It's just understood Hazell :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazell B
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It's just understood Hazell :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazell B
I'm not saying winter tyres are a waste of money. I think that the problems would be reduced to a greater extent if everyone knew how to drive in the snow properly. Just look at the amount of people who try and set off in first gear spinning the wheels like crazy and revving up the engine. If I was given a pound everytime I saw people using the wrong gears in conditions like these I'd be able to buy all forum members their own set of winter tyres. :p
You'd see the huge difference if you had winter tyres, but you're spot on when you say driving skills are the first (and biggest) step to getting about in ice or snow. Skill has to be 70% of it, tyres the rest I guess.Quote:
Originally Posted by GridGirl
Not saying I'm a skillful driver more than anyone else, it's just that I had motorbikes and horses for years, so I just know the surface dangers better after being so exposed to danger before driving a large tin box. If I hadn't learned fast on bikes, I'd have a few more scars than I do now :p : The horses in snow taught me to easily feel packed snow to ice, etc, as horses make very tough stilts under their hooves in snow - then simply fall over! My mare did it today just in the field. Bloody funny when you're watching, not so funny when you're under them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Not by me, it isn't.
I was talking about dunces in the town where I live and York, actually.
People definitely need more knowledge of snow driving. The road outside my flat was gridlocked all day - perfectly clear but full of people in first gear using a billion revs to get nowhere. Going to be great tomorrow when it hasn't been gritted :s
I think both are important, every year the first situations comes always as surprise.Quote:
Originally Posted by GridGirl
Winter tyres would really be usefull in the uk because we have had snow for over 3 weeks snow.
So spend a few hundred quid for tires that may not see snow for the next two winters.....there is the quandary. Hey, I thought global warming was going to make snowfall in the UK and Western Europe a moot point?Quote:
Originally Posted by Langdale Forest
The big problem is that almost all two wheel-drive cars are useless in the snow.
Equally there are those with 4wd that think they are invincible. After all, having a 4wd won't help you stop any better. One of my mates got a Range Rover on Saturday. I fully expect him to prang it before the snow melts purely because I think it will go to his head.
BS. I live in a nation with winters WORSE than you lot deal with and I drove an Rx-7 with all season tires for 5 years and only got stuck once.....Quote:
Originally Posted by Langdale Forest
Having a 4x4 doesn't help you stop, but having the right tyres on does ;)
Ask the new Range Rover driver where his button is to make it 4 wheel drive. It's hillarious watching them look for it that first time ......
Range Rovers are always 4 wheel drive.
The Range Rover in question was purchased off my mates dad. It's never seen anything but city traffic and motorways. I don't expect it will have the right tyres on it Hazel but you can always live in hope. :)
Range Rovers are probably one of the best 4x4s in the world, as well as a luxury car.
That's the thing Mark, Canada is fully prepared for snow, whereas the UK isn't and definitely not my part.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa
This year was the first time i've ever driven on snow or ice and I had no idea what it was like. If snowy and ice cold winters are the future and not just a one off, then people will have to start thinking about all weather tyres and how to deal with the snow and ice and the authorities will have to think about planning better for snow. For example some a$$hole was tailgating me on an icy country lane, if I crash you'll crash into me, moron.
People snipe at 4x4s in the UK. This can lead to 'extreme' personal attacks.
That's the point :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Langdale Forest
Thing is, loads of people who buy them then spend ages looking for the button or switch to 4x4. The other day a friend came to my yard in stitches as my partner's boss had just brought him a Freelander to fix. It seems he thought it had been made wrong, as it had no gear stick for getting in to four wheel drive. He'd owned it three months ......
Also, my MOT man tested my brakes like a two wheel drive (and shockingly they passed!) on a rolling road with the hand brake on TWO YEARS RUNNING. He's never gotten to grips with some vehicles being just 4, never 2, wheel drive.
Freelanders are good cars. Good MPG and low Co2.
But Mark, that's not the point. It's not as if whilst the winter tyres are on the summer tyres are decaying somewhere AND even if it never snows there's still the added bonus of the extra grip in the cooler weather that winter tyres give. Who on here would argue that more grip is bad?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa
:laugh: You're a cruel woman Hazell :p You're very right about 4wd's not stopping any better than 2wd cars too, problem is it lulls the unsuspecting idiot (who should be better educated I might add!) into thinking the car has more grip which simply isn't trueQuote:
Originally Posted by Hazell B
This is only my second winter of driving where we have had snow and ice. Because of my inexperience I decided to do some small tests on a quiet car park near my house and I found it quite alarming how little stopping grip you have. It's just a pedal full of ABS. If only the jerk in the white van who was tailgating me this morning knew this! :mad:
The amount of people in first gear and revving away is simply unbelievable.
Jon, just remember give lots of room, and be gentle with every change in momentum. That is braking, accelerating and turning. Also, don't be afraid to to get sideways. It is too bad ABS interferes with left foot braking on ice. I have used it more than once to get the tail of the car to come around to point me in a direction more useful.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brown, Jon Brow
It just creates ice, but people here never seem to get that either, and we get enough snow you would think they would know better.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
better to use scandinavian flicks instead of lfb.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa
Not only do 4 wheel drive not stop any better but they don't turn any better.
I think I have mentioned it before but up here in Ont. snow belt most people do know how to drive in the snow, no matter wether it is 4 wheel drive or two. Engine over drive wheels usually gives a little better traction for starting in snow and on hills.
What we do get are thousands of people from the GTA, where they do not get that much white stuff, coming skiing and snowmobiling every weekend. They tend to crash more often and compared to the number of 4 wheel drive on the road a far larger percentage end up crashing.
By no means are all drivers from southern Ont. poor in the snow but many are.
My ex grew up in Toronto and she was the Ont. Ice Racing champ one year!
By the way we have had one day since Christmas when it didn't snow.
I really should replace my 3/4 warn all weather tires.
There was a report on the news tonight that said this might be the worst winter in 100 years in the UK. I'm not sure if they meant temperatures or snow fall or both. So what's it like over there?
I defer to you on that Tomi, but with front wheel drive cars when I Ice raced, it was the way I could get the tail out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomi
Drifter, I am one of those silly people that used to come up there a bit. Now I am over by Coboconk on the weekends.....and it isn't quite that bad over there. I have managed so far with all seasons, but then again, If I lived up there, I would have the snows....Quote:
Originally Posted by Easy Drifter
Quite bad near the North York Moors. roads over the high ground closed/inpassible snow has been around for over 3 weeks now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jag_Warrior
Just before christmas the temperature was -8c.
If you have freezing temperatures, you should have winter tires. Driving with summer tires in icy conditions is just plain stupid. Over here people use studded tires and it's amazing how well the traffic flows even in snowfall. That's why it's always a bit amusing to see pictures from the US or UK where everything stops because there is snow on the roads.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic
I've just come from B&Q (stocking up on gravel and sand). At 8am the car park was an irresistable blank canvas - not that I condone handbrake or J-turns you understand ;)
On the way I must have seen at least a dozen cars with no lights on, many more with ice and snow covering the lights, and a good handful where the driver had cleared their front windscreen and nothing else. And that's before we even get started on driving standards...
When it snowed last February my brother heard his car alarm going off and looked out the window to find a neighbour had reversed down the street not having cleared her rear windscreen and had eventually managed to reverse into his car. It was a good job it was a woman. I think my brother may have punched a bloke because he was so mad.
I just don't get people sometimes :crazy:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Brockman
We've got the headlights on permanently on both of our cars regardless of whether it's winter or summer.
I once rented a car in Spain and was stopped by the police because I had the lights on in daylight :) . Over here cars have lights on automatically and it's an offence to not have them on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Yeah I remember from my two trips to Finland for the rally :)Quote:
Originally Posted by DexDexter
I drive with my lights on all the time here as well and my car also has DRL's on it and the amount of people who flash you to tell you either that you've got your lights on or your foglights is annoying.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~fenix1983/Files/DRL.jpg
To all the Finnish persons on here "Can you still get KOMETA TYRES" We used to have them for the Hankki Rally
If so can you get me the address as I lost my Kometa tyres hat,and would love another
Took me three and a half hours to get to work this morning. Usually takes around 90 minutes.
Crawling along in Lane 1 at 30mph was slow enough, but then the A1 was closed at Scotch Corner, which didn't help matters!
I think you still can get "kometa" or "tikka" studds, but they are not the same they used to be, only the center is hard steel anymore the rest aluminium, when was you here? Its sad but Hankiralli is not the same it used to be either, mainly because of mild winters lately.Quote:
Originally Posted by driveace
Of course you should have winter snow tires if there is snow!
It is not expensive, since your summer tires will last much longer before needing replacement.
You are much less likely to cause an accident, and I am sure everyone has a $250 or $500 or more insurance deductible.
I swap out my wife's tires at the first whiff of winter, and she definitely feels much more secure about it.
There's no stopping the march of the idiots, though, no matter where you live!