Snow and Ice - any tips?

obi_waynne

obi_waynne

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Getting colder folks. Here are my winter tips - please add your own or tell me if i'm talking rubbish!

Don't put newspaper on your windscreen - it freezes on and makes it really messy to de ice the screen :shock: .

Night before preicer does work but not if it's really really cold.
Driving on uncompressed snow is more grippy than on compacted snow and ice. :idea:
Pull away in second gear very slowly on icy roads. :idea:
Reverse up hill if the car can't get enough grip forwards! :idea:
Frost can be removed from the windscreen with a bowl of luke warm water applied as a trickle! (Too hot and you will crack your screen!) :idea:
 
Fog lights should only be used in the FOG when visibility drops. DO NOT USE FOG LIGHTS in light fog, mist, rain or snow - you will just dazzle the driver behind.
 
me hate snow my car always get stuck and gets annoying to pull out coz the wheels slip i just take a bus. but when it rains a bit diffrent story i take my car to the track and practice drifting less wear and tare on tyres
 
It Snowed down in Kent today - we had a 1mm covering at one point :shock: ! Its still enough to cause transport chaos although cos I'm ill (have I mentioned that yet) I worked from home.

Whats it like where you are?
 
The really scary thing about snow is the number of new drivers who have yet to experience it.

If not happy, don't drive.

Expect to slide and learn how to correct it.

At least collisions will be at a slower speed :)

Tip for walking on ice and snow. If you haven't got any of those slip on shoe chains, put a pair of woolen socks over your shoes.
 
Slow and steady control inputs help. Lose speed well before cresting a hill rather than try to slow halfway down it, for example. Same for bends, corners, anything really. its quicker to drive at 10mph than walk at 4mph after you've spilled it. Also warmer and cheaper than mending a bent car.

Winter tyres are very helpful too but don't be lead into a false sense of security. 4wd comes with the same problem. Certainly helps for traction but does precisely nothing to change the laws of physics.
 
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my tips :
keep small shovel, big coat and two bags of sand in the boot and some cheap table salt if you have RWD. Got me out of loads grief when I had the beamer and it snowed. genuinely used a bag and a half of sand and always managed to get home !!

wont need that with the fun bus as it fwd and heavy !! really heavy !! unloaded weight of 1900kg !!!
 
geraint13 said:
wont need that with the fun bus as it fwd and heavy !! really heavy !! unloaded weight of 1900kg !!!
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Good heavens Gee that is one heavy car, maybe you can earn some extra money by pulling stranded motorists out of the snow when they get stuck ;)
 
By far the most important - learn to drive in the snow and ice

Get an awd car ideally with snow mode - now that does change the laws of physics

whilst i do agree awd in the hands of an idiot isnt safe its even more unsafe if they have RWD
 
How does it change the laws of physics?

RWD is safest of all in the hands of an idiot cos they'd give up pretty quickly just trying to get of of their own driveway.

AWD will simply allow said idiot to gain more speed and therefore have a more severe accident :) It does nothing to assist lateral grip or braking.
 
Yes, proper education in snow/ice driving would be better.

don't know if the fun bus will do it yet, until I get the stupid limp home mode off. even though you can still do 75/80 in it lol. it just takes away injection and turbo lol.
 
geraint13 said:
Yes, proper education in snow/ice driving would be better.

don't know if the fun bus will do it yet, until I get the stupid limp home mode off. even though you can still do 75/80 in it lol. it just takes away injection and turbo lol.
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All diesels are injector fed !! Most petrol engines since 1992 are too, though many of those early examples use a single injector in a single throttle body to feed all cylinders. (No throttles in diesel engines)

The Kia should be pretty usable in bad conditions, they are very very very nose heavy with the 4 cylinder diesel engine and being FWD you will get good traction. With relatively little weight over the rear axle there's not too much risk of lurid tail out behaviour and if it does start to break away slightly at the back (obviosuly going slightly too fast!) there's not a lot of weight there to rein in. Add in the excellent all round vision from the driving seat and you have a nice means of getting around and enjoying the snowy landscape.
 
Being able to go faster isnt dangerous in itself - if you follow that logic snow tyres and chains (etc) are also more dangerous .
Besides cars can go a lot faster than we drive in the dry and no one think that is dangerous.

And until you have driven a car with a proper snow mode you dont know just how controllable a car can be in the snow . The first time i tried it was amazing and really did seem to defy the laws of physics ............but again that doesnt mean you drive like its dry.
 
So an explanation of snow mode as i know it.
I only know about stageas but i guess some others cars must have similar or better.

The full system is only available on the top of the range series 3 tiptronics with hicas ( computer controlled rear wheel steering )

First the snow mode disables kickdown and pulls away in second. It also changes up at different revs .
To make it easier to drive it switches to a different engine map a bit like sports mode on an m3 etc except it needs less power and a softer torque curve .
The cars already have an awd and rear wheel ecu that controls the awd split and the rear wheel steering
The system is similar to a 34gtr and has the same active diff as an option. It uses speed sensors on each wheel and lateral sensors that detect wheels sliding sideways.
This means the ecu can detect wheelspin and/or slides way before the driver and correct it earlier before it has got out of hand.
The snow mode changes all the above . Plus power only goes to the wheels that are not spinning to make pulling away easier . This is disabled above 20mph so people dont get carried away.

None of the above means you can drive quickly and safely in snow but it does mean you can drive more safely as long as you are sensible,

To repeat knowing how to drive in bad conditions is the most important, snow mode is however very helpful.
 
The cold icy and snowy weather is with us again so I've bumped this thread as a reminder, feel free to add any tips or pointers to it.

Just checked my oil, tyre pressures and topped up the washers with a winter mix! Hopefully I'm all set.
 
I would have thought that T9's advice would be "curled up in front of the fire reading a good book while sipping on a nice red":)
 
i think all of the advice above pretty much covers my thoughts on winter driving etc

winter tyres,keep a kit of big coat/hat/gloves/scarf/torch/de icer/salt in the boot, only drive if its really needed, take your time and expect the unexpected.
 
For the ultimate in safety you need a BMW or Mercedes with RWD and near 50:50 front:rear weight distribution. Ensure that you have summer tyres fitted.

You will find that it's impossible to even get out of your own drive, therefore the chance of being involved in an accident is reduced to approximately nil :D
 
Something like this?

IMG_7498.jpg
 
For the ultimate in safety you need a BMW or Mercedes with RWD and near 50:50 front:rear weight distribution. Ensure that you have summer tyres fitted.

You will find that it's impossible to even get out of your own drive, therefore the chance of being involved in an accident is reduced to approximately nil :D
Click to expand...

unless of course your neighbour directly opposite has one as well and has cleared his drive so gets out onto the ice and slides right across the road into you.
 
I had thought something along the same lines after posting. You can load up the boot with a couple of hundred-weight of ballast. This has the desirable effect of increasing traction to the rear wheels but simultaneously reduces front end grip. So you get going perfectly easily but have no opportunity to decide your course, your direction of travel.

Apart from full all wheel drive I will always take a nose heavy front driver in bad conditions if I have a choice.
 
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