Icy roads, bald tires - No problem.

[Jeff]

OK Folks with winter coming make sure your car is ready for it or you may wind up looking like this idiot :laugh:


<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=e57c55cd6d59" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b1a_1413939702

[darin]

That's pretty funny :)

True story - not even 'non-bald' tires would help much...WINTER TIRES, people :)

[Jeff]

Best thing to do when the road gets that slippery is stay home

[darin]

I respectfully disagree :)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kckkFzJe-B8

[Jeff]

I respectfully disagree :)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kckkFzJe-B8

That 4 wheel drive is all good and well but it wont do nothing on Ice. and once the plows come by they leave at last a half inch of a ice pad on the road, now don 't get me wrong I had lots of fun with a old 3/4 tone Chevy I had in the last Blizzard I was in in NJ , but I have seen a lot of 4 wheel vehicles upside down once the road turns to ice.

[darin]

With the right tires any car can perform well on ice. :-) today's dedicated snow/winter tires do great.

[jimnyc]

My 4Runner is awesome on the road in the snow. Hell, for a regular 'ol SUV, it's pretty good off road, rain and everything else. I am usually one of the last idiots left on the road when it snows. If not for my stupid driveway on an incline, I would go in and out in the snow and not think twice about it.

I was cruising down the Hutchinson Parkway a couple of years ago, breezing past what few cars were on the road, but still only doing about 20 miles per hour, maybe a tad more. I cam upon a bend and was even slowing down. Thank God that it was 4 lanes wide, and that no one was near me, and that I was in the far left lane. As I slowly felt myself sliding, I even let go of the break and slowly steered. Even with that, the truck drifted on this icy bend and slowly went across almost all 4 lanes before finally getting a grip all the way to the right. The only thing that would have helped there would have been chains on the tires or staying off the road. But that wasn't because of ice alone, but also about a 1/2 inch of snow hiding on top of it, making for the perfect slippery bend to fuck with Jim!

[Jeff]

With the right tires any car can perform well on ice. :-) today's dedicated snow/winter tires do great.

Could Be Darin it has been a lot of years since I have been up north, well I would be up there in the T/T and see all kinds of vehicles upside down in the medium but as for myself playing in it it has been a long time. But I can remember backing down a parking lot ( a slight down grade ) and jumping a parking block, even in 4 wheel it wouldn't pull me off of the ice ( I had to back out onto the busy road, I have watched numerous Tractor trailers lose it on ice and not saying your wrong but they must of had come with something special to stick to ice.

Jim the half inch of powder is fun to drive in it is the 1/2 inch of ice under it that gets ya.

[darin]

on ice.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rms9B45clg

[Jeff]

on ice.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rms9B45clg

I hear ya dmp but this is hardly anything you see on the Highway, what I did see was cones being pushed and tires spinning, you have to remember the average idiot on the highway thinks that well the speed limit is 70 , I normally run 80 so if I slow it down to 60 I will be fine, no it isn't all about the equipment but rather the idiots in control of it. And after 25 plus years on the highway no way am I going to believe any vehicle can handle ICE, I consider myself a good driver but once on ice you are not always in control of your vehicle and if you don't have 100% control than it isn't safe.

[darin]

Righto - I'm saying good driving with great tires = pretty damn boring commutes in even icy weather.

"the Problem" with people today - we (the empirical we) are TERRIBLE drivers; we make poor decisions behind the wheel.

[Jeff]

Righto - I'm saying good driving with great tires = pretty damn boring commutes in even icy weather.

"the Problem" with people today - we (the empirical we) are TERRIBLE drivers; we make poor decisions behind the wheel.

Darin I use to run up and down the interstate in storm s and man you talk about idiots :laugh: and they came in all types of vehicles, and most you would see off in the medium at one point down the road:laugh: I remember while running the motor grader on the GSP in NJ during a Blizzard I had a caddy fly by me ( he was on his way to AC ) well a mile up the road he was upside down, he begged me to pull his car onto it wheels and out of the snow, I did and he handed my his entire wallet ( money and everything else in it ) then he got in the car cranked it and it started ( I was shocked ) he took off, I put the wallet ( less the cash ) in the mail so he would get it back, talks all kinds :laugh:

[tailfins]

The whole point is to SLOW DOWN. I was in a 1984 VanDura when a bad, windy Winter storm hit on the way to St. Louis. I just made it on the the I-64 on ramp in Evansville, IN before they closed it. Quite a few annoyed drivers went around me as a plugged along at 15 MPH, only to see most of them slid off the road, disabled, even some 18 wheelers. It took over 10 hours to cover 160 miles, but I made it. This is a VanDura:

http://ipocars.com/imgs/a/h/w/b/q/gmc__vandura_1985_1_lgw.jpg

[darin]

On the surface I say I disagree. Speed is not the problem - Poor Choices is the problem - and driving too fast is just part of it. And..frankly, with the right tires one can still go pretty damn fast on snowy/icy roads :)

I recall my Subaru with Blizzaks safely and solidly reaching the speed limit on snow-covered highways whilst other, unprepared drivers with their shit tires, crept along at 30mph.

[NightTrain]

It just takes practice. People think that having a 4x4 will solve all traction issues, but that's only half right - they help you to go, but not to stop.

Steering over to the shoulder where there's more snow will help many times when it's really slippery out.

I've driven thousands & thousands of miles through mountains in blizzards when it was so slick that you'd fall on your ass when you stepped out of your rig. The worst is black ice or a sheet of ice with fresh snow on top of it. Or Freezing Rain... that stuff is pretty bad in the right conditions.

With a 4x4 or FWD, a gentle acceleration will pull you through your corner. Never hit your brakes on corners, wait til there's a straight stretch to slow it down. Coasting, or if that doesn't do it, a smooth acceleration is the ticket. With a Rear Wheel Drive vehicle, you don't want to accelerate, naturally.

You can't always run studded snow tires, because they're illegal in some States... but here they're legal. A combo of studs on siped tires is awesome.

I was doubtful of the effectiveness of siped tires until I went to go buy a set down in Kenai and the guy didn't have a set of studded that would fit my truck... but he did have a set of siped. I was very impressed with their performance. I didn't think that cold rubber on ice would flex enough to make any difference with those little lines, but they definitely do, bigtime!

Siped tires are legal everywhere, read up if you don't know about siping :

http://www.off-road-outdoors.com/tire-siping.html

[darin]

Well said! The tires I had in that vid above were siped and I was generally pleased. While the rubber compound didn't work super well in the super cold - not even close to my ex's Studless Snow/Ice tires on her 4x4 F150 - They did a pretty good job carrying me through what was one of the best (the locals say 'worst') winters in the area.

[tailfins]

It just takes practice. People think that having a 4x4 will solve all traction issues, but that's only half right - they help you to go, but not to stop.

Steering over to the shoulder where there's more snow will help many times when it's really slippery out.

I've driven thousands & thousands of miles through mountains in blizzards when it was so slick that you'd fall on your ass when you stepped out of your rig. The worst is black ice or a sheet of ice with fresh snow on top of it. Or Freezing Rain... that stuff is pretty bad in the right conditions.

With a 4x4 or FWD, a gentle acceleration will pull you through your corner. Never hit your brakes on corners, wait til there's a straight stretch to slow it down. Coasting, or if that doesn't do it, a smooth acceleration is the ticket. With a Rear Wheel Drive vehicle, you don't want to accelerate, naturally.

You can't always run studded snow tires, because they're illegal in some States... but here they're legal. A combo of studs on siped tires is awesome.

I was doubtful of the effectiveness of siped tires until I went to go buy a set down in Kenai and the guy didn't have a set of studded that would fit my truck... but he did have a set of siped. I was very impressed with their performance. I didn't think that cold rubber on ice would flex enough to make any difference with those little lines, but they definitely do, bigtime!

Siped tires are legal everywhere, read up if you don't know about siping :

http://www.off-road-outdoors.com/tire-siping.html


Discount Tire apparently offers siping services:

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tireSiping.do

[NightTrain]

OK Folks with winter coming make sure your car is ready for it or you may wind up looking like this idiot :laugh:


<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=e57c55cd6d59" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>


http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b1a_1413939702

I forgot to address this very inexperienced driver in the OP video. He's clearly a menace to everyone on the road.

All the driver had to do was get off the damn gas! Let those tires grab and then ease into the throttle. As soon as the tire breaks traction, back off the gas.

He was spinning his wheels like an idiot, and in icy conditions spinning tires do absolutely no good.

There's only one condition where spinning your tires does anything positive, and that's in the sticky gumbo mud and you're in danger of getting stuck. Then you want to spin them so the tread clears itself, but then you run the risk of one tire catching traction and breaking something expensive, like an axle or a differential or a U-Joint.

But never spin when it's slick.