Reply to: Snow !!

[zeitghost]

That's all well and good until you get hills that are 1 in 8....

[VectraMan]

A bit late I know, but I drove 100 miles to work Thursday morning down the M40 and M25, through all the worst hit area of Oxfordshire, Berks, Bucks, Beds, Surrey and Hampshire and thanks to all the dire warnings to stay at home there were none of the usual jams and I made it half an hour quicker than usual.

More snow please.

[Back In Business]

Not to mention the Finns, Norwegians, Swedes, Russians... etc.

In fact anywhere that copes with feet of snow while Britain grinds to a halt on 3 flakes...

That's because they have 4 to 6 months of snow each year and therefore can legislate the fitting of snow tyres. You can't fit snow tyres for 2 days a year. Not really a fair comparison.

[The Farmer]

Only if the Falklands are in south Wales... (that's old south Wales by the way)

Ahhhh

Mount Pleasent Hill

Not Mt.Pleasent.

Soz

[zeitghost]

You in the Falklands then Zeity??

Mmmmmmmm...........Nice

Only if the Falklands are in south Wales... (that's old south Wales by the way)

[The Farmer]

Unfortunately it's a bit difficult to put the winter tyres on halfway down Mount Pleasant hill... and I sincerely doubt if at any time I exceeded about 0.5mph... quite a wearing experience all in all.

Some fecking grit would have made all the difference.

You in the Falklands then Zeity??

Mmmmmmmm...........Nice

[zeitghost]

AFAIK ABS releases and automatically applies brakes again in case when car skids - solution in abscense of ABS is to manually release and re-apply brake to give chance for wheel to first rotate and then (when brakes applied) start slowing car down in hope it will get some grip, not sure if it helps on ice: ABS or not in current weather the best thing not to drive at all, and if you do then either extremely slow (5 mph) with long distance between cars or just use winter tyres with chains to be sure.

Unfortunately it's a bit difficult to put the winter tyres on halfway down Mount Pleasant hill... and I sincerely doubt if at any time I exceeded about 0.5mph... quite a wearing experience all in all.

Some fecking grit would have made all the difference.

[Churchill]

AFAIK ABS releases and automatically applies brakes again in case when car skids - solution in abscense of ABS is to manually release and re-apply brake to give chance for wheel to first rotate and then (when brakes applied) start slowing car down in hope it will get some grip, not sure if it helps on ice: ABS or not in current weather the best thing not to drive at all, and if you do then either extremely slow (5 mph) with long distance between cars or just use winter tyres with chains to be sure.

Smooth driving and anticipation is your answer, nevermind ABS and Fecking Traction control.

My instructor asked "Does this car have "Traction Control"?

"Yes" I replied.

"What does it do?" asks he.

"It gives you another flashing light to watch as you're about to hit something" was my retort!

[AtW]

So far as I could detect, the ABS only did something when at least one of the wheels was rotating...

AFAIK ABS releases and automatically applies brakes again in case when car skids - solution in abscense of ABS is to manually release and re-apply brake to give chance for wheel to first rotate and then (when brakes applied) start slowing car down in hope it will get some grip, not sure if it helps on ice: ABS or not in current weather the best thing not to drive at all, and if you do then either extremely slow (5 mph) with long distance between cars or just use winter tyres with chains to be sure.

[zeitghost]

So far as I could detect, the ABS only did something when at least one of the wheels was rotating...

With all 4 locked up it was useless.

Plus the disadvantage of no steering at all.

Used the handbrake a lot.

Since it's automatic, putting the fecking thing in drive for more than a second was lethal.

Once on the flat it was ok, but that fecking hill scared the tulip out of me... and I'm not normally nervous.

[Churchill]

Well it snowed in Swansea at last...

Rained this morning, then started snowing about 10a.m.

By 11a.m. Mount Pleasant hill was distinctly dodgy.

By 12 it was gridlocked.

Took me a mere 1 hour to travel about 400 odd yards.

Though it must be said that MP hill is rather steep...

Car was still moving even with all the brakes on.

Never tried cadence braking with antilock brakes before, but when all 4 wheels are stationary with the car still moving it ain't exactly antilocking any more.

2.25 hours to go 11 miles.

Bummer.

Not an ounce (28gms) of grit anywhere.

I did a "Drive Alive" course this week and according to the instructor, "Cadence Braking should never be used to supplement ABS". I told him that I didn't trust ABS.

[zeitghost]

Well it snowed in Swansea at last...

Rained this morning, then started snowing about 10a.m.

By 11a.m. Mount Pleasant hill was distinctly dodgy.

By 12 it was gridlocked.

Took me a mere 1 hour to travel about 400 odd yards.

Though it must be said that MP hill is rather steep...

Car was still moving even with all the brakes on.

Never tried cadence braking with antilock brakes before, but when all 4 wheels are stationary with the car still moving it ain't exactly antilocking any more.

2.25 hours to go 11 miles.

Bummer.

Not an ounce (28gms) of grit anywhere.

[threaded]

Not to mention the Finns, Norwegians, Swedes, Russians... etc.

In fact anywhere that copes with feet of snow while Britain grinds to a halt on 3 flakes...

Don't mention the Danes though, they use exactly the same excuses as the English: 'wrong kind of snow', 'leaves on the line', 'doors jammed by oversized briefcases'. Wonder if they thought up the excuses first, and the English took rather poor translations, or the otherway around...

[ChimpMaster]

More snow in the morning methinks. So another day of working from home

[wendigo100]

The Swiss laugh at us, you know..

I didn't know the Swiss had a sense of humour, although on second thoughts, have you seen a Swiss Guard?