Driving in snow

Dr Who said:
Shame you havent got the tyres to match

:D
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Touché :D

And the fact that I wouldn't be driving it anywhere near the point where the AYC/ACD would come into play in the snow :D

Saying that the car I looked at before mine was straight off the boat from Japan and had snow tyres on it. Not terribly great on the road mind ;)

Might pop up JPP and see if they have any alloys sets with snow tyres - they usually do ;)
 
Amoeba said:
Correct.

Thinner tyre = less surface area = greater amount of weight concentrated on one spot = better to cut through snow :)

If it snows tomorrow I am screwed, my rear (driven) tyre width is 255 :p
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275's here :eek: plus ~300bhp to my rear wheels....should be interesting :D

It's my work Xmas party tomorrow.......I am doing the Milton Keynes daytona raceway go karting from 12-2.30, I am actually going to kill myself in either the zed or the go karts!
 
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When Amanda was in between cars last year we were sharing the CTR. With her working 7am till 8pm and me 9-5 I was taking her to work and picking her up. Being a secure unit they have a car park before the gates which is normally pretty empty so every day it was snowed over I'd just pay around as I entered, even sustained a decent arc round one end once then parked up by the security gate lodge where she exits.

It was great fun, but on her way out one night the security guys asked if she knew the person in the silver Civic becasue if she did to tell them to stop arsing about or I'll be banned from the premeses. She said she didn't know me (then got in the car lol) but said she'd pass on the message. I was very tempted to wheelspin out but I don't think she'd like having to walk down their driveway every morning as well as from the gates to the other end of the complex :D
 
For the 'sensible' driver lower tyre pressures a little to increase the tyre touching the ground (surface area etc unless you're in an area with bucket loads of snow in which case lowering your tyre pressures is a silly thing to do - see rally cars on ice!) but basically slow down and just 'feel' your way around.

I remember we had snow in 2001 ( see how good my memory is of that time!! lol 2008 is a totally different issue lol) and I was riding a motorbike (CBR600) in the snow and i had to get it back on my drive way. After 2 or 3 unsuccessful attempts which resulted in me trying to go up onto my driveway on the slope and the bike wheelspinning like mad and going backwards lol. I ended up taking a run up to my drive way and stopping before i hit my house lol.

Fun times. :p:D:D
 
having driven into the centre of brussels and back in a fwd on summer tyres i can safely say that my 4wd leon with winter tyres is a better place to be :p

thankfully the volvo is a 2.4 so i just let it roll around on the clutch in 2nd and 3rd with minimal throttle. any major throttle input would just send me veering into the nearest row of parked cars :p
people doing 20mph on dual carriageways is annoying, but i guess it's better than them trying to do 60..

but i picked up my leon with winter tyres a few hours ago and it makes life so much easier. plus sliding around corners with the rear keeping you in check is quite fun :p

although i did slide into my neighbours hedge as i forgot that when doing donuts you need to keep it planted otherwise you understeer.. :o
 
the thing is if the car is powerful enough to roll along on tickover then making (very slow) progress on an un-treated road isn't a problem
it's when you reach a hill that problems occur :p
 
But a Mitsubishi Warrior/Nissan Navara, drive approximately 4 inches from the car in front, don't scrape any snow off before you get going, use maximum throttle to pull away from junctions and traffic lights, slow right down before you get to a big uphill section so that nobody else can get a run up, charge through gaps that aren't there at 20mph over the speed limit and keep your main beam on at all times.

Works for the majority of people round here anyway.
 
I love the way the south of england reacts to snow. I grew up in Glasgow and there was heavy snow most winters - heavier than I've ever seen down here. But the world just carried on, a bit of traffic on the roads pushes the snow out the way so it doesnt last long.

But here, a few inches of snow and the whole world grinds to a halt, the roads get closed, people park up and sleep in their cars because they're "stranded"....big southern pansies!
 
iaind said:
I love the way the south of england reacts to snow. I grew up in Glasgow and there was heavy snow most winters - heavier than I've ever seen down here. But the world just carried on, a bit of traffic on the roads pushes the snow out the way so it doesnt last long.

But here, a few inches of snow and the whole world grinds to a halt, the roads get closed, people park up and sleep in their cars because they're "stranded"....big southern pansies!
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Couldn't agree with you more, hence why I will be driving tomorrow :)
 
I live 'down south' and I always drive in the snow, even though I drive a read wheel drive car. Even in the really heavy snow this February, I was out in the car, even though I got stuck a few times. Only to get to work to find everything closes and all of our customer sites closed for the day! Even when I was 18 and just started driving, I'd go pick my mum and dad up when it snowed as they wouldn't drive!
 
I have to say, supposed to have 6 inches (?) in Milton Keynes tonight. Not looking forward to having to get into there from where I am tomorrow, if it's the case - as if we have any quantity of snow across the road we live on, there's no real way out (steep hills one one way, uphill S bend and narrow twisty country lane on the other) - and it's not gritted. Usually by the time I get out to it there's already a blockade of Mercedes and 4x4s preventing anyone else using the road :D

Might just end up walking - take me 2 hours, but preferable to smearing the Supra across something/someone :D

Mind you, all this forecast stuff, I'll believe it when I see it....... :)
 
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