The truckers are the ones to pay attention to!
The most dangerous time is right at that 'spray stops' point and most truckers will pull off for a break right about then. They come back on after it has froze up solid.
When I see the truck stops all full and very few moving slowly, I usually figure it's break time too. Or at least really slow down time until they come back on the road. It's not the time to think it's cool to pass the slow trucks.....
Mike
Snow wrote:
I agree 100%
4WD vehicles "slide" out of c> 100Kmh is 62Mph, but 80Mph in 4WD???? IMO 100Kmh is too fast for 4WD!100 Kmh Higway driving...
I used to live in North Bay, and one time travelling from the parents in Niagara, I got stuck in a blizzard in Hamilton and was in it all the way to Huntsville. Once I hit Hwy11, the only way I knew I was in my lane was that I was just missing the oncoming traffic by a couple feet. Took me 9 hours to go
200km's.Shame on me for being stupid enough to keep going!
Gotta disagree. When the snow is down, 4WD is always safer at any speed. Of course, the faster you go and the slicker the snow, the greater the distance you must maintain to the next vehicle ahead, 4x4 or not.
Steve
john snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote:
I have tried both many times because we have patchy snow areas and Steve is right, 4x4 is better and noticeable for the difference in steering control.
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT'sSteve wrote:
True but if you are going too fast to have traction 4wd isn't going to be any better than 2wd. I'm going Christmas shopping today and we got about 3" last night, I'll keep track of how many 4wd SUV's are in the ditch and let you know...
If you read the whole thread I commented about how much 'worse' 4x4 is when you lose traction.
Here I will cut and paste it in again:
Well, actually the braking is 'worse' than any 2 wheel drive if you don't know what to expect!
When you hit the brakes in a 2 wheel drive, 'normally' only the front wheels will lock because vehicles have a combination or proportioning valve that prevents rear wheel lock up unless you are almost stopped.
This means you basically still track straight when the brakes are on until you let up to steer.
If the rear wheels lock up, you do 360 spins faster than you can blink which is the reason for the prop valve.
Now put your Jeep into 4x4 'part time'.
When you hit the brakes, 'all four' wheels lock up!
So unless you are 'really' careful, you will calmly slide off sideways into the ditch. That is why you see so many 4x4's sitting on the ditch side looking foolish after a storm, folks get taken by surprise and have 'no' training.
Both my owners manuals say to stay off the brakes in snow and to use the gears to slow down. Surprising enough, the gears will usually hold you at the 'threshold braking' point. It takes a little while to learn how to drive in 4x4 so you have control.
I usually recommend finding an empty parking lot come first snow and taking the 4x4 there to find out how it works. I have been stopped by cops doing this, but as soon as they found out I was 'learning' the handling and not 'stunting', they were fine with it.
Mike
Matt Macchiarolo wrote:
Same here..been doing it since I started driving. I have had cops sit and watch, some gave a few personal opinions, some tried it with their squad cars and even had one give some professional advice (I knew he was an armature racer, recognised his name)
Snow...
conditions.
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