Yay, Snow is on its way.

 I love the snow, but by march I hate it. I never understood why all the buses stopped working last feb. they are heavy enough to not need snow tyres. And the airports closed


How long will the cold period stay for? If its more than a few days of constantly being below its a really bad idea to use grit, the snow melts nicely and forms really beautiful pools of ice. Use sand instead. If it drops below - 15 in the night be carefull when you warm your car in the morning dont direct the heaters at the car window until the inside of the car is a little warm because it will crack your windscreen. And the final snow tip is simple before you leave your car at night lift your windscreen wipers away from the windscreeen it makes clearing the snow much easier.

I remember watching videos of people playing in the snow last feb, not one person was wearing a hat !!!!

Nothing beats a Volvo 340 with 3 three breeze blocks in the boot directly over the back axle! I used to power up hills in two inches of snow watching everyone else going backwards!

Although I've just realised I don't have a handbrake in the new car (one of those new fangled button things), so that'll curb my enjoyment of the snow this time around!

MartinW wrote:    it's about grip

Dont forget a little momentum aswell.

You would be surprised that people here arent as prepared as you think. Dont get me wrong the snow ploughs are ready and everything is good to go early october, people have their snow tires ready on a spare set of wheels, but they dont put them on until it snows. The first day of snow is usually a surprise with many crashes, i think they actually call it tin mans day. But generally if you get stuck someone will help you out without any problems its normal and an everyday thing for people.
Its not the law here, but i think in Finland its illegal to drive without snow tires in winter.

This will break all the hearts of the environmentalists but we have special car alarms which when the temperature outside drops below -15 the car will start itself every hour to keep warm. Its quite surprising to walk down the street and cars are randomly starting takes me back to night rider.

My last car didnt have such an alarm, when the temp drops below -20 i had to go and start the car every few hours through the night. Once a friend caught me in summer adding water as coolant for the engine, I got a stiff talking to and made to flush the whole system. Id forgotten about winter.

Dont forget a little momentum aswell.

dale_tem wrote: My car alarm had a similar feature. I used to wake up and start the car from my bedroom, get washed, have breakfast etc. and go out to a warm car.

Its great, but in reality with the temp detector in the alarm the car is already warm when you come to it, it actually saves about 20 mins of sitting in a freezing cold car while it warms up, and it saves the engine from the wear of a cold start. There are no rules about unattended starting here.

MartinW wrote:  So finally magic Man, you admit that your planet killing machine is environmentally unfriendly.   You certainly do have an advantage with those massive tyres and four wheel drive, but you would be suprised how well my little Fietsa drives in the snow.

You don't want big tyres as that tends to imply big overpowered car which will be useless. Something like a Beamer or Jag is just pointless in any decent snow.

The best car I ever drove in snow (aside from my beloved V340) was an early Fiat Punto. Tiny little thin wheels but it could chop through the deep stuff no problem.

However, the rest of the car was so offensive I wrote it off on a parked truck in Fochabers (the day before I had to hand it back to the hire company - whoops!).

Best £500 excess I've ever spent!

Yes magic is right, the fact a BMW and Jag have big tyres isn't relevant. It's the fact they are 2 wheel and rear wheel drive that is the limiting factor. Big as in weight is also an advantage not a disadvantage. As for power, you don't have to use that power if it's not appropriate fro the conditions. Cars don't have one power capability they have many. It’s also worth remembering that modern BMW's and Jags have traction control ESP etc, improving the scenario greatly

 

Yes, the preference is big tyres for snow. Traction is the name of the game, and as magic said, if all 4 wheels are driven all the better.

 

It's the difference between standing in the snow in stilettos, and standing in the snow in snow shoes, more surface area.

 

Big cars, more weight, hence greater pressure on the ground is an advantage in terms of traction. Add big tyres and 4 wheel drive and you are in business. Precisely why of road vehicles are designed that way.

That's ice though, not snow.