Snow Driving

[Yukon2000xl]

I live north of Montreal Canada and we presently are in a snow storm.Ive spent 24+ years driving in heavy snow and black ice on highways,country roads and normal roads.A few things to remember 1: have excellent tires ,I run BF K/O 2's .2: keep your distance 3: stay off the brakes as much as you can4:don't over steer to correct a slide and you will know why once you grab ashphalt again. 5: remember I vehicles weight can be it's greatest friend or enemy in a snowstorm.


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[zambonidriver]

Having driven a bunch of cars and trucks with snow tires I can say I'm not impressed with the 22/alenza combo. Driving through the snow storm in Michigan yesterday on the highways was not fun. I'm going to snow tires.

As someone said, tires are the only thing that matters. I've driven rear wheel drive sports cars with snow tires that were better in the snow than my Yukon xl with these tires.

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[ISU-152]

Having driven a bunch of cars and trucks with snow tires I can say I'm not impressed with the 22/alenza combo. Driving through the snow storm in Michigan yesterday on the highways was not fun. I'm going to snow tires.

As someone said, tires are the only thing that matters. I've driven rear wheel drive sports cars with snow tires that were better in the snow than my Yukon xl with these tires.

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Lol @zambonidriver ....this must be a joke

 

[ISU-152]

But more super Canadian tips...

Signal early so the people behind you know what's going on

Brake early...even if it's to warn the guy behind you

 

[WillCO]

Good advice here. One thing that hasn't been said yet - it helps to moderate your speed in the snow by gearing down, versus hitting the brakes.

Obviously if you need to stop, you need to stop. Hit the brake. But if you are just trying to slow down or keep from going faster, using the transmission as a brake is effective. The brakes are friction devices whose ultimate goal is to lock up the wheels, except the vehicle's momentum keeps them from actually doing that up to the point where it doesn't. The transmission on the other hand is not trying to forestall the rotation of the wheels and can be used to safely slow you down with minimal risk that you lose traction. This is doubly true if you are moving downhill.

 

[WillCO]

I've driven rear wheel drive sports cars with snow tires that were better in the snow than my Yukon xl with these tires.

Lol @zambonidriver ....this must be a joke

I'll vouch. I had a RWD V8 BMW 5 series around here for several winters. I had a set of snows on it, and with the exception of starting from a stop moving up a hill, it was notably more stable in the snow than any of my AWD/4WD vehicles with all-season tires.

 

[Sparky_69]

Educate me, what's the difference between switching to AWD vs 4HI? I don't tow anything but why would I use one over the other? I'm coming from a 2002 Denali which is AWD, no option to switch out of that so this is new to me.

AWD has a third differential inside the transfer case, to allow RPM difference between the front and rear driveshafts, that's how it is able to drive on dry pavement without damage.

4WD does not have a differential inside the transfer case, so the front and rear driveshafts are turning at the same RPM. 4WD should only be used when driving straight or when driving conditions are slippery, that's why it can be turned on and off.

 

[jloutz]

Lol @zambonidriver ....this must be a joke[/QUOTE
I agree, complete joke.

 

[cardude2000]

Good advice here. One thing that hasn't been said yet - it helps to moderate your speed in the snow by gearing down, versus hitting the brakes.

Obviously if you need to stop, you need to stop. Hit the brake. But if you are just trying to slow down or keep from going faster, using the transmission as a brake is effective. The brakes are friction devices whose ultimate goal is to lock up the wheels, except the vehicle's momentum keeps them from actually doing that up to the point where it doesn't. The transmission on the other hand is not trying to forestall the rotation of the wheels and can be used to safely slow you down with minimal risk that you lose traction. This is doubly true if you are moving downhill.

A downshift and gently applied brake pressure are identical to the physics at play. BUT, downshifts have fewer safety guards built in should traction be lost.

If you are, say, going downhill and you want to slowdown in very icy/snowy conditions braking has two advantages

1) you can IMMEDIATELY take your foot off the brake if even a light touch locks them up 2) IF the brakes lockup they are IMMEDIATELY mitigated via ABS

Slowing/braking via transmission is problematic because when you downshift your wheels could IMMEDIATELY start sliding/skidding if they don't have traction (trans wants tires to go slower and truck is moving faster. traction isn't enough for tires to bite and slow vehicle). If that happens you cannot upshift immediately meaning you better pray you don't get sideways (which, if you had braked ABD and ESP would work on for you) while you shift and wait for the the tranny to decide when it's going to move into the higher gear (even in manual mode trans shifts aren't instant).

Just my .02 but in icy conditions you are really risking an issue by throwing tranny into a lower gear. I'll test brakes and gently apply much more control IMO. Plenty of traction? I'm right there with you, throw trans into the next gear down to keep speed from creeping back up.



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[WillCO]

1) you can IMMEDIATELY take your foot off the brake if even a light touch locks them up

This is the opposite of what most people do when they feel their car begin to lose traction.