stevebt

iTrader: (8)

went out in the scooby in bad weather the roads werent that abd and i thought the 4x4 would grip great which it did but every time i touched the brakes the wheels locked and the car started to slide 3 times i was hoping the car would stop before i crossed a junction and i was going no more than 15mph evry time when i braked, just turned around and parked the car back on the drive. anybody had this problem

marc_ely

Sure have... at only 10mph my _1 with uprated 6pots on the front locks solid and slides.
There's another thread on here talking about this and it seems that with some cars taking out the ABS fuse is the thing to do in snow.
From what I remember reading about ABS - the system is really only designed to work over a fairly narrow range of grip levels, and those are optimised for heavy rain. Snow is a total different animal and the behavious of ABS is far worse.

Marc

salsa-king

what snow??????????

been lovely in Nottingham... sunny.. but windy.

Phil

chrome

I hear ya Phil

Glenn_R

Gonna get me some 3 inch wide tyres with metal studs in

MorayMackenzie

Odd turn of phrase (assuming its an ABS equiped car)... "the front locks solid and slides"... the whole problem being that the wheels are resolutely refusing to lock solid!

Scooby555 2

Yep snow!!!

Got to work eventually this morning .....

Nice big yard, 3 inches of snow

[Homer Simpson mode]

Hmmmm Donuts

scooby-si

salsa-king
lol m8 feckin cold though

oj

Dry all day and now it's snowing here in Essex.. great,with work tomorrom it will be fun..!!

windyboy

As part of direct rule back to London it was decided that the Norn Iron Assembly had spent too much money on rain in the last budget so we couldn't afford any snow this year, maybe we will some next year !!
:-(

ian_sadler

It's an old prob.

Car go fast in warm & dry: GOOD

Car is cr@p in snow: BAD

Your tyres are rated to about 165mph and work well when warm but will not work in the cold. Mainly cos they are nice and fat they will sledge on the surface of the snow and the resulting grip is chuff all.

The ABS is great when you misjudge a roundabout in summer but in the current enviroment you can't just bl00dy stop.

1. Change to snow tyres. No not the studed type just the ones that are softer at lower temps and clear the tread of snow. And are a narower (sp?) profile so will cut through.

2. Take out the ABS fuse so if you lock the wheels they will snow plough through the top layer of snow and hopefully find the grip underneath.

The scoob in standard form is great in this weather under power but going down hill & trying to stop is a complete nightmare.

There you go my 2p's worth.

Ian

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Just find a clear snow covered carpark (private land ) and have some fun (like i did this morning )

Tony

scooby_si

Does any1 actually have a picture of where this ellsuive ABS fuse is? I've seen it kum up many times b4 & i too hate the damn thing especially in these conditions (even thou i's not snowing here now) So kum on help the numpty which 1 where do i need 2 yank out?
Si

Scooby Snacks

Just had the wife on the phone in tears - frustrated cos she can't even get up our road in her front wheel drive Celica 190 and get to work. I had severe problems with the Scooby an hour ago so I feel sorry for any two wheel drive car!

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Alot of people dont know how to drive in snow which is a major disadvantage
If you start off in 2nd gear and change very low down the rev range you can stop the car from wheelspinning and keep momentum
even i pulled off in 1st this morning and then went straight into 2nd (as i had grip to start with but in the mondeo i would have had to have started in 2nd to start with).
The rule is, drive slow, change low and brake long and hopefully you wont go wrong

Tony

dosenöffner

When you start the 4wd drive helps.

When you brake why is 4wd any different to any other car. All four wheels brake. Your going to skid just like anyone else.

Get those tyre pressures up and disable you ABS. Or invest in some narrower tires.

EBRWRX

Disable your ABS ? FFS !!!!

Try disabling your fecking brains.

Young Mr Burns from oop north has the best advice I've seen on this thread so far.

The people that don't know how to drive in snow have their problems compounded by driving in a performance car in this weather, but switching off your ABS is not the answer, learning how to drive is.

Years ago my old boy took me to a nice icy big wide open car-park and tought me what to do and not what to do. I suggest some of you do the same. That's if you haven't stacked your cars in the process.

If your wheels do lock up, because you've braked to quickly, be thankful that you've got ABS/AWD because you've at least got a chance. Trouble is too many people panic. Get OFF the brake, drop into the lowest gear you can, steer the car and brake again.

If you can't manage the above you shouldn't be out in the conditions.

dosenöffner

Wrong. I suggest you take a refresher course ERR.

ABS will unlock the wheels and you will 'jump' over the wedge of snow infront of your tire. This actually helps stop you. The same applies in gravel.

I could go on about it in detail but you obviously already know.

Oh, and I wasn't talking to the amatuers.

Some of us can actually stage brake when it is required.

Yawn.

[Edited by dosenöffner - 1/31/2003 10:11:47 AM]

Flat 4x4

... (to add to Tony Burns' advice)

AND leave a BIG gap to the car in front, especially going downhill

The only trouble is the people behind you who stay on your bumper, but hey what can you do - Mr Ford Puma you know who you are.

EBRWRX

I'm not completely disagreeing with you but ABS actually has a different effect in gravel, at which it is excellent, and in snow/ice where just leaving the brake engaged and steering doesn't have the same effect in an AWD. I think we're talking along similar lines as you mention stage braking anyway.

The main point I'm trying to make is if your not good enough to drive in the conditions it doesn't matter what car you drive.

EBRWRX

And of course cornering is difficult

dosenöffner

EBR. Agreed. I know a guy with a McClaren and he's a crap driver.

I think bottom line is if you don't have to drive in it don't no matter how good you are.

Admittedly I drove 2 miles to work today but I'm a lazy barsteward so I needed to.

pbee

I thought ABS was good thing to have in snow it is the traction control systems that stop wheels spinning and stop the power to wheels ect, that you need to turn off in snow they normaly have a button to do this inside. ABS does not have a switch and hence why you would have to remove the fuse.

anybody know what is the "right" thing to do

camk

Winter tyres.....makes a HUGE difference. However no bloody use in unless everyone uses them. They make a massive difference in any car when it comes to driving in snow and ice.

Regards
Cammy

[Edited by camk - 1/31/2003 12:38:03 PM]

dosenöffner

I would strongly recommend the below book to anyone regardless of what you drive. Even covers 4wd vehicles.

Porsche High-performance Driving Handbook by Vic Elford



http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...517107-9487830

Jamesn

Accelarating = 4wd - cool.
Braking = same as any other car but with fat bitch tyres - crap.

remember what you are driving - and everyone else.

MorayMackenzie

EBRWRX...

Re: "Disable your ABS ? FFS !!!!

Try disabling your fecking brains. "

There was no need for that rudeness, IMHO.

Pentti Arikala advised and demonstrated the improvement in braking available in loose conditions by disabling the ABS system on a driving course I attended a while ago. Even if my own straightforward logical thought and personal expirience don't count for anything, maybe Pentti knows enough about driving that he would have a useful opinion on this one? Pentti spends some of his time teaching/coaching WRC drivers.

The number of posts up here whinging about snow and how the scooby is no good in it does make me worry about how many of these cars are being driven... but, for instance, the chap who drove into a parked car because his brakes didn't stop him would, IMHO, (assuming an abs car here) have had much more chance of stopping if his car prior to making the interference fit interface with the parked car had his ABS system been disabled. Of course, if the chap had been driving less quickly and had used compression braking to help control his speed, and had been more aware of the lack of traction and distance required to change course or speed etc, then yes, he would have had a better chance. However, the ABS system will simply not let you find the grip that is available as it is mistakenly doing its job to the best of its ability, and in these conditions that means it becomes a liability.

Moray

MorayMackenzie

PS: I found Paul Frere's book , "Sports car and competition driving" to be excellent. The guy has a very good engineering knowledge of whats going on and explains things very well in both engineering and driving terms.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...451580-1630265