SatNav mis-use

Lum

It's not exactly the answer to driving in ANY adverse conditions.

There comes a point, at least where I am, that your car simply wont get up some of the hills, even with AWD, snow mode enabled on the autobox and sensible driving.

I used to have a co-worker who had that attitude, every possible adverse driving situation could be solved by simply driving to the conditions. He doesn't mention it so much any more after I had to give him a lift home last year as he couldn't get up the hill out of the car park after a sudden afternoon snowfall. (and no he wasn't spinning his wheels polishing the snow either, he is actually a good driver, problem was that the easiest route out of the car park had an abandoned Transit van blocking it.

Gloomendoom

Lum wrote: »

Low profile winters are fine, just expensive. You might save money by buying smaller wheels to put your next set of winters onto, assuming that smaller wheels will clear your brakes.

Good point. The choice dwindles drastically as rim size increases. The tyres were a lucky find on eBay. The seller had, in error, bought tyres an inch larger than the wheels on his car.

Peater

Lum wrote: »

Perhaps the people driving as if it's normal conditions in the snow are the ones who planned ahead and bought winter tyres. I know my AWD car with winters fitted has been good for around 60-65mph in the light dusting of snow that south Wales got this yea...............

That's all well and good, but if you don't take into account the other road users who haven't then you are going to end up in a prang.The next time i see a 4wd tailgating someone in the snow/ice, i will have to try and stop myself 'removing' them off the road.

And i don't care what tyres you have on, none of them will stop you on ice.

Gloomendoom

Peater wrote: »

And i don't care what tyres you have on, none of them will stop you on ice.

Based on experience, that isn't necessarily true.

Peater

i hope you are refering to studs?

steve-L

Lum wrote: »

It's not exactly the answer to driving in ANY adverse conditions.

There comes a point, at least where I am, that your car simply wont get up some of the hills, even with AWD, snow mode enabled on the autobox and sensible driving.

I have yet to find a hill on a classified road I couldn't get up in my Old FWD PUG with snow tyres on. Although illegal in the UK (on roads) real studded tyres will take a car up or down black ice at 45 degrees.

The only time I really ever had a problem was when the snow came over the bonnet and obscured vision with a 1000' vertical drop on one side and sheer cliff on the other....

I have driven extensively in both Norway and Canada in the winters and never found a road couldn't be safely navigated so long as the snow didn't bury the car.

Peater wrote:

And i don't care what tyres you have on, none of them will stop you on ice.

Absolutely not true. If understandable if you didn't try.

After getting my first winter wheels in Norway I took the advice of a colleague and we went to a lake and drove around it to familiarise myself with the new wheel/tyre combination.

You can stop at an alarmingly quick rate, I learned the lesson he was teaching me .... that was don't slam on and let ABS slow you as fast as possible unless its an emergency stop.... you will stop a LOT LOT faster than you thought possible.

Peater

I take your point. But in the UK where extreme freezes are uncommon, the vast vast majority of drivers have never had such experience/have forgotten the last time. Thus, when faced with the back of a car coming towards them, the most likely reaction will be to slam on hard. Then it's all down to interia, which ironically is more in a 4x4/SUV. While i recommend the use of winter tyres, i think they often breed a false confidence.

btw - i have raced and rallied on various surfaces, so have a fair idea of vehicle dynamics. Admittedly, only snow experience is in the UK (& a mountain pass in Turkey in hire car with bald tyres....) and messing around on all-weather tyres/off-road vehicles.

Lum

steve-L wrote: »

I have yet to find a hill on a classified road I couldn't get up in my Old FWD PUG with snow tyres on. Although illegal in the UK (on roads) real studded tyres will take a car up or down black ice at 45 degrees.

That was kind of my point. I bet you wouldn't have been able to do that in your Pug if it had Linglong Summer Ditchfinders fitted.

That said older lighter FWD cars with narrower tyres do fare better in the snow, on summers, then newer, heavier wide tyre cars.

cardinalbiggles

Peater wrote: »

I take your point. But in the UK where extreme freezes are uncommon.

Are they? Its pretty common here and I am in the UK.

Beachview_2

I got a set of winter tyres fitted this year, and I've really noticed the difference. Not just on snow and ice, but even when there's surface water.

As for the sat navs, I've got a built in one, it's great. I'm sure it cost more but its worth it. I didn't want messy wires trailing over the dash and over the heater. I didn't want to have to keep taking a bracket off the windscreen and wipe the glass. I was on the Halfords website and saw their photo which showed a man with the sat nav stuck on the windscreen, right in front of his face. That was a right turn off. Its such an obstruction to a driver's vision.