Rear wheel drive on snow/ice

[MaryPoppins]

The only road out of where I live is a steep hill covered in snow/ice. It's been an absolute nightmare getting out in my old merc auto estate.

I have read that the following could improve traction with RWD. Anyone tried either of these with any success?

a) deflating rear tyres
b) loading the boot eg. with paving stones

Thanks
DR

I haven't driven my BMW since Tues when I tried driving it to work with a v heavy BBQ in the boot, it was still difficult.

My solution is - walking?

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I'll try a combination of turning off traction control, deflating the tyres and loading up the back to see if it makes any difference.

[Alf W]

The only road out of where I live is a steep hill covered in snow/ice. It's been an absolute nightmare getting out in my old merc auto estate.

I have read that the following could improve traction with RWD. Anyone tried either of these with any success?

a) deflating rear tyres
b) loading the boot eg. with paving stones

Thanks
DR

c) get up before the wife and take her 4x4.

[BolshieBastard]

The only road out of where I live is a steep hill covered in snow/ice. It's been an absolute nightmare getting out in my old merc auto estate.

I have read that the following could improve traction with RWD. Anyone tried either of these with any success?

a) deflating rear tyres
b) loading the boot eg. with paving stones

Thanks
DR

Snowchains.

[JoJoGabor]

WHat's so urgent that you have to drive in the snow? Relax, enjoy the pretty whiteness everywhere, don't get stressed out driving in snow, bouncing off parked cars, as somebody did to my car the other day, the stupid mot### f#####!!

[gingerjedi]

I diff lock in FWD cars would solve a lot of problems, I spent an hour chipping away at the ice in front of the offside wheel whilst the nearside had bare grippy tarmac in front.

Dishwasher salt saved the day again.

[VectraMan]

I got my S2000 stuck in the snow on a slight incline last year. Wide rear summer tyres, and perfect weight distribution are not good for snow. The S2000 has a torsen diff which means it'll happily spin one wheel, but you can defeat it by pulling on the handbrake, which does work up to a point.

Weight in the boot supposedly does help, but by doing that you're making your car more oversteery which might not be such a great idea. Letting down the rear tyres might help with traction, but also isn't a good thing to be doing.

It's not RWD, it's weight. Snow is one occasion where you're better off having bad weight distribution: i.e. typical FWD, or Porsche. Any proper RWD car has good balance and so is bad at snow.

[d000hg]

WHat's so urgent that you have to drive in the snow? Relax, enjoy the pretty whiteness everywhere, don't get stressed out driving in snow, bouncing off parked cars, as somebody did to my car the other day, the stupid mot### f#####!!

Getting paid? Hundreds of pounds a day sounds like a 'necessary journey' to me.

[Hugh Jardon]

Get one of these........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUxKdF7BjNE

I drove one for nearly 14 years. It was simply unstoppable on snow and ice, never slid, even on ice for a hill start.....

[Board Game Geek]

Electrical Engineer repair man came to see the neighbour today. (This is starting to sound Wilmslow-esque).

Got down the road ok, which leads to a car park at the end.

When he finished, he tried to get up the hill out of the car park, and his poor van couldn't make it.

He was revving, slipping backwards, speeding forwards, slipping backwards, and I felt sorry for him.

He tried this for nearly 2 hours, until he finally got out.

Personally, I'd have messed about for 10 minutes, then given it up for a bad job. 2 hours seems a long time to get stressed over a bit of snow.