WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

i figured that since some of use have to deal with snow 6 months out of the year.. i figured some of you would like some pointers when dealing with some snow

problem: car isnt getting traction off the line

answer: if you are racing in snow.. you are dumb, but if you are having problems getting started, let go of the gas for an instant and then resume normal depression, this will function similar to traction control on cars so equipped, basically if the car detects the wheels are slipping, it slows down the wheels enuff to get a little traction to get started, once its rolling, its easy to increase speed, if one wanted to in this kind of condition

problem: car turns slightly, but cant turn like on dry pavement

answer: this is understeer, this is caused by lack of traction to the front of the car, the best way to solve this is entering at an even lower speed, but if you are still having problems at say 10mph, tug on the ebrake lightly, this will make the rear swing around, so to prepare for this, countersteer right as you are tugging, i suggest practicing this technique in a totally vacant lot before you try on the streets, this is extremely dangerous to other drivers, because they are not psychic and the laws of physics dont apply to you in this case , so i dont recommend using this when other cars are present

most of the better ways are to avoid dealing with these dangerous road conditions are:
1. live where it doesnt snow
2. dont drive when others are out on the road
3. use common sense, if your are cautious enough you should be able to emerge unscathed, i am speaking about the drivers that are cautious, not the ones that think that they can drive as fast on dry pavement as on icy roads
4. if you absolutely insist on being one of the persons i spoke against in #3, please, use a beater, and insure it to the fullest extent to protect other drivers in cases of mishap
5. use the safe plowed routes or be familiar with the roads and the capabilities your car has on them

hope this helps a few ppl

WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

problem: braking has become very hard, i feel the abs pulsing, but not slowing down as fast

answer: locking up your wheels is the worst thing to do in the snow, it makes the car move in unpredictable ways, you see cars in the movies locking up their brakes and they have quite a bit of lateral movement, same is true with any car on snow. basically you want to downshift much earlier(if you have a manual), and apply brakes accordingly being careful not to lock up the brakes, for automatics, just brake earlier, the with slippery roads, it will take longer to brake than normal

AR

iTrader: (2)

I like having a stick in all weather conditions. Chicago only gets about under like 3-4 months of solid snowing... but driving stick is great and cheap advantage to keep control of your car for all of the elements.

WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

Problem: im still "pumping" the gas, but im still not getting traction

answer: try starting in a higher gear, first gear is generally the most torquey of all of the other gears, this is shown by the speed at which first gear is run, and the fact that you can peel out in first, second gear gives a little better control because it wont transfer a lot of the torque to the wheels

Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

It is also advisable to hit the gas some more while you're countersteering. This should help pull you out of the slide and get you pointed in the right direction. Also, you only need to pull it for a split second to get the rear to step out. If you keep it up until you've completed the turn, be prepared to drive in reverse to get where you're going.

WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

very true boiler, it also wont require a lot of force to get the rear to kick over

abmerop18

iTrader: (26)

good adivise, i could have used this last friday if i had read it then. i spun my car into a 180 turning into my friends development. i was making a right turn going around 10mph and the car just spun. it was the first day of snow that stuck to the ground and the roads wern't plowed yet and it was still snowing pretty hard. any advise for something like this?

WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

^^ drive slow, when the streets arent plowed, its ok to go under the speed limit

Connie

iTrader: (3)

I cant wait for it to snow......I am going to brake out my '91 mustang (rear wheel drive )

abmerop18

iTrader: (26)

the thing is i was going 20 in a 40 and i made the turn going around 10mph when the car spun. any advise?

WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

well if you brake going into the turn, you are gonna skid so the best advice is to calmly countersteer, if you jerk the wheel all the way to the other side, you will skid in teh other direction, but if you are skidding at 10mph, you probablly hit a patch of ice or something, and dont slam on the brakes, locking up your wheels is the worst thing to do in the snow

AdamYYZ

Living in Canada all my life, Ive mastered driving in the snow. The best advice I can give is to practice losing control in an empty. light parking lot with no poles or curbs or parked cars in your way. Its the best thing you can do for quick experience on how to regain control durring over/under steering.

Other than that, its just best to practice careful safe driving durring bad weather. And buy good winter tires. I use Michelin Arctic Alpines for my Civic and they hook up great on packed snow and ice.

WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

i live in minnesota, im good in the snow, but i wouldnt say ive mastered it, its very unpredictable

AdamYYZ

Well... I got owned the other day. Some "master" I am. Working north of the city I take country roads to avoid the city streets which have proven to be dangerous. I was rear ended last September on a busy city street while commuting and it caused 4500 in damages and the car hasnt been the same since. On Thursday, at 5:30AM the snow and wind was quite heavy. I was driving down Countryside Drive in 2nd gear. I approached a towtruck pulling a car out of the ditch. He was parked on an angle so I just went in the left lane slowly in first gear to go around him. The slight slant of the road made me almost get stuck. I was steering to the right slightly and feathering the gas but I kept going straight and I was teedering on the edge of the pavement. I finaly got a tiny amount of grip and continued on down the centre of the road and shifted into second. A few hundred metres ahead was a straight piece of road coming to a slight hillcrest. There were fields on either side so snow was blasting across the road making it very slippery. At this time I was still driving in the exact centre to keep distance from the ugly ditch on either side. I then see headlights glowing in the air just after the hillcrest. So I gently steer to the right to move the car over a half a car-width. But when I straighten the wheel, the car is still going to the right. I take my feet of the pedals and gently work the wheel slightly to the left. No luck. I try varying the degrees of steering and feathering the gas, no luck. Because of the slope of the road and the heavy cross wind I cut a clean diagonal line into the ditch and snow ploughs over my hood. I am stuck. I sit there silent, angry at what happened. Feeling like it was one of thoes cheap arcade games that kills you unfairly to rob you of your 25c. I was in the ditch for 2 hours until I finaly could get back on my way. One thing that really bothered me is that my expensive Michelin Arctic Aplines counted for absolutely nothing. But the good news is that there was no damage to my car at all. I landed slowly and paralel to the ditch and the deep snow cushioned my fall.

So. Moral of the story? Dont call yourself a master of the elements. Mother nature will bitchslap your *** into the ditch.

WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

^^ well put, you can only deal with so much.. you can always practice practice, practice and practice some more in order to predict what certain moves you need to do to control your car

honda04civic

I love the snow being from louisiana, but I don't do anything stupid in snowy weather cuz I always *** up in LA in rainy weather.. so snow is like 10x's worst.. that is just me.. but I have tried drifting in a parkinglot during snow, which was alot of fun.. but read the drifting threat before you try it...

AdamYYZ

All I can add to that now is just be prepaired to be stuck. Sometimes theres nothing you can do to prevent a bad situation. Keep emergency blankets or a heater in the trunk. And dress warmly. Make sure you have a charged cell phone.

dapakione

i must say, b4 this car i had a subaru legacy, since this civic is light its not too bad in the snow, doesnt compare to all wheel drive, but to other cars w/o all wheel drive its pretty good, and i think a big thing i had trouble with was the change from four wheel disc brakes to two discs in the front, so i had some extra unnecessary sliding, and dont make the mistake i made by trying to beat a light in a blizzard, the light poles show no mercy!

AdamYYZ

Ive only ever goofed around with one 4x4 in the snow and it was a Ford Escape so it doesnt count. I would love to drift a Subaru. The Escape has a primitive drivetrain. First it understeers from front wheel spin, then it oversteers when the rear wheels kick in with a slight thud. No wonder why I always see SUV's in the ditch. They arent exactly fluid in power transfer.

jwalker87

iTrader: (3)

i hate snow. I have this fairly steep hill going up to my house, and I spent most of today trying to get my 2500 lb car with BALD stock tires to my house...eh. I had to park it like a mile away from my house yesterday when I was comin home from work....it tore me apart. When I went back my baby was all covered in snow and ice *sniff**sniff*. Im definitely ordering some Bridgestone Blizzaks soon.

AdamYYZ

I have Michelin Arctic Alpines. They very good for cold wet/dry pavement and packed snow and ice, but they are like an all season tire in loose or deep snow. Let me know how the Bridgestones work out for you. I might try thoes when these ones wear out.

WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

problem: just got my wheels balanced, but i experience vibrations at 40+mph

solution: there probablly is snow and ice packed in the rims... you can either remove them and get the snow out, or reach around and break it apart

AdamYYZ

Warm water coin-op preassure washer stations are great for removing deposits under the car. I already had to do that twice to fix imballanced wheels due to ice this season. The civic seems to build it up more than other cars Ive had for some reason. Especially in the wheel wells and the back bumper.

Carbon_Dreams

When your wheels are spinning in snowy conditions, you also want to match your wheel spin with the revolutions of your engine. In addition, clean snow has the best traction. Dont travel in the tracks of other cars because that snow is compressed and is more slippery. Virgin snow has more grab to it and you can stear <marginly> better

EternalVTEC

iTrader: (3)

someone mentioned earlier about downshifting. yes, it helps, but on the other end, if you dont release the clutch slowly, and have the engine speed/gear/wheel speeds matched properly, youre going to lock up the front tires causing you to go straight.

also, 4 wheel drive, no matter how sophisiticated of a system, is NOT by any means invincible. my point? 4 wheel drive is really only good for acceleration and getting you out of small problems(i.e. dithes) so long as the snow isnt deep enough to pack up under the car, thus lifting the car up a bit and removing weight from the wheels. what i mean is, you always have 4 wheels braking, and giving traction for turning, so 4 wheel drive isnt gonna help there. people with SUV's seem to think they are un stoppable, well, people that think like that, often end up on the side of the road.

also, ive learned a tecnique that may be helpful.

there is a road near my house that can be trecherous on snowy days. the road is a little windy, and has several hills which vary in grade and height. what ive learned is when going up hills try to stay in as high of a gear as possible. this reduces torque and increases traction. i combine this with sufficient speed and i was able to crest this hill without much trouble. while climbing this hill, the rpms dropped to near stalling range, quickly, i decided that i HAD to downshift. if you must do this, you must downshift as quickly and smoothly as possible so as to loose as little momentum as possible.

now, this same hill, then heads down hill at a steeper grade than the uphill portion with a sharp, right hand turn that begins heading up another moderatly steep hill halfway through the turn. i was thinking about this while climbing the hill and decided that at the top, i would loose as much speed as possible and shift to a low gear, i chose 2nd. by doing this, i could keep the speed down, while being able to apply less braking pressure by using engine braking.

once i entered the turn, and felt that i could safely apply throttle, i shifted to 3rd, and started accelerating up the hill.

maybe you can apply that to somewhere around you

sorry for this post being so long

CrAZiex8

hehe.. in the rally races.. everyone hauls in their AWD car.. and it seems like it has "some" impact when driving in the snow.. like.. its much more easier to drive then a car that is FWD or RWD..

EternalVTEC

iTrader: (3)

true, but as i was saying, it doesnt help you stop better, youre always stopping with 4 tires(beside having 4 wheel DRIVE, isnt what you want to STOP{if that makes sense}). and when you turn, you always have 4 tires gripping when you turn

WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

4 wheel drive is no replacement for a good driver

EternalVTEC

iTrader: (3)

^^^smart man...

like i say, if you cant get there with 2WD, you probably dont need to get there

mcluskey

Well, this is an old story, but i've never told it and since we're talking about the snow and all...back in Feb, i was coming home and the wind was blowing like a bitch, so the snow was blowing over the road and i could barely see what i was doing...anyways, yah i was driving like a moron - going way too fast (about 70) on the country roads ...anyways, i get about 100 yards from my house and just PLOW into this huge snowdrift (wasn't tall-about up to the bumper-but was stretched across the whole road and about 20 yards long)
anyways, i kept my cool and rode it out....lost basically all control of the car...the road has a ditch on either side that's decently deep...but thankfully filled with snow. However, telephone poles line the right side of the road...so naturally, the car starts to drift right...I countered, and now the car is sliding right while pointing left (at this point i am sliding down the road completely sideways doing about 60ish) i countered again and suddenly the car is pointing right while sliding left...it continues to slide this way until i lost all control and end up sliding backwards (had the brakes pressed all the way in) - so by now i'm probably still going about 55-60 headed for the edge of the road....i hit the ditch and it spun me a little bit so i'm not quite facing directly backwards....and that basically stops me

it was pretty cool though, because it was dark and when i hit the ditch all this snow just goes WOOOSH up onto the hood and covered the windshield, just like in the movies....right afterwards, i started pounding on the steering wheel and screaming stuff like "YEAH", KICK ***!! b/c the whole thing was just like in the movies and plus i didn't lose my cool the whole time

anyways, i got out of the car and walked about 100 yards to my house and busted out my cherokee and pulled the car through a field, just before my parents got home (+)
no damage to the car, but a helluva night...and a cool story to boot