Will nobbly tyres allow me to grip better on these?

GervisLooper

Goudy said:

Another tip is start up in gear.
I know this sounds brutal but put the car in the lowest gear, take the handbrake off, foot off the brake and crank the starter with the clutch up.
This helps by not overcoming the driven wheels with too much torque setting off.
Diesels are particularly good at this, yes they'll jump and shudder firing up but they tend to chug along without throttle input once fired up and you should creep along, but you really need to be in the lowest gear possible for this.
It's also a neat trick if you get stuck halfway up and need to come back down under some control.

I had read about that trick recently but not in this context. Forgot why I was just reading about what would happen if you start it while in gear I think I found out people do it for various reasons such as if the clutch is broken.

Would it be bad for the vehicle at all or just look and feel ugly?

Also would doing that also overcome the open differential similar to the other suggestion of stabbing the brakes while accelerating? If so it would certainly be easier to achieve that trying to hit the brake while also having the foot on clutch and accelerator, which I don't see how it could be done since on a hill it would just stall probably wouldn't it?

Maybe there is a simple way around that but I have not done any of this kind of driving hacking to be familiar with what one can achieve outside the normal driving behaviour.

photome

Arunmor said:

This is becoming a dark matter.

Maybe a pic of custard on the dash stranded on the slope would help

Goudy

It's not great on the starter motor or battery or clutch plate springs come to that, but it can get you out of a difficult situation.
If you can't increase grip, try not to overcome what grip you might have with too much torque.

I've got myself off wet boggy grass like this, just gone straight for it before attempting a normal start which would have likely dug big holes with the wheels.

This was one of the tricks Land Rover suggested years ago on their more simpler machines though they usually had low range boxes and it worked a treat.


The brake thing isn't something you could make use of, particularly in a manual.
In say an auto, you might set the rpm with you right foot and modulate your speed and torque delivery with the brake pedal and your left foot but with either you can't brake the individual wheel that's spinning away.

Some modern 4x4 systems utilise the ABS and traction control to automatically and individually grip the spinning wheel, thus sending the torque to the other on that axle. It won't do that all the time, you have to select that setting.

A trials car would have fiddle brakes. Two levers inside the car each brake lever is attached to a different driven wheel and by pulling the one that's spinning, it would cause torque to be sent to the other.

These systems work, sort of. Though it's an after reaction, you already lost grip on one wheel before the system kicks in and there's no guarantee that other wheel has grip. 
Ideally you want to prevent loss of grip before it happens, then have the aids when you do start to lose grip.

You don't tend to find much of these systems on road bias vehicles.
Yes some more dedicated 4x4's have them but used incorrectly (ie on the road) that they can cause some expensive damage to the driveline.

Road bias 4x4s don't tend to have these systems and their 4x4 systems aren't designed for much off road action.
They are meant to put lots of power down on a fairly grippy surface unlike an off road 4x4 that puts power down on a grippy surface but can also be altered to do the same on a slippy surface.

paul_c123

The "braking while driving" DOES work, but its very marginal improvement and very difficult to do in a manual. You'd effectively have to start it off, once you're in gear and not pressing clutch the wheels are probably spinning, then use left foot on the brake while trying different levels of power with the right foot. Overdo the brake and you'll stall. Overdo the throttle and you'll spin the wheels more. Get it right and the spinning wheel slows enough, at the same time the non-spinning wheel gets enough power to overcome the brakes and provide some traction.

But yes, essentially, if the matting hasn't worked then you're in the wrong vehicle. Change the vehicle or build a road.