Snow chains - they don't work

[Lum]

It's been going on long before the general public had access to the internet.

Anyone remember the first series of You've Been Framed? Usually a second or so after the funny* bit of each clip, the camera would end up pointing at the floor or something as the cameraman either laughed or went to help.

By the second or third series, most clips kept the camera focussed on the action for a lot longer.

* Yes there was a time when this show was actually funny.

 

[mjt]

The thing is, it crashed into the dude's house.

 

[lordrobs]

Thats it mate, you stand up for yourself

I bet DiamondMark was the one at school who egged the weedy kid on to stand up to the bully only to stand back and watch him get a smack in the face

 

[w1lliam]

Got in the A6, started the car and put the pedal to the metal. As all 4 tyres spinning and TCS was kicking in i decided to reduce the throttle and drive easily to work, snow is not stopping me ever again (damn you 330ci)

 

[aslco]

this reminds me of when i was digging my neighbour and I out a bit after heavy snow and she started digging behind the rear wheels (we do actually drive FWD) as 'thats where we'd get traction' i didnt even say anything and just left her to it

 

[BigglesPiP]

Yes of course I realise this, but your front brakes do the majority of the braking, when your slowing down the weight is thrown to the front of the car, ever realise why on pretty much all cars the front brakes are bigger/better?

In bad snow/ice there's not much weight transfer, add EBD to this and the rear brakes with chains on can do plenty of braking without locking the front wheels.

Because having the same car available in both FWD and RWD form depending on trim level is expensive and counter productive. There is every point in all BMW's (Bar the 4wd ones obivously) being RWD - it's part of the point. RWD is better suited for larger cars anyway, FWD is an inherent compromise.

RWD is simply better.

RWD has a lot of good points, but front wheel drive costs less, is more efficient, packages better, is lighter and has better traction in snow in a front engined car. They both have their place, but I suspect 99 out of 100 1 series owners would be better off had BMW made it FWD, whether they knew they were buying a RWD car or not.

 

[Stringy]

MNin7QJEOZE /youtube

As someone who received help getting his car back onto the drive this morning (got 2 yards off, I'll be damned if it was going any further!) I think the guy filming this is a moron, and so is the dozy cow commenting in the background. Everyone wants to be a comedian and film everyone elses mishaps these days, it's a pants world out there and no one is willing to be a good samaritan. I wish it had caved their living room in.

 

[ruffneck]

I'm surprised there are so many BMW's on the road in the uk, simply due to they are soo bad in the snow. I understand the snow doesn't last too long but the lost days at work must hurt the fleet buyers?

Bad is a harsh word, I'd say interesting or fun.

well I know mine is

 

[ubersonic]

Er, sorry guys but there no joke here, if you only have 2 chains they DO go on the front wheels of a RWD car, apparently the steering wheels are more important than the drive wheels, I don't understand it quite myself but ive seen this thread 100 times on muscle car forums, threes always somebody loling at a mustang with chains on the front until they get corrected.

Heres a quote form one of those threads:

Yep thats correct. Steering is way more important. You can have rear wheel grip at low revs as the fronts are anchored in

 

[Finglonga]

Not much point putting them on the front though if you can't move the car because the rears are spinning.

 

[Lashout_UK]

Er, sorry guys but there no joke here, if you only have 2 chains they DO go on the front wheels of a RWD car, apparently the steering wheels are more important than the drive wheels, I don't understand it quite myself but ive seen this thread 100 times on muscle car forums, threes always somebody loling at a mustang with chains on the front until they get corrected.

Heres a quote form one of those threads:

As with most forum trends, they're wrong. Imagine trying to drive a RWD car with no traction at the back and lots of grip at the front - it's just going to pendulum everywhere and have no ability to get any power down, if conditions are poor enough. It'd be absolutely lethal to drive!

The manufacturers (and the DMV in the US!) state:

The alternative is to run chains just on the driven rear wheels (as opposed to all round). This ensures that the vehicle keeps moving forwards, but leaves you with reduced grip on the front of the vehicle. As a result, the vehicle will have an inherent tendancy to understeer. Conventional wisdom says that if a car is going to either under or oversteer, understeer is the safer option, as most competant drivers can easily assess the available grip, and any loss of control can normally be controlled easily by simply removing any throttle and brake that's being applied until steering is regained.

 

[Maccapacca]

Er, sorry guys but there no joke here, if you only have 2 chains they DO go on the front wheels of a RWD car, apparently the steering wheels are more important than the drive wheels, I don't understand it quite myself but ive seen this thread 100 times on muscle car forums, threes always somebody loling at a mustang with chains on the front until they get corrected.

Heres a quote form one of those threads:

Rubbish

Rubbish

Rubbish

 

[ubersonic]

I see, well, all I know is that the mustang owners club fit them to the fronts, and they cant all be stupid :S (contrary to popular opinion the mustang does have very good traction control if that has any effect)

*EDIT*

OK ill accept I was wrong on this, I guess its just an urban myth, but im not gonna be the one to try and tell the muscle car boys ^^

 

[[TW]Fox]

I have visions of Mustang owners driving along in the snow at -1 with socks on the front and the air conditioning de-icing the car, this is becoming a habit with you isn't it

 

[ubersonic]

I have visions of Mustang owners driving along in the snow at -1 with socks on the front and the air conditioning de-icing the car, this is becoming a habit with you isn't it

Lol, id like to reiterate when I made that cockup I said my A/C was working below -4, not -1 ;D

And in this case its not realy my fault that the people I learnt from were morons, hopefully I can trust the mechanical info on Camaro's I got off them lol, heres another quote for lol puropses:

its actually not a bad idea to put chains on the front. The only thing worse then trying to get moving is trying to stop and id rather have problems getting rolling then stopping so imo not a fail.

 

[oweneades]

exactly what i was thinking. what a tool

Indeed, right at the point he first laughed I was thinking that. Instead of helping he / they (as it sounded like there was more than one person) decided to get out a camera and film it.

Good to see Karma paid them a visit...

"Ha ha person stuck in snow... hahahahahaha.... oh wait, **** they have just drove into our house"

 

[Morbius]

I got the opportunity to do a skid pan session with a police instructor. It's well worth doing if you ever get the chance.

I found that most of the stuff was fairly intuitive, but it's still nice to be able to experience skids in controlled conditions where you aren't going to damage anything!

 

[Fr0dders]

I went on Rockingham's wet skid pan in a VXR8 with the traction control off.

Tried to do some drifting but failed miserably lol.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Was there not a far longer video of this street and its icy ways originally?
I seem to remember one with a similar looking road but a lot more people and cars failing...
Not a clue what to search for.

 

[Batf1nk]

Indeed, right at the point he first laughed I was thinking that. Instead of helping he / they (as it sounded like there was more than one person) decided to get out a camera and film it.

Good to see Karma paid them a visit...

"Ha ha person stuck in snow... hahahahahaha.... oh wait, **** they have just drove into our house"

Yeah, cos them not helping totally makes up for the fact the woman was dumb enough to leave the car running in gear and GET OUT! I mean WTF? What did she think was gonna happen? Really?

And if she wanted help, what was stopping her from asking for it? I suppose it comes down to common sense, or complete lack of it.

It's people like her that end up running themselves over, like that gimp from east 17.