Safe Winter Driving

nicholas bonham-carter

My advice to my children for winter driving safety has always been to check your tire pressures with a gauge, and make sure they correspond to the manufacturers specs, which are usually found on the driver’s door frame, or gas flap.
Just kicking the tires will not suffice!
Different coefficients of friction at all corners of the car, make it difficult for stability controls to prevent a slide.
They are all getting 5-8 inches in their respective locations!—NBC

ScottSecor

I agree, I'm not doubt many new drivers have ever touched a tire pressure gauge.

When our kids were learning to drive (learner's permit) I took them to empty parking lot after a decent snowstorm to practice. In my mind, you can read the driving test booklet for weeks, but actually hands on experience can be very beneficial. They practiced accelerating without allowing the tires to slip, stopping at 5, 10 and 20 mph on icy and or snow covered pavement. I suspect they are more comfortable driving in the snow as a result.

ChrisJ

If only the government would require some sort of safety system to ensure tire pressure never gets dangerously low.........

Jellis

Wish they made kids adjust tire pressure and change a tire and things like that in drivers ed.

ChrisJ

Jellis said:

Wish they made kids adjust tire pressure and change a tire and things like that in drivers ed.

I don't.
I just wish they made them drive correctly and understand what yield means, how to properly merge and to not tailgate.

STEVEusaPA

My father told me, growing up in Italy (came here in 1955), that 1/3 of your test to get a driver's license was under the hood.

I wish kids just paid attention and got off their phone. I saw a young girl driving with her knee, using 2 hands to text. I swerved the oil truck at her. I guess she changed her drawers when she got home.

pecmsg

S L O W
D O W N

Gordy

https://youtu.be/DYPmApA1CVs

JUGHNE

I make a point to test the ABS braking system on an empty street. Just to exercise it and practice driving/steering with it active.
Then, also spin wheels to get the feel of the AWD engaging.
But that is on 3 of our vehicles.

Then the old school, 1 ton van is a different animal, lacking those options. Pump brakes, steer into skids etc.

Jamie Hall

One of the things that bugs me -- perhaps worse than almost anything else -- is people in fancy new cars (sometimes AWD, sometimes not, but stability enhancement and ABS and who knows what) failing to realise that under slippery conditions they will neither corner nor brake any better than my 1970 Chevy C10 which has none of those toys. I don't mind much when they wreck themselves, but when they are sliding at me it bugs me.

JUGHNE

Or they have only ever driven something with the "toys" and then borrow some old school vehicle and try to drive the same way.........may as well give them a clutch also.

ChrisJ

Jamie Hall said:

One of the things that bugs me -- perhaps worse than almost anything else -- is people in fancy new cars (sometimes AWD, sometimes not, but stability enhancement and ABS and who knows what) failing to realise that under slippery conditions they will neither corner nor brake any better than my 1970 Chevy C10 which has none of those toys. I don't mind much when they wreck themselves, but when they are sliding at me it bugs me.

As you recall, I spent a lot of my life in a 1970 C-20.

Modern cars handle poorly in bad weather. Not near as good as many expect them to. This is true. I've seen many get stuck with a 4WD SUV where I didn't in a 2WD truck.

However, your 1970 C-10 handles atrociously in bad weather in comparison to a modern vehicle.

I'm sorry Jamie, That series of truck is also my favorite out of all pickups, but it has it's weaknesses.


I don't see any way to fix this. People do what they do.
I just want them to understand the difference between a stop sign and a yield sign. I'm not getting that either.

Jamie Hall

I never said a C-10 had decent handling! It's horrible in any weather -- but you get used to it. As to stop signs and yield signs... or right on red... I'm just used to the idea that the opposition is just going to blow right through them.

Gordy

I disagree about modern cars handling poorly since most modern cars are front wheel drive, or awd, except 2wd pickups. Big difference compared to rear wheel drive, and huge difference compared to a pickup with no weight in the back.

Braking is another matter. However antilock braking is superior when used with good judgment.

ratio

Keep the rubber side down. There's quite a few 15 passenger vans in my immediate family, I tell the women—don't swerve! A full-sized van can dance with anything you're likely to encounter inside city limits as long as it's rubber side down.

GroundUp

Tires make a world of difference on ice and snow. You can have the best AWD system and all the goodies possible, but with garbage tires comes garbage traction. Snow tires on a car are worth their weight in gold, and I don't care how good a driver you think you are. I've been racing cars and ATVs since I was about 10, and had the pleasure of abusing hundreds of different vehicle combinations in our great frosty MN winters. A FWD car on snow tires will outperform a 4wd truck with any LT tire on a snowy/icy road any day of the week unless the snow is deep enough to bottom the car out. I commute 180+ miles every day and have been doing so since 2007. Being a vehicle buff, I watch how other vehicles are equipped compared to how they handle in addition to what I'm driving and there is simply no better option than the proper tires. For example, I threw some new BFG KO2 tires on my 2500HD work truck a couple months ago- today we had about 5" of snow on the road and I was able to set the cruise at 85 like I do every day and stick to the road like glue. With the old stock tires, even new, a day like today would've had me stranded. Yes I'm that buttplug that passes everybody in inclement weather and everyone hates, but I'm well within my driving ability and am doing it safely for everyone on the road due to having the proper equipment. BUY SNOW TIRES

motoguy128

Winter tires was one of the best investments I’ve made.

I even took the lightly used Winter tires off a car I traded in and convinced my boss to hit a set of steel wheels and put them on my service van. It’s great! It was totally worthless before.

They also work really well on muddy back roads too.

Jamie Hall

Totally agree on snow tires. Not "all season" tires. SNOW TIRES. Worth their weight in gold.

Years ago we had what were called sandpaper retreads -- basically a retreaded tire with sand in the retread rubber. Impossible to balance and wore out pretty fast (like... maybe 10,000 miles if you were lucky) but before the advent of the new snow tire rubber compounds, they gripped like glue and were all we could get. I had them on a '66 Buick Skylark GS, which was hilariously overpowered -- but with those things on it would plow snow all day if you needed to. Foot deep snow didn't bother it one little bit.

Gordy

MIc

GroundUp said:

Tires make a world of difference on ice and snow. You can have the best AWD system and all the goodies possible, but with garbage tires comes garbage traction. Snow tires on a car are worth their weight in gold, and I don't care how good a driver you think you are. I've been racing cars and ATVs since I was about 10, and had the pleasure of abusing hundreds of different vehicle combinations in our great frosty MN winters. A FWD car on snow tires will outperform a 4wd truck with any LT tire on a snowy/icy road any day of the week unless the snow is deep enough to bottom the car out. I commute 180+ miles every day and have been doing so since 2007. Being a vehicle buff, I watch how other vehicles are equipped compared to how they handle in addition to what I'm driving and there is simply no better option than the proper tires. For example, I threw some new BFG KO2 tires on my 2500HD work truck a couple months ago- today we had about 5" of snow on the road and I was able to set the cruise at 85 like I do every day and stick to the road like glue. With the old stock tires, even new, a day like today would've had me stranded. Yes I'm that buttplug that passes everybody in inclement weather and everyone hates, but I'm well within my driving ability and am doing it safely for everyone on the road due to having the proper equipment. BUY SNOW TIRES

I’ve had great results with Michelin LTX M/S all season tires. Excellent tread life, traction, and quiet.

Jamie Hall

To some extent it depends on the conditions. I would imagine that the Michelins you mention are well suited to the conditions you get more, @Gordy. In deeper snow, or where the snow packs and you have more or less constant ice underwheel, the softer grippier rubber in true snow tires really does help (note that it is not the tread pattern we're talking about, but the rubber compound used).

nicholas bonham-carter

I also added in my advice to my children-don’t use cruise control, as it can make the wrong choices on slippery roads.—NBC

Gordy

Oh yes. Cruise finding traction, then no traction not good.

Leon82

They use tons salt here so the vehicle rots within 10 years

Gordy

Yeah, pretty amazing when I crawled under my 01 Tahoe that blew a brake line. Steel brake lines of course, But the stainless steel exhaust is pristine. Go figure on proper materials used in the right places.......exhaust is a cake walk to replace, and posses near zero safety risk when it fails. Brakes not so much.....

Solid_Fuel_Man

I've been a car guy all of my life as well. Had many old (to me) cars and kept them on the Maine salted roads longer than most.

I've found the cupronickel brake lines to be excellent as replacements. Back in the 80s and earlier automotive brake lines has some compound in them which was a rust inhibitor. It was found that the compound was a carcinogen and was removed from the market in the mid 90s I believe. We saw a huge rash of rotted brake lines for quite some time in the early 2000s when I was still working on cars professionally.

The Europeans came up with using the copper-nickel alloy as original equipment. Its available aftermarket in 25' coils now.

Gordy

I got the stainless Dorman kit.

rick in Alaska

Around here we have a lake that they use to race homebrew cars on when it freezes up. That is where the kids also learn to drive in the snow and ice. They will go flying on to the ice and do donuts all over the place for fun, but at the same time, they are learning how their cars perform and how to straighten out. It is a really great place to learn because there are only a few cars out at one time, and the lake is big. It is actually a float plane lake in the summer!
Also, who remembers winter tires with walnut husks imbedded in them?
Rick

Gordy

I remember the studded snow tires that were eventually outlawed because they tore up the roads. Funny think is the roads still get tore up😂

Jamie Hall

We had both studded tires and the walnut husk sort, but the best were the sandpaper retreads with real sand in them. Lots of it.

STEVEusaPA

How much room do you leave behind a snow plow?

ethicalpaul

STEVEusaPA said:

My father told me, growing up in Italy (came here in 1955), that 1/3 of your test to get a driver's license was under the hood.

Well, those were a lot of Italian cars, so...

Jamie Hall

Fiat - "Fix It Again, Tony"

ethicalpaul

I didn't dare say it LOL