tires

michelin (sp) x one's are awesome. double a "AA" traction rating.

a trick to sliding on ice is to put your car in neutral. even if it's an automatic.

try it on an icy spot when it's safe and you'll stop in half the distance.

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Not sure about that. Ice means sliding. Sliding means no traction. You're not going to stop any faster that way...

Anything that comes between the tires and the road means no traction!

That's why even an SUV with 4WD can stink in icy conditions because no traction is no traction! :) Joe--ASE Certified Parts Specialist & 10th Ann.Club Tech Director '80 Carousel Red Turbo T/A, 26k orig. '79 "Y89" 400/4 speed 10th Ann. T/A, 57k orig '84 Olds 88 Royale Bgm 2 dr, 307 "Rocket" (lol), 141k and still going.... '80 T/A project car...

i live in canada ! trust me ! put your car in neutral and it takes away power to the rear wheels. no flywheel or fluid spining in the TC to keep pushing.

and if your using abs i'd turn it off. with a little pratice in an empty parking lot you'll learn how to control on ice better than abs...

things like turning the wheel toward the curb while skiding letting off then hitting the brakes again. gets your front tire against the curb with the tread. and you bump it a few times then come to a fast stop.just don't let off the brakes or you'll go onto the meadian. but going up on the curb or snow bank is no big deal compard to a light pole or rearending someone.

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That still doesn't make sense. It's not like the transmission or flywheel adds anything to the forward motion of the car other than through the wheels. If the tires lose traction, you're still going to slide whether the car is in gear or not. I can see how it might be easier to control without having to brake against the engine power as well but it shouldn't effect traction in anyway.

-Bruce

All i know is if I m sliding or getting ready to come to a point where I m sliding.. into neutral and theres no added power coming from the wheels and has made it easier to stop

Bruce

some of the energey from the engines gets past the brakes to the wheels keeping them turning. brakes are not 100 % efficient unless you lock them up so no power gets past them.

so if you are on ice and trying not to skid you remove that power getting past the brakes thats helping to push you forward. that is why on ice a rear wheel drive car will have the front brakes lock first. thats why abs can suck so much sometimes.abs is ok for loose dirt on the road or water (temporary traction loss) but when it comes to shear ice abs increases stoping distance. because that little extra power keeps you rolling forward and then the abs keeps letting off the brakes.

If abs put the car in neutral when it detected wheel lock it would kick ass !!! i bet on dry pavement it would decrease stoping distance by 25% . i don't know why they don't do it that way..

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It might help "somewhat" however.... turning off the ABS would not be advisable!!!!!! There is no way you(or anyone else) can out brake an ABS system. That being said.... these cars were never meant for winter driving!!!!!!!!!!!! 300+hp, wide tires, and a car that is light in the rear end spells a lot of trouble.... if you really want to drive in that kind of mess then like it or not you need either a front drive (I know... I can hear and feel the pain in that statement) or you need a

my 81 with 295 50 15 in the back and 265 60 15 in the front does awesome in the snow. off the line is not so great with 495 hp though.

i found the wide tires like a big snow shoes on powder snow (but carefull they dig fast)and on main roads if there was scatered bare spots the tires hit them.greater chance of touching pavment. and with a posi it was like driving a tank. while everyone got pulled around by narrow tires in the snow in between the clean spots i went on top of it.nice and smooth.

but the 81 is a heavy car.... the new ones on the other hand !!

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Park it, get a beater for like $300! Make life that much easier. I've heard only bad things with F-Bodies and snow...

Depends on the situation. Having my first experiences with a vehical with ABS, I can say honestly that I'm not impressed at all. Kind of annoyed by it, actually. Only thing it's good for is if I have more/less traction with different tires. Good tires are the most important thing in any sort of driving in any weather.

I drove my '74 Trans Am (300+hp 400, 4-spd, posi) in winter in Minnesota and didn't have much problem with a standard quality all season 225/70R15 and 150# of tools and a full tank in up to 6-8" of snow on several occasions. In fact, I usually was passing everyone. And no...starting in second just made the tires spin faster. Learning how to ease the clutch so that I didn't even have to touch the gas until I was moving and then using the gas very gently was the key. I actually really miss driving the RWD cars I used to have in the winter and hate FWD. Can't steer with the throttle much in FWD cars. Loved my suburban, though...put that in 4-low and I barely needed roads, snow or no snow.

Well, of course, but kind of a pain to put them on and take them off when they aren't needed.

He may not have said it clearly, but I agree with him. Neutral is good in low traction braking situations. Taking the trasmission out of the equasion gives you a lot more control. Only time I've ever not been able to stop in time in the winter was because I had to lock the brakes because the rear brakes, even properly adjusted) weren't doing enough to stop the engine from turning them at that low speed, and I ended up rear-ending some girl at about 2mph. I learned real quick to shift into neutral if I felt any lock-up happening.

Good advice in a "panic" situation. More useful not to actually panic, though. In most cases there is *something* you can do to avoid an accident. You have to keep a level head to see the way out, though. Humping the curb is one option. If there is no cross traffic and no one on-coming, simply passing by through the intersection is also an option, though a last resort. Honking might be useful... He might see you can't stop and be able to go, or turn off, so that you won't hit him (I've done that twice to avoid getting hit, but both times I got no warning, just saw in my mirror). If you don't panic, there is usually a solution you'll see without having to spend time thinking about it and unless you're driving recklessly to begin with, you generally have that time.

I sent in a message to the gm design team and they said their gonna try my idea of the abs using neutral. and if it works well they will add it in to the system !!

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Sweet. Not sure if it would work so well, unless the system could mechanically react fast enough, but good that they will look into it.

"William Allen Morgan"

true....kinda. abs has a really bad habit of rolling the car over the dry spots ! you know the spots!! where your skiding and then hit pavment and kiss the steering wheel.!!!

if you have no abs and you are skiding and hit a dry spot 2 feet wide it will stop you or at least majorly slow you down. if you do have abs and you get wheel lock the abs engages and you'll roll right over that dry spot unless the dry spot is 10 feet long (depends on speed,that faster you go the bigger the dry spot has to be)

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also if your about to rearend someone and you decide to take the meadian instead.... if it only has a small curb with grass center area the abs has a greater chance of allowing your car to go up onto the median or into oncoming traffic.

you don't get this when there is no abs.

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LOL "don't believe the hype" i wish i could prove it to you. but your way down there and i'm up here. maybe if i get bored i will make a video showing you that the abs can be out performed by a person.and post it on my site.

"yes the person needs to keep a clear head" "yes the person needs experience with non abs cars"

on many surfaces (not all) just by shifting in to neutral you'll out do the abs system.

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