Driving in snow
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Not so much in a RWD, the retardation can easily cause the rear tyres to break loose and you end up going sideways. Thankfully in Fox's case the DSC system on beemers is clever enough to detect this situation and automatically apply enough throttle opening to reduce the engine braking.
Just be super gentle really, imagine there are eggs between your feet and the pedals, don't break the shells! If you have a RWD with 265 section sport tyres on the rear (thats you fox) then be ultra careful because it will constantly try to slide the rear out. If you have sophisticated electronic driver aids then now they will show their worth.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
It took me about 3 minutes tonight to get to the top of my road from the bottom. It's about 150 yards long, was carpeted with snow and typically has about a foot either side clearance with parked cars either side. I've never had to concentrate so much... 
Traction control was going mental and I kept having to boot it to get any traction uphill - each time I did this it had the negative effect of pulling me over to one side so had to do a *lot* of compensating with steering. I ended up parking in a nearby wide street instead as I thought some incompetent pleb is likely to smash a load of cars up.
My sister's front garden wall has already been smashed in tonight - she lives facing a road entering a junction. When we got back to her place we found tyre marks in the snow, up on the pavement, and up into her garden along with a load of footprints where the **** had gathered up the evidence (numberplate, I assume) and driven off
Good job her car wasn't parked in front of the house as usual I guess - I've told her to park along the road instead in future. At least the ***** who drove off will have screwed front shocks and mangled front bodywork.
Staying in 2nd gear doing about 4-10mph worked for me most of the way, and not taking for granted cars approaching when at a give way sign. Stopping distances are multiplied by ridiculous amounts in these conditions and I thought my car was broken when the TC and ABS were kicking in - the brake pedal kept pushing my foot back and I started panicking at first! Good experience methinks.
Traction control was going mental and I kept having to boot it to get any traction uphill - each time I did this it had the negative effect of pulling me over to one side so had to do a *lot* of compensating with steering. I ended up parking in a nearby wide street instead as I thought some incompetent pleb is likely to smash a load of cars up.
My sister's front garden wall has already been smashed in tonight - she lives facing a road entering a junction. When we got back to her place we found tyre marks in the snow, up on the pavement, and up into her garden along with a load of footprints where the **** had gathered up the evidence (numberplate, I assume) and driven off
Good job her car wasn't parked in front of the house as usual I guess - I've told her to park along the road instead in future. At least the ***** who drove off will have screwed front shocks and mangled front bodywork.
Staying in 2nd gear doing about 4-10mph worked for me most of the way, and not taking for granted cars approaching when at a give way sign. Stopping distances are multiplied by ridiculous amounts in these conditions and I thought my car was broken when the TC and ABS were kicking in - the brake pedal kept pushing my foot back and I started panicking at first! Good experience methinks.
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Soldato
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2 things will pretty much see you there safely.
Drive very slowly, drive a long way from the car in front. It takes 10 times longer to stop.
There is more to it if you want to avoid getting stuck tho.
Drive very slowly, drive a long way from the car in front. It takes 10 times longer to stop.
There is more to it if you want to avoid getting stuck tho.
Associate
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High gear and use your engine to slow down, so change down a gear when nearing a corner / junction.
Soldato
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All i can say is that after taking 6 hours to drive home from kent today, there are a lot of people out there who are retarded, so no matter what you do to try and prepare yourself for it, someone may just bin it right in front on you, so....
1) give yourslef plenty of room from the tool in front of you.
2) Drive in a high gear without stamping on the throttle to reduce your revs.
3) give yourslef plenty of room.
4) Compacted snow = binning it into the car in front if you dont give yourself any room.
A good example is the plonker who I saw spin their golf on the m25 near leatherhead from what I could see must have been driving as they normally would in wet conditions, and his/her mate who thought it would be fun to t-bone thm as they were driving far too close. Joy! lol
Oh, and be careful of mad truckers who decide to drive as fast as they can in the outside line! lol, I couldnt stop laughing after getting overtaken by that nutter!
1) give yourslef plenty of room from the tool in front of you.
2) Drive in a high gear without stamping on the throttle to reduce your revs.
3) give yourslef plenty of room.
4) Compacted snow = binning it into the car in front if you dont give yourself any room.
A good example is the plonker who I saw spin their golf on the m25 near leatherhead from what I could see must have been driving as they normally would in wet conditions, and his/her mate who thought it would be fun to t-bone thm as they were driving far too close. Joy! lol
Oh, and be careful of mad truckers who decide to drive as fast as they can in the outside line! lol, I couldnt stop laughing after getting overtaken by that nutter!
Soldato
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Mmm, where I live is about a mile until 'main' roads that are actually gritted - and it's all S-bendy, hilly country lanes.
ABS, DSC, whatever. Get on some solid ice or packed snow and you're royally done for anyway
Tried out the BMW's ABS on sheet ice a month ago when we had a fair bit of snow and it really didn't work at all, because you could lock all four wheels up with ease and thus it thinks you've stopped when in fact you're sliding merrily onwards at 20mph
ABS, DSC, whatever. Get on some solid ice or packed snow and you're royally done for anyway
Tried out the BMW's ABS on sheet ice a month ago when we had a fair bit of snow and it really didn't work at all, because you could lock all four wheels up with ease and thus it thinks you've stopped when in fact you're sliding merrily onwards at 20mph
Had a drive home from the golf course this evening and it was bloody treacherous. A good couple of inches of snow on the A23 and A27 and no one was getting anywhere fast. Didn't seem to be any grit either. Car was spinning up in 5th at a hint of throttle. Diff was crapping itself left right and centre.
Coming into my town, it was worse. Brakes didn't work very well at all and ABS was having an eppy too. Car tried to go straight at every turn.
My advice is:
Walk
Don't drive unless you have to
400 car lengths gap
High gears
Slooooooooooooooooooooooow
Brake lightly, and come straight off if you lock up.
Coming into my town, it was worse. Brakes didn't work very well at all and ABS was having an eppy too. Car tried to go straight at every turn.
My advice is:
Walk
Don't drive unless you have to
400 car lengths gap
High gears
Slooooooooooooooooooooooow
Brake lightly, and come straight off if you lock up.
Easy peasy, lesson one, ABS does nothing! (ze goggles! zey do nothing!)
Delicate on acceleration and braking, if you have to pull out onto a road make sure you have a HUGE gap, chances are you may wheelspin on snow/ice in the centre of the road and or the next car coming may not be able to brake in time on this surface.
I'm not too worried about tomorrow, everytime it snows our main roads and A roads are normally gritted like clockwork.
Right now opposite me outside my window there is a car in a ditch at 45 degrees sticking up in the air!!!!
Delicate on acceleration and braking, if you have to pull out onto a road make sure you have a HUGE gap, chances are you may wheelspin on snow/ice in the centre of the road and or the next car coming may not be able to brake in time on this surface.
I'm not too worried about tomorrow, everytime it snows our main roads and A roads are normally gritted like clockwork.
Right now opposite me outside my window there is a car in a ditch at 45 degrees sticking up in the air!!!!
Soldato
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Don't forget:
Soldato
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I had a theory in my 6 hour drive about the compacted snow thing. When you are driving in a lane on a m-way, does anyone else try to get out of the person in fronts tracks?
Unless you've got DSC or similar, in which case the above advice is very dumb...
DSC et al will help to a point in the snow, but they cannot overcome physics. If there is no grip anywhere, they will not be able to help you, all they can do is help direct power and braking force to the wheel/wheels with the most grip.
Soldato
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....but surely if you're skidding in the snow and don't turn into it the wheels required for braking aren't going to be pointing in the direction required, regardless of whatever the DSC has started prior to the skid to keep it travelling in the right direction.
By turning into it, the DSC would have more available braking control than simply just hoping whatever limited braking is availiable can drag you back in the right direction, non?
Brakes can only do so much, so I don't see why that advice is 'dumb'...
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Having jsut come home in the snow I can safely say that gritting doesnt seem to have made a difference.
I had to drop a friend off in a very rural area and the main roads were treacherous. (Earlier we had to be pushed back up a hill by some passers by, but thats another story
). Coming back to town to drop off a second friend we figured that once we were back on the main roads, they would be gritted and everything would be hunky dory.Not so. Even main roads which have been gritted were completely covered in ice and snow. I had to crawl along in 2nd/3rd gear at about 15mph. Even shallow corners needed incredible care. As we passed over the M25, the third lane was completely covered and only one lane was completely clear of snow.
Tomorrow mornings rush hour is going to be chaos if the snow carries on all night.
DSC systems will try and make your movement match the direction your wheels are pointing. if the car has got at an angle to the direction of travel, (eg the back end sliding while in a straight line), leave the wheels straight otherwise the car will try and turn you in the direction you turn the wheels relative to the car's current movement.
Likewise if you want to turn a corner, keep the wheels pointing the direction you want the car to go, and the car will try and achieve that for you. If you countersteer, the car will think you want to turn in the opposite direction, and actively try and do this.
of course, you should never be reliant on such systems anyway, but it's important to understand how they work just in case they do have to try and save you, otherwise you just end up making things worse and may as well turn the system off.