skidding on black ice

[ericher69]

I'm betting those of you who think they can stop faster without the ABS would find out if they did some exact testing, they would find out they can't stop faster without it. When you find yourself sliding and you don't think the ABS helping, it probably because there isn't any traction available and you are driving to fast. Don't blame the ABS for this. Its happened to me before and I can understand the thinking behind it but its wrong.

It is possible IF you know what you are doing and are proficient at it (I don't pretend to be better than ABS)

ABS is for the masses that just get in their cars and drive.

As a teenager I would purposely go out in foul weather with my fathers '79 F150 and experiment in empty parking lots or streets that had no buildings or traffic on them.

Now my first experience with my '96 silverado in a 4x4 skid made me re-evaluate everything I had learned/practiced. What a hopeless feeling.

I recently experienced this again with my '06 sierra (yes overdriving conditions) and I put the transmission in neutral and made slight steering corrections and was able to stay out of the snow bank.

Our yearly emergency vehicle operations driving training teaches us to put the truck in neutral to significantly reduce breaking distance.

Not saying this is the end all be all but is similar to pushing in the clutch; keep your hand on the shifter to pop back into drive quickly if needed.

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[slowzuki]

People have a lot of misunderstandings of 4wd. Those awd's with open diffs and open middle diff drive much better on ice/black ice/freezing rain. A 4wd with no centre diff and even worse one with true lockers in the axles are terrible on ice. The lack of diffs force the tires the slide if you are doing anything but driving straight and on ice that equals less traction for steering and staying on the road.

Once you get into deep snow the true lockup 4wd's are far better of course as all the tires have to turn together.

There are other types of awd as well with computer controlled diffs, viscous lockups etc. Have owned almost every type of 4wd and awd but for driving on ice the basic open centre awd that can technically get stuck with one tire on ice is far better for commuting on ice.

 

[slowzuki]

People have a lot of misunderstandings of 4wd. Those awd's with open diffs and open middle diff drive much better on ice/black ice/freezing rain. A 4wd with no centre diff and even worse one with true lockers in the axles are terrible on ice. The lack of diffs force the tires the slide if you are doing anything but driving straight and on ice that equals less traction for steering and staying on the road.

Once you get into deep snow the true lockup 4wd's are far better of course as all the tires have to turn together.

There are other types of awd as well with computer controlled diffs, viscous lockups etc. Have owned almost every type of 4wd and awd but for driving on ice the basic open centre awd that can technically get stuck with one tire on ice is far better for commuting on ice.

 

[Gator6x4]

Ill wager you wont find a Subaru driver in any of those "displays".
larry

Probably would, if referring to Atlanta. One could have been driving a tank, but when the road becomes clogged with vehicles, there is no where to go. I did see a lot of high dollar all wheel drive vehicles shown on television with people pushing them trying to get them to find traction on the ice.

 

[aczlan]

Probably would, if referring to Atlanta. One could have been driving a tank, but when the road becomes clogged with vehicles, there is no where to go. I did see a lot of high dollar all wheel drive vehicles show on television with people pushing them trying to get them to find traction on the ice.

Yep, and if you have junky worn out all seasons on a Subaru, it will get stuck on ice just as fast as any other vehicle...

Aaron Z

 

[ericher69]

[*]If it is a RWD automatic trans -- find how to drop it to first gear as fast as possible. The drag will generally get you going straight, and slow you down. 2cents:.

Bad advice all around...

1- very dangerous on BLACK ICE as the sudden uncontrolled wheel change speed WILL act like applying the park brake.

2-Probably won't fall into first as automatic transmissions will not fall into a lower gear out of operating limits

3-if it does and you hit a patch of dry pavement it could send you into the rhubarb and destroy your tranny and over rev the engine.

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[Gator6x4]

Some time when you have an hour or so, review this NHTSA article on braking. The article covers dry and wet pavement stops. No snow or ice stops. Conventional drive and four wheel drive were used. The stopping distance was greater on wet pavement than dry so I am sure if snow and ice had been included, the stopping distances for them would have been greater.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/testing/brakes/

 

[k0ua]

4wd is such a misnomer.
Normal: one wheel drive
4wd: two wheel drive
4wd with locking/limited slip rear: 3 wheel drive
AWD: true four wheel drive

do I have that correct?

Been driving my Kubota in the snow a lot this winter (no surprise!) and despite 4wd, have had to step on the diff lock numerous times to get myself though heavy snow with a load on. Need that 3 wheel drive...
Wonder if any tractor is true awd? probably too expensive..

Drew that is an oversimplification. IF traction is equal for each rear tire a 2wd vehicle drives with both rear tires and a 4wd vehicle drives with all 4. If traction is unequal then the sypder gears start to rotate on their jackshafts (1/2 shafts) then the side bevel gear on the axle with the best traction does not receive any power. Some larger tractors do have front locking diff's but I don't know of any CUT size tractors that do. If you have a spinning rear tire, you can also gently step on the spinning wheels brake and cause the other wheel with the good traction to start to pull.

 

[Egon]

Come on folks, we all know the best four on the road system is calked Perchion drive system.

 

[k0ua]

Come on folks, we all know the best four on the road system is calked Perchion drive system.

"true" 4 hoof drive