Driving in snow

[Drago]

Did anyone see the Micra on the Kent police twitter feed? It wanlike an igloo with a fag
Packet sizes porthole scraped so thu could see straight ahead.

 

[green1]

We will just have to take your word for it. What I can't understand though is, if it's one of the best handling cars on the road, why are you not driving it instead of your wife's car?

It wouldn't get out of the street atm.

 

[User482]

I Anyone from Scandinavia or Switzerland would have been just baffled...

Apparently, the Swiss experience the same disruption/ carnage as us when they get the first snow of the reason. Then they all go and fit their winter tyres, and stuff gets back to normal.

 

[Arch]

I learnt to drive in snow and ice. Then did a lot of driving in mud.
I don't have a problem with driving in varying conditions, nor the locations and number of driven wheels on a vehicle.

The main reason is that I take the time to learn about the abilities of each vehicle I have driven, in the conditions I am to drive them in, and then to apply that learning and knowledge appropriately.


However, some people seem unable to do that with any level of effectiveness.

Yeah, I saw that pic. I like how Mother Nature has helped by clearing just enough snow to identify the make of car...

 

[GrasB]

You don't really want low range for snow as, on a proper Land Rover then 4th gear low range is the same as 1st gear normal range.

having all wheel drive, I'd argue, gives you a slight advantage over 2wd, provided you don't assume AWD is going to, on it's own, get you through the snow and continue to drive as though it's a July afternoon.

If you drive as though it's snowing (which it is) then where a 2wd would loose grip on one wheel and start slipping, AWD has two more wheels finding grip and so pushes you onwards, that and the power from the engine is split between 4 wheels instead of 2, so less likely to slip as readily than 2wd.

I have an AWD estate, no diff locks but fully fitted with LSDs which work when back driven as well. Yes you have to drive to the conditions but turning braking, accelerating, climbing & descending can be done in situations where it's FWD brothers would be siding all over the place.

 

[ArDee]

Which is great if you can get them in the correct size for your car, I can't.

Winter tyres won't be the 225/45/18 or whatever you have on the car for the summer; which is why you see BMW, Mercs, etc. in Germany during the winter driving round on a set of pressed steel wheels with 165/60 on or something similar; rather than fat tyres on alloys. They have a complete set of wheels and tyres, they don't just change tyres.

 

[Linford]

You don't really want low range for snow as, on a proper Land Rover then 4th gear low range is the same as 1st gear normal range.

having all wheel drive, I'd argue, gives you a slight advantage over 2wd, provided you don't assume AWD is going to, on it's own, get you through the snow and continue to drive as though it's a July afternoon.

If you drive as though it's snowing (which it is) then where a 2wd would loose grip on one wheel and start slipping, AWD has two more wheels finding grip and so pushes you onwards, that and the power from the engine is split between 4 wheels instead of 2, so less likely to slip as readily than 2wd.

I've done a fair bit of driving on snow and ice in a real 4x4 which has locking centre diff, and a limited slip rear diff...was up on the hills for 4 hours yesterday, and a couple on friday.

AWD cars are a waste of time, and a 4x4 Range Rovers with road tyres is barely better. You need a minimum of All Terrain tyres to drive properly.

 

[ASC1951]

What is 'better'?

Is better faster? (Top Gear, the name is in the clue)
Is better safer? (Everyone else).

In this case it was 'more skilled'. It's a universal human characteristic - almost everyone thinks they are slightly above average at routine tasks which require skill or dexterity. It doesn't extend to 'given' attributes, though, because research does not find a large majority of people claiming to be 'better looking than average'

 

[green1]

Winter tyres won't be the 225/45/18 or whatever you have on the car for the summer; which is why you see BMW, Mercs, etc. in Germany during the winter driving round on a set of pressed steel wheels with 165/60 on or something similar; rather than fat tyres on alloys. They have a complete set of wheels and tyres, they don't just change tyres.

And I've previously stated I have nowhere to store a set of wheels. If I did they couldn't be smaller that 18in anyway (19's on car as standard) as they wouldn't fit over the brakes.

 

[mickle]

The trouble with winter tyres is that it's more difficult to get them to break loose in B&Q's car park.

 

[Pennine-Paul]

Did anyone see the Micra on the Kent police twitter feed? It wanlike an igloo with a fag
Packet sizes porthole scraped so thu could see straight ahead.

I overtook a BMW on the fixie this morning the drivers nose was pressed
up to the windscreen as he attempted to see where he was going through a 12" porthole,
Cretin

 

[Alex H]

Perhaps that is what people driving around the car park were doing; learning how to handle their car on snow in a relatively safe environment?

Perhaps, but perhaps not intentionally

 

[Black Sheep]

I've done a fair bit of driving on snow and ice in a real 4x4 which has locking centre diff, and a limited slip rear diff...was up on the hills for 4 hours yesterday, and a couple on friday.

AWD cars are a waste of time, and a 4x4 Range Rovers with road tyres is barely better. You need a minimum of All Terrain tyres to drive properly.

I'd have thought winter tyres would be more appropriate than AT tyres at the moment but I understand the sentiment

 

[Linford]

I'd have thought winter tyres would be more appropriate than AT tyres at the moment but I understand the sentiment

All terrain tyres are designed for Tarmac, Mud and Snow. They are well siped (cut) to allow the tread blocks to spread out, and they also have different compounds so they don't harden up in sub zero temps

 

[green1]

All terrain tyres are a jack of all trades master of none tyre. While they'd be better than summer tyres they don't perform as well as winter tyres in this sort of weather.