Cold weather driving

[Alpo]

I live in the south. I don't drive in the snow. I don't drive on ice. We don't have it. So my question -

 

If you are driving on a snow-covered ice-coated mountain road, would you be better off in DRIVE or in LOW?

 

Longmire, driving in a mountain blizzard, and as I usually do I am second-guessing what the character in the book is doing. He put it in drive, and I was thinking at first that he would do better in low because you can't go as fast, but then I thought that low would give him more torque, which would probably be a bad thing on an icy road.

 

 

[Eyesa Horg]

I've been driving in ice and snow for 54 years. Have never used low on an automatic. I turn off traction control as you'll never climb a hill with it. It just applies the brakes harder the more you spin and will bring you to stop half way up. 4 wheel drive can be better, but is a different driving situation. If you let off to quick in a slide, you'll go pretty much sideways off the road. Ya need to get into a bit to pull you out of the skid. It's a learned thing!!

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

Driving on snow is one thing.   Driving on ice is something else all together.  On the latter, traction can be extremely difficult, therefore sudden stops and starts can result in a skid that can be uncontrollable. 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

We put "Winter" tires on at this time of year. The winter "rubber" tires work better in cold weather, even on bare pavement, giving better traction.

The tread is more aggressive to handle the snow, but in most places, plowing, salting and calcium causes any ice to dissipate, except near curbs, where you can get a build up of slush.

 

[Eyesa Horg]

The best snow tires I have ever run are the Nokian Hakapelietas. They made my company Nissan Versa (what a cracker box that was!) go like 4x4. Always made up the damn mountains around here!!

[J.D. Daily]

14 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

I've been driving in ice and snow for 54 years. Have never used low on an automatic. I turn off traction control as you'll never climb a hill with it. It just applies the brakes harder the more you spin and will bring you to stop half way up. 4 wheel drive can be better, but is a different driving situation. If you let off to quick in a slide, you'll go pretty much sideways off the road. Ya need to get into a bit to pull you out of the skid. It's a learned thing!!

On ice you are better off if you drop tire pressure to 10 PSI.  My dad grew up in Cadillac Michigan until he enlisted in the Navy in 1942.  He was a motor machinist on landing craft.  The landing craft training was at Golden Gate Fields in Albany CA.  At the end of the war he mustered out there.  He married my mother who grew up in Albany.  Except for 4 years in Albany he lived in a house in the city immediately north of Albany.  Getting back to my driving on ice recommendation he didn't know the low tire pressure hack until in 1958 after sliding into a snowbank on Hwy 50 at Echo Summit the old tow truck driver that pulled the car back onto the road told him of the hack. 

P.S. the car had chains on.  I remembered the hack when driving on I40 in the Texas panhandle it was so cold that the raindrops froze as soon at it hit road as well as the windshield.  Rather the traction was so poor that 18 wheelers with chains couldn't make it up the short inclines on the highway.  Fortunately after entering NM it snowed.

[sassnetguy50]

What year and model vehicle was longmire driving in the book?  Maybe it had a granny low.

[Alpo]

7 hours ago, sassnetguy50 said:

What year and model vehicle was longmire driving in the book?  Maybe it had a granny low.

In an automatic?

 

Year - I don't know. It was a Suburban. And he had borrowed it from the FBI so I'm assuming it was a new vehicle. Feds get new every year, right? Book was copyright 2011, so that would probably make it a 2010.

[Equanimous Phil]

22 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

The best snow tires I have ever run are the Nokian Hakapelietas.

+1 for Nokian! Norwegians just know a thing or two about driving in the snow  

 

I also put on Nokians during winter time, though it makes my 4x4 VW T5 feel like a tractor compared to driving with summer tires, but it's worth! Still have some chains for when it gets really nasty. Although, there's less snow each year here in Switzerland 

 

And for Alpo's question: I drive a manual, which I guess it's still the best on slippery roads because you have the most control.

[sassnetguy50]

1 hour ago, Alpo said:

In an automatic?

 

Year - I don't know. It was a Suburban. And he had borrowed it from the FBI so I'm assuming it was a new vehicle. Feds get new every year, right? Book was copyright 2011, so that would probably make it a 2010.

Lesson learned, don't post while watching election results.  

 

They can, the requirement was before accumulating 60,000 miles on the vehicle.

[Sixgun Seamus]

4WD and AWD with help you get moving faster because of increased traction. They generally won't stop you faster due to inertia causing loss of that traction. On ice, all bets are off. I get a morbid enjoyment from seeing people stuck in their shiny new SUV's because they don't understand those concepts. I've owned 4WD and AWD vehicles most of my driving life due to the fact that I live in NE Ohio and like to get up my driveway in winter.

[Grass Range]

Use Drive. Engage 4wd before you need it. Same tires year around as it may snow whenever

[Rip Snorter]

Nokian or other studded if legal where you live and you have lots of ice.  I have the luxury of just staying home.  Spun my old awd pickup on black ice last year, minor damage, wouldn't have spun with the studs.

[Trailrider #896]

If one is going to be driving where a layer of ice that doesn't appear to be ice, aka "black ice", the first thing to do is....SLOW THE HELL DOWN, but do it gradually. If you aren't use to driving on ice, the best thing is, if you can avoid it, DON'T GO!  Sometimes you just can't avoid the situation. If you a thinking of going to places where ice may come up suddenly, and are going to be living there, and the law permits, I like studded snow tires. Some states will permit them in winter, but not in summer. If you are moving to such climate, find a vacant parking lot that has been shovelled, but has a layer of ice, and practice driving. But slow down, regardless. The worst drivers I see are Colorado natives who think it is there godgiven right to drive 10 miles over the speed limit regardless of the road conditions!   One time I started out to go somewhere in the metro-area, driving a 4WD vehicle.  I got three blocks from home and there were two cars spun out and into light poles, and into each other!  I did a careful 180 and went home!

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

And people ask why I left Utah!  

[Sedalia Dave]

Some of those Nokian tires have a very interesting tread pattern.

 

[Eyesa Horg]

28 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

Some of those Nokian tires have a very interesting tread pattern.

 

They use a 5 sided stud as well in their winter tires.

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

3 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

They use a 5 sided stud as well in their winter tires.

Most of us up here got studded tires when, they first came out, but had to pull the studs or replace the tires when they were banned, due to the damage they did to the road asphalt or concrete.

 

[Eyesa Horg]

We have to have em off by the end of April, I think.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

drivin' in the cold ain't all that bad 

 

 the issue is the water in various forms , slush, snow , and ice , that will get ya 

 

  CB 

[Eyesa Horg]

Gotta tell ya, sliding and drifting in parking lots at 16,has definitely helped with black ice survival over the years. Being out on call at 2:00 AM in Bum.....k nowhere is not when you want to slide off the road.

[Alpo]

A few years back. My daughter worked for REI in Atlanta. They had a blizzard. At the end of the day, they close the store and all the employees went out to their cars in the parking lot. And they looked out on the four-lane road in front of the store which had five accidents on it in a two block stretch. Then they went back in the store and turn the heat up and got sleeping bags and camping pads off the shelf and everybody spent the night in the store.

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

Smart move.

 

(But what is REI?)

[sassnetguy50]

@Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 REI is an adventure gear store.  One of the few left who know what customer service is.  They also make business decisions based on political motivations.

https://www.rei.com/