Winter driving presents a number of challenges to both you and your car. Cold weather tests the limits of your car's mechanical abilities. Treacherous driving conditions test your abilities as a driver.
If your car has front wheel drive, it may be easier to get up slippery hills by driving in reverse because engine weight traction is sometimes inadequate, especially if there are other passengers or cargo in your car. When driving up a hill backwards, the weight shifts onto the front wheels, providing them more traction.
This is correct! I recently found this out empirically and then verified it theoretically. I was driving my wife's front wheel drive 1997 Toyota Corolla out of a friend's snow covered and steep driveway when I found that I was unable to climb the incline going forward due to the drive wheels slipping. I tried perhaps 3 or 4 times but was not able to reach the apex of the incline. So then I retreated down the hill again and turned the car around. I then proceeded to back up the hill in reverse (so that the drive wheels were on the downhill side of the car) and made it out in the first shot!
When I got home I worked the problem on paper by drawing a free body diagram of a car on an inclined plane. After solving the problem symbolically, I researched the physical properties of that car, plugged in some numbers, and found that there is approximately 44% increase in weight on the downhill axle relative to the uphill axle and hence that much more traction on the downhill wheels. Brilliant!
One that I've seen put many off the road. Never use criusecontrol on winter roads.The automatic speed control has a lead foot and will have wheels spinning,putting you out of control. Also halfway thru winter put the car battery on the trickle charger overnight.It will make your car like new. Winter driving uses lights,heater fan,wipers,rearwindow defogger.These all stress the cars electric system and the battery appreciates the help.
1. Replace your battery at the end of Fall if it is 6 or more years old. This will prevent your car not starting when you are about to head to the hospital for your baby's delivery (or other such critical travel). It also allows you to catch a battery sale and allows you more time for an intelligent choice of battery. After 6 years your battery owes you nothing.
2. When going down a VERY slippery, steep hill the car should be in neutral. Those that don't live in places with very steep hills and a severe winter climate like Ithaca, New York, can't imagine how much better traction you get in neutral. With the car in gear, the idle speed is pushing the car forward while you are trying to restrain the car to 2 or 3 miles per hour. This causes the car to skid. If you try it once, you will quickly realize how much more control you have by putting the car in neutral in this very special situation.
I can "guarantee" that those people that say it is "ridiculously insane" have never tried it when attempting to go down an extremely slippery hill. It's a HUGE improvement. I've been using it for 32 years with GREAT success on very steep hills under very slippery conditions (Ithaca, NY). The caveats are:
1. Steep hill
2. Very slippery conditions
3. Very slow speed (i.e. creeping)
Under no other conditions should it be used.
RE: Driving away with the block heater plugged in.
I throw an old sweatshirt on the windshield when I plug the car in. When I come out to start the car later, I can't miss that reminder that the car is plugged in.
Hey, be sure to change your Recirculating air to Fresh air flow on the heater controls. It only takes a few minutes in cold temps to steam up the windows from your breath and then it freezes leaving you driving at 40MPH in a car with Frosted Windows!! Adding some A/C to the defrosters will help clear it up faster AFTER the switch or lever is changed.
My wife & I are long haul truckers and are out on the road for 6 weels at a time. Our Dodge Ram pick-up sits for 6 weeks at a time in the company yard. In Canada the weather cab get a tad cool at times!!! The last time we got home our Ram wouldn't start due to a frozen gas line!! What a pain!! Hours later we got going after 4 bottles of gas line anti-freeze and 2 visits from CAA for a battery boost! SO, we now keep our tank full and conditioned with gas line anti-freeze. We also disconnect the negative battery terminal so as the battery slowly discharges the engine computer doesn't have memory failure and forget how to idle! Visit our blog at http://11-degrees.blogspot.com
1. Keep your headlights on so the rest of us can see you (this goes double if you have a white car!). When you slow to a crawl, as you should in whiteout conditions, turn on your hazard lights (4-way blinkers), too.
2. and the old standby: steer into a skid, smoothly, without jerking the wheel. Although most important for RWD vehicles, this also works with FWD, 4WD, and AWD. Those of us who grew up around frozen lakes got to practice this off the road. (But I can't remember having to do this since I got my mini cooper with DSC.)
A winter survival kit, instant soup, candy, candles, cheap camp stove (the one’s that use sterno), a small pan to warm-up water, and melt snow to make water, matches, blankets, shovel.
And some advice, if the roads are bad stay HOME, if you are traveling and the road get bad stop as soon as possible, and check into a hotel early. There is no place you need to be that’s worth your life.
Oh I say check in early because if you wait, you might be sleeping in the lobby.
Do only one thing at a time when the roads are bad. E.g., either brake or turn, but not both. That's because every maneuver (braking, steering) reduces the amount of contact (grip) that your tires have on the road surface. Your car's tires can deal with the double reduction of braking and turning when the roads are good, but when roads are icy, your tires can't grip well enough to do two things at once. So if you have to steer around an obstacle on the road ahead, first brake, then take your foot off the brake, then turn. If you do it all at once, your wheels will lock up and you'll slide straight into what you're trying to avoid.
Needless to say -- you have to be driving slowly enough to account for road conditions and visibility, or you won't have time to brake then turn.
I learned that at Bridgestone winter driving school in Steamboat Springs, CO. Take what I learned and save the $450. Or spend the $450 and have a really fun and educational day learning to drive around obstacles on an ice-slicked golf course.
03/16/2008 11:14:20 PM
