Driving in snow and tech that works.

[Bender]

Yes it's that time of year, ice and snow abound.

 

I've had 4x4s in various guises, mostly as a backup for work and for when the white stuff falls.

 

I dug out the landy on Sat in preparation for this week, thought about using it today but as it wasn't deep and thought can't be arsed swapping stuff over so thought see how van gets on.

 

What I didn't realise was the road under the snow was ice, every road out of the estate was the same.

 

Hadn't got past 4 houses, first thing I see is a car trying to reverse out of drive skidding sideways but not going backwards, gets to junction, little van stuck doing same trying to come up a hill towards me, another car behind that doing same, no going down hill, started thinking if I can drive up hill I will go round the block and do sensible thing and get landy.

 

Then remembered I have a button for non grip surfaces, now the buttons in the landy just terrify you, hill descent should be marked "scream your going to go faster and then the abs won't let any brake work", nothing to loose, press the button.

 

 

I'm not sure where the magic fairies live or what they do when you push it but feck me it works, pulled away from junction with no fuss, straight up the hill the others are still not moving, round the corner, decide to carry on and not bother landy, there is a much steeper hill ahead, if I don't get up I can just go home.

 

From bottom of hill I can see the sliding marks made by a focus stuck same as the others but sideways and blocking most of the road, 2nd gear gently up the hill up on the path drove round him, he was laughing and shaking his head as I drove past him and went straight up.

 

Be interesting what it would be like with some good snow tyres added into the mix.

 

 

 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I want a van with a magic snow button. What van contains said magickery?

[rightstuff]

think all newer vans and cars have a diff lock button my movano does 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Drive like you have an egg balancing on the roof. Use no brakes and virtually no throttle. Start in 2nd gear and stay there. Steer so gently that the egg on the roof stays there.

 

I've gone up many hills in bog standard cars passing 4x4s sliding backwards wheels spinning madly.

 

People these days have no idea how to drive in icy conditions. And modern cars in which you have no feel for the road don't help.

 

I suspect the magic button lowers the engine output. Similar to bikes with rain mode.

[Steve_M]

I popped down to the local town yesterday evening. The road approaching it is a long, moderately steep downhill slope that hadn’t been gritted and was quite icy. At the bottom of this slope were the guys who’d been working on trees in our garden. One was driving a Nissan Cabstar pickup while towing a big wood chipper. The Nissan is two wheel drive and, being a pickup, had no weight over the driving wheels. It had been an unnerving experience, they told me, as the trailer pushed the motor downhill.

[husoi]

I've made some snow straps for my car.

Have them since 2018 but never had the chance to try them.

Basically, per wheel I have a long (900mm) cable tie and then have a few small cable ties that will go on the tyre surface.

You will find lots of youtube videos how to make them.

The is that once you go out of the snow they will break up and you will have normal tyres again.

Downside is if you go back to the snow you will have to put new ones in.

[Bender]

@Slowlycatchymonkey there are loads of vans you can buy in 4x4 guise, mercs prob best but Obvs most expensive mine is a Nissan but it's just a Renault in disguise

 

@rightstuff from what I can tell it's not a diff lock it's purely electronic traction control but with a different control prog for slippy stuff.

 

I agree about folk not being able to drive, most struggle drive in the sunshine

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Vito is the direction I was heading in. 
But then I should probably wait and see if I have any income left after Covids finished raging. 

[Bender]

2 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Vito is the direction I was heading in. 
But then I should probably wait and see if I have any income left after Covids finished raging. 

Sure they do the Vito in 4x4

 

Transit offer the custom in 4x4 but I doubt I would have another after the trouble I had with last one.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

6 minutes ago, Bender said:

Sure they do the Vito in 4x4

 

Transit offer the custom in 4x4 but I doubt I would have another after the trouble I had with last one.

Its the comfort and ease of the automatic Vito that really appeals. 

[Bender]

5 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Its the comfort and ease of the automatic Vito that really appeals. 

Hey if you spend time in it might as well be happy.

 

My Nissan has a few things I'm not keen on, plastics are a bit cheap and no cruise control but that's about it, drives and feels more like a car is way more comfy and  doing over 40mpg compared to transit 30mpg on a good day.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

2 minutes ago, Bender said:

Hey if you spend time in it might as well be happy.

 

My Nissan has a few things I'm not keen on, plastics are a bit cheap and no cruise control but that's about it, drives and feels more like a car is way more comfy and  doing over 40mpg compared to transit 30mpg on a good day.

 

The good ones are very car like now arent they. Once I buy a vehicle I tend to stick with it until it becomes a financial liability so whatever I get Ill likely be have for a long long time. 

[Bender]

22 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

 

The good ones are very car like now arent they. Once I buy a vehicle I tend to stick with it until it becomes a financial liability so whatever I get Ill likely be have for a long long time. 

Has merc written all over it  

[dynax]

The escort van I had in the early 2000's went anywhere, I once travelled up through Goathland during a blizzard without issue

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

21 minutes ago, dynax said:

The escort van I had in the early 2000's went anywhere, I once travelled up through Goathland during a blizzard without issue

So did my Escort van in the 1980's. I went to a do at Rosyth naval base when all the motorways and roads were closed due to snow. I kept to back lanes and just chugged over the top. The scenery was amazing, in places only sticks showed where the road was. Never touched the brakes or the throttle all the way.

[dynax]

12 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

So did my Escort van in the 1980's. I went to a do at Rosyth naval base when all the motorways and roads were closed due to snow. I kept to back lanes and just chugged over the top. The scenery was amazing, in places only sticks showed where the road was. Never touched the brakes or the throttle all the way.

 

Probably the best car based vehicle of all time, I don't know why they stopped making them, if I ever needed to get another vehicle it would be one of these

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I was given an old escort car to use in the early 90’s but at the time the old escorts had a bit of a tarts reputation and back then van drivers in particular were not shy about shouting all sorts at you. In the end I couldn’t stand it any longer and gave it back. They were not happy about it so gave me a brand spanking new escort which due to the shape change didn’t attract the same attention and the shouting n leering instantly stopped. Result! Loved that car, beautiful dark metallic blue that went like sh*t off a shovel. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Slowlycatchymonkey

[Throttled]

I fitted some Michelin Cross Climates to my Volvo 940 (rear wheel drive) for the Beast from the East snow in 2018 and they worked really well on the snow. I could rive past stuck 4x4s. Work also fitted them to the vans and the difference was amazing.

[Bender]

13 minutes ago, Throttled said:

I fitted some Michelin Cross Climates to my Volvo 940 (rear wheel drive) for the Beast from the East snow in 2018 and they worked really well on the snow. I could rive past stuck 4x4s. Work also fitted them to the vans and the difference was amazing.

I had full snow tyres on legacy estate and apart from when the snow got to the floor it was way better than landy, locking center diff and limited slip rear.

[Tiggie]

Of all things I found my old diesel Astra estate was great in the snow. My wife once used it to get back home from work from Halifax on unploughed/ungritted roads after a snowstorm. She kept it in low gear, never went over 15mph and just get plodding on 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

15 minutes ago, Tiggie said:

Of all things I found my old diesel Astra estate was great in the snow. My wife once used it to get back home from work from Halifax on unploughed/ungritted roads after a snowstorm. She kept it in low gear, never went over 15mph and just get plodding on 

That's the way to do it.

[James in Brum]

I drove through the Beast from the East, Fort William to Essex in one hit. A diesel Corolla. I only set out because I’d been winter mountaineering on the Ben and my wife had a heart thing happen. I had all the gear to be able to survive in minus twenty conditions if I got stuck. Like you all describe low gear no sudden changes and concentrate

[Bender]

4 hours ago, James in Brum said:

I drove through the Beast from the East, Fort William to Essex in one hit. A diesel Corolla. I only set out because I’d been winter mountaineering on the Ben and my wife had a heart thing happen. I had all the gear to be able to survive in minus twenty conditions if I got stuck. Like you all describe low gear no sudden changes and concentrate

No one was driving through Northumberland in beast from East, we had snowdrifts covering cars and hedges

[onesea]

I have done a fair few drives in snow as others have said, don’t break and don’t accelerate.

 

My MGF was surprisingly good  in snow, my Ford Sierra was the most hairy. 
 

Although the biggest factor with snow, like mild off road is tyres.

 

oh the other factor in the south is other drivers, you can have all the capabilities in your car, if other drivers are going to drive like idiots your going to get pranged or stuck.

[Bender]

10 hours ago, onesea said:

I have done a fair few drives in snow as others have said, don’t break and don’t accelerate.

 

My MGF was surprisingly good  in snow, my Ford Sierra was the most hairy. 
 

Although the biggest factor with snow, like mild off road is tyres.

 

oh the other factor in the south is other drivers, you can have all the capabilities in your car, if other drivers are going to drive like idiots your going to get pranged or stuck.

Yup old cars had skinny tyres and were pretty good, my little mini was great till snow got more than 3inches, most everything these days are low profile wide and crap on snow