why do some cars skid in the snow more than others?

neilmcl

fivetide wrote: »

Also, re: winter tyres on only two wheels. Snow Socks suggest you only attach them to the driven wheels so as said, two will be better than non and four better than two of course. Shouldn't make a difference to insurance.

Whilst I agree that the fitting of only 2 winter tyres to FWD cars is preferable to none, it's generally accepted that you should fit all four to RWD and 4WD vehicles (and that's also the recommendation for snow/auto socks as well). It's all well and good having grip to get you moving but that's not going to be of much use if you can't stop or steer.

A perfect example of this happened to me in early Dec when we had those couple of hard frosts overnight. At the time I didn't have my winters fitted (leaving it a bit late) but I had nearly new tyres on the back of the 1 series and about 4-5mm on the front. Travelling to work on a stretch of country road early morning that hadn't been gritted and I really struggled to keep the car on the road, not because the rear was stepping out and losing grip but because the fronts had no grip and were "washing out" all over the place, struggled to even keep on a straight line. Having winter tyres on just the back of my car wouldn't have made any difference in this scenario.

sunshinetours

Mrs_Arcanum wrote: »

.

Major problem with ours is the amount of torque at low revs putting too much power to the drive wheels.

As someone with a 5 series version with even more torque I would say the probelem is you need a very delicate foot and use automatic to creep you away. If you don't have winter tyres consider it as they transform the car throughout winter.
People with cars like ours IMO see the biggest difference changing to winter tyres

Mrs_Arcanum

sunshinetours wrote: »

As someone with a 5 series version with even more torque I would say the probelem is you need a very delicate foot and use automatic to creep you away. If you don't have winter tyres consider it as they transform the car throughout winter.
People with cars like ours IMO see the biggest difference changing to winter tyres

Ours is a manual so 2nd gear is essential for this. Down hill you can almost use engine weight alone.

GolfBravo

BMW sedans and estates usually have weight distribution very close to 50/50 (around 52% front, 48% rear). The current model FWD VW Passat, for example, is around 69% front and 31% rear.

So it's not like a RWD sedan's rear end is completely featherweight and therefore undriveable in snow - you just have to keep this in mind when accelerating, and preferably get a set winter tyres. Even a full tank of fuel (extra weight) would help.

Also a RWD car oversteers under acceleration, and a FWD car understeers, and AWD remains relatively neutral (with a hint of understeer) - and in winter conditions FWD/RWD/AWD vehicle dynamics differences become very apparent.

FWD understeer

RWD oversteer

AWD neutral

fivetide

GolfBravo wrote: »

AWD remains relatively neutral (with a hint of understeer) -

AWD neutral

Not strictly true. Most AWD cars have a bias to the rear. Subaru as an example again are 40/60 and it is very easy to get them to do donuts as I found when asked to leave an otherwise empty car park whilst enjoying this very activity.

The newer ones are deliberately loose on the back to stop them oversteering in normal conditions as most drivers expect understeer. However when the snow comes you can almost drive them sideways and they will spin you round if you assume the awd will sort it all out.

They'll do this out of the box http://youtu.be/nNs4sHFQt84

Cars that have handling quirks are interesting. Pug 205 GTI front drive oversteer anyone?

Twopints

aeb wrote: »

This made me laugh Jackie. I walked round the village today and noticed all the 'mens' cars in the driveways, Mercs, Jags, Lexus, etc. They had all gone to work in their wives cars as they handled the snow better. So all WAGs stuck at home

that's what they told their wives - it'll really be because they don't care if their wives' cars hit / get hit by anything! :beer:

ian103

tberry6686 wrote: »

Sorry Red Eye but that is complete rubbish.

I drive a Jag XJR (RWD 370BHP) with M & S tyres in the winter and have never had a problem with these tyres fitted (been caught out once with the summer Pirellis on) Tyres are normal size for the car so - wide.

I'm up in the NE of Scotland so we normally get more snow than most of the UK.

Driving in this weather is down to 2 things only. Tyres and Driver

couldn't agree more weve had a number of bmws and all have been drivable in snow,all diesel, no slabs in the boot, all driven very gently and in as higher gear as possible. I choose to use the bmw over my avensis 2 years ago as the bmw was easier to drive up the hill, no real problems. OH had a merc c class over the same wintery spell whilst her tax disk was sorted - absolute rubbish stuck on a carpark and struggled to get up our drive, got her bmw back no problems.

I agree this sums it up in my opinion 'Driving in this weather is down to 2 things only. Tyres and Driver' but I'd also add confidence in the car