxi and a copper in the group said "Right Jim, you're driving". Hand brake turns through the snow all the way home, he said it was OK, ociffer...
[i] And use them about 3 days of the year.
They're not just for use in the snow. [/i]
Correct winter tires work better than summer tires in most conditions when the temps are below 8 degrees. They also work better in the wet. At the moment we are buried under a thick blanket of snow here in Germany and everyone is just going about their daily business as usual. The public transport system is running as usual and the temperature is below -10 today. Compare that to the utter chaos in the SE of England.
4x4 won't help, i went to asda this morning and got stuck behind a Land Cruiser doing 10mph on a fully gritted and clear road, now either he was in a low ratio in case the LC broke free or he was a ****t
never ceases to amaze me that people turn into complete sherberts at the first sign of snow
kind of in the same vein, and excuse to have a bitch and a moan (it doesnt take much)
i was parked in a field for an event that required field parking, and as i walked back to my car, i helped push out TWO (women in) 4x4s who were "stuck in the mud". thier policy was, slam it in 4wd, and HOOF it.
lots of wheel spining, lots of steam off the mud, lots of noise, lots of mess.
OAFS.
i wasnt sure about whether i was going to be able to get out if a big 4x4 couldnt in my poor little 2wd french car.
1st gear, release the clutch gently, idle out of the field with no fuss
no mess
no noise
no ripping up of the wet rugby pitch.
why are some people such morons?
especially southerners*
*possibly unfounded blanket accustion, possibly not, i couldnt comment
last winter, i chickened out of driving to work, i figured i would stand a better chance of making it on my single speed with mud tyres on, and if i DID crash, it wasnt likely to cost any money.
rode past lines and lines of traffic, all sliding into each other at low speed with expensive sounding thuds and cracking of glass.
I lolled!
i also, didnt fall off! (though i had a dodgey drify moment or two)
no snow here sadly
driving in snow.
be gentle, start in second if needs be.
recite constantly "light as a feather, light as a feather"
similar to riding wet roots?
Well my first experience of RWD and snow last night nearly went wrong. Had to do a last minute run to Heathrow to pick the missus up at 1am, after her flights got messed around with. I live on a big hill and a BMW 320d with widish rear tyres in 2" of snow = NO traction whatsoever. I did get up eventually, but there was much slithering and wheelspinning. High gear/low revs didn't work any better than low gear/high revs.
Obviously if I happened to have some big bags of sand or something around, things would have been easier, but at 1am I didn't... Fortunately it was only the local streets round my flat that were snowy. The rest was just wet.
loads of revs, handbrake every corner, pretend your finnish...
lol.
Also don't forget drive up the ar$e of other road users, pick the steepest hills in your area and try and drive up them, use back roads only and emergency stop every time you get to a junction (my experiences of 80% of drivers last night, c0cks!!)
All kidding aside, if you do the exact opposite to all of the above you will be fine. If you drive a manual always pick a lower gear than normal when going down hill and let the engine do the breaking. Remember and tap break pedal lightly to let other road users know you are slowing down. Stick to main roads and hope the local counsels don't run out of salt again this year.
I love to watch low-powered cars with skinny tyres leaving X5s standing. The meek SHALL inheirit the earth
Oh yes inddeedy!
Thin tyres cut through the snow, and front wheel drive gives more grip!
(Rear wheel drive is USELESS in snow if you want to get anywhere.)
I used to have a Fiat Panda, with skinny 135x13 tyres. Best snow car in the world! I remember towing bigger cars out of snowdrifts to bump start them down the road, no problem at all. Awesome car in the snow. 🙂
RWD in snow is great fun, even if it can be difficult to keep enough momentum going due to muppets in front of you.
Contrary to staying in a high gear, use low gears when setting off as they give more sensitivity and you can balance throttle and clutch to get traction to get moving. Using 2nd etc means you need to put more torque/throttle down and that encourages wheel spin.
Getting any where on snow is about momentum, if you come to a hill with muppets crawling up skidding every where, wait way before the bottom until they have gone and then get some speed, and dont slow down!
Of course this also relys on you knowing what to do when the car starts to slide....
Jon try switching off the ESC on the 320d. Doing this is according to the manual is claimed to switch in a form of traction control which may help but in my experience with the car only a little. If there ain't any traction you can't control it.
If you slide,
DONT brake
DONT stamp your foot on the clutch.
DONT touch the clutch!!
DO steer in the direction of the slide, little by little to encourage the car to regain traction forwardsm it doesnt take that much to get it back on straight. Dont over-do turning into a slide, or you'll just end up spinning the other way, which is even more dangerous.
DO ease off the accelerator, but dont come off it completely.
DO keep the engine turning with the accelerator so when/IF grip returns you move do actually go forwards.
REMEMBER your tyres are not good in the snow and ice (unless you have winter tyres) and that it takes very little to slide, eg turning slowly on a reverse camber can start a slide very easily even if you think you are being cautious.
HIGHER gears are better than low gears.
LOW revs are better.
If you cant move off without spinning, use 2nd gear.
LEAVE lots of space between you and other cars, particularly if you suspect someone is being a bit to cavalier in their attitude to the snow and ice.
Its worth having a go at sliding on an empty safe corner or empty car park or something, if you get the chance. Just to see what its like when your car slides, eg once a heavy car starts to slide there may be a point of no return!!! and practice turning gently LITTLE BY LITTLE into the slide to feel the car try to right itself back to a straight drive.
OR DONT DRIVE, get the bus. or build igloos!
nobody like my video clip? It says a lot about attitudes towards road safety - particularly when the smart car has their incident.
Goan, where was that corner?
LOL good vid Goan. The Smart car is definitely the best effort.
Though I do wonder who was filming it and why he didn't think it might be an idea to warn people or something.
Goan, where was that corner?
Comments say "Near Tamworth"
Note how some of them are able to take the corner at higher speeds without screwing it up. Smoooooooooooth.
You see with the Smart car - what did the people coming in the opposite direction do?
Wonder if the person filming chucked a bucket of water down the road for their personal enjoyment.. We have a Smart Car, rear wheel drive, very short wheelbase, absolutely hilarious to drive in the snow, especially carparks!
A video of how not to do it.The person filming that is a fanny, why they didnt warn people or call the police is beyond belief, or perhaps they were the police?
I can see the ice, you can see the ice, some of the drivers can see the ice, so it is there to be seen. Why can those that **** it up see the ice? Is it because they are driving along in a daze? I suspect so.
Most of them appear to be jamming brakes on as they skid too.
Its worth having a go at sliding on an empty safe corner or empty car park or something, if you get the chance.
When we passed our tests, our dad insisted that me and my brothers all went to an empty/icy car park to learn about skidding etc in snow.
[quoe]rear wheel drive car is very important for these conditions,
Given the stock reply to any motorsport question on this forum is
I'd have though everyone kew that rear wheel drive is useless when theres absolutley no grip or even just in the rain!touing cars
The MG just goes sideways round roundabouts at the meerest hint of rain!
Rear wheel Drive + Snow:
[img] 
[/img]
wow. plenty of driving gods all in one place...
I'd have though everyone kew that rear wheel drive is useless when theres absolutley no grip or even just in the rain!
But when grip goes you still have steering and you can power out of many problems *if you know what you are doing*.
Minis with 10 inch wheels in snow were fantastic. Even better with cheap Colway snow tyres. 2CVs were brilliant too.
I can see the ice, you can see the ice, some of the drivers can see the ice, so it is there to be seen.
Goan, did [i]you[/i] film that clip?
I can see the ice, you can see the ice, some of the drivers can see the ice, so it is there to be seen.
But you don't know if it could be seen from the road in the direction of travel.
When I first passed firstly I was an idiot and secondly I had a cheap car so when it snowed I went to play rallying out on quiet country lanes. These days I live and work on the same stretch of road so I'm out of practice with snow driving, I just walk it 🙂
I loved being asked to give a guy in a RWD flatbed transit a push though, like I'd actually have better grip in the snow in a pair of shoes - he really is a world class genius though!
Driving in the snow though; unless you have to just don't, it's not really you who is the problem usually it's the guy next to you or coming out of the side road at you!
Surly pugsley's for all 🙂
M_F - yes you do because not everyone is screwing it up - the red audi for instance.
Well I survived the Metro Centre, did a 30 min shop presents bought and then watched Avatar.
I then drove home in the snow covered roads with my normal tyres on and no problems what so ever. Did see a Hi-lux do a 4 wheel skid though as the muppet missed the junction he'd been lane hoggy the outside lane for the last 7 miles. I reckon he had spring tyres on.
The smart car going into the ditch. That was nice of the others to not bother stopping to see if they were okay...
4WD is ok in the snow,but so is RWD.
As seen[url=
mcmoonter - Member
Minis with 10 inch wheels in snow were fantastic. Even better with cheap Colway snow tyres. 2CVs were brilliant too.
Until the snow got to a certain depth in the middle & lifted the weight off their 'ickle wheels...
Funnest car I ever had in the snow - 3ltr Capri with 4-5 bags of sand in the boot,heavy at both ends & masses of traction....
1. Buy a rear wheel drive MG
2. Have some fun 😀
last winter, i chickened out of driving to work, i figured i would stand a better chance of making it on my single speed with mud tyres on, and if i DID crash, it wasnt likely to cost any money.rode past lines and lines of traffic, all sliding into each other at low speed with expensive sounding thuds and cracking of glass.
I did the same this morning, even down to the detail of riding a SS, by far the best way of getting around. Came home the ungritted way for extra fun. Roads were fairly quiet too.
With regards to the video, the person filming it should have warned the traffic. If people are driving stupidly and endagering themselves then let them. If they are driving stupidly and endangering those coming the other way they need to be stopped.
They were a) driving stupidly, some people got round the corner OK, so it's not just down to the road and b) endangering others, there was a mini-pile up at the end. If I was the driver of the oncoming car and saw that video I would be &%$*ing furious.
Woman at my work today:
"Oh, it was so scary driving home yesterday, I started sliding and no matter how hard I pushed the brakes, it wouldn't stop sliding". 😯 But, when I told her what she was doing wrong she says "What do you know about driving, you can't drive a car" No, but I can ride a bloody motorbike in worse conditions than we had yesterday...
Goan wrote, "It says a lot about attitudes towards road safety"
Yup, some people will film crsahes instead of preventing them. Puts mere incompetence in the shade, that.
Buy a Land Rover
Buy some snow chains.
Look smug. 😉
[url= http://hauglandmotorsport.home.pl/about_winter_rally_school.html ]John Hauglan Rallying[/url] book a course with these chaps.
Best car I owned for driving in the snow was my 1200 Nova on 135 section tyres, the scariest is a tossup between an 1800 Sierra or a seriously tuned 1700 Chevette 😉
The formula for Goan's video
Type A
* car driving too fast (driver still sleeping, lack of skills, lack of LOOKING, whatever)
* car slides
* car panic brakes
* car slides more
Type B
* car driving a little too fast
* car slides
* driver doesn't jam the brakes on and steers out
Type C
* car driving appropriately for the conditions. No drama.
That seems to be popular music to drive badly to Goan 🙂
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