Southern drivers in the snow!

Man of Honour
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So I did a 30 mile round trip to work yesterday without a hitch until I got 100 yards from my house. The snow in the car park had been compacted and was like a skating rink. I got into the car park using the momentum I had but trying to reverse was completely futile.

I whipped out two bath towels and stuck them under the back wheels. This worked a treat for a couple of goes but the towels soon became saturated with compacted snow and lost their effectiveness. I'm all out of towels that the wife will let me destroy and I'm wondering what else I could use. Would cardboard have the desired effect?
 
Soldato
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So I did a 30 mile round trip to work yesterday without a hitch until I got 100 yards from my house. The snow in the car park had been compacted and was like a skating rink. I got into the car park using the momentum I had but trying to reverse was completely futile.

I whipped out two bath towels and stuck them under the back wheels. This worked a treat for a couple of goes but the towels soon became saturated with compacted snow and lost their effectiveness. I'm all out of towels that the wife will let me destroy and I'm wondering what else I could use. Would cardboard have the desired effect?

A bit of old carpet if you can get hold of enough.
 
Soldato
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So I did a 30 mile round trip to work yesterday without a hitch until I got 100 yards from my house. The snow in the car park had been compacted and was like a skating rink. I got into the car park using the momentum I had but trying to reverse was completely futile.

I whipped out two bath towels and stuck them under the back wheels. This worked a treat for a couple of goes but the towels soon became saturated with compacted snow and lost their effectiveness. I'm all out of towels that the wife will let me destroy and I'm wondering what else I could use. Would cardboard have the desired effect?

Err, why don't you get a bag of sand ?, you won't even have to pick it up or wash it :D
 
Soldato
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Grit. Got stuck 3 times today, and grit got me out of trouble 100% of the time. Twice I didn't even clear the ice in front of the rear wheels, just chucked a generous helping of grit down :)
 
Soldato
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Just been to the park. To get there you have to cross four main roads, two of which had zebra crossings.

At both zebras, going there and back, at least one car at each zebra carried on steaming past as we stood there

Only the degenerate retarded population of Essex could be so ignorant
 
Soldato
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Just been to the park. To get there you have to cross four main roads, two of which had zebra crossings.

At both zebras, going there and back, at least one car at each zebra carried on steaming past as we stood there

Only the degenerate retarded population of Essex could be so ignorant

You should see the essex folk of Clacton-on-sea. Most have no concept of how a roundabout works and which lane you should be in!

'Going off on the 3rd exit, past 12 o'clock on the roundabout, I know...I'll use the outside lane all the way around!'

Everytime I go there, without fail. I refuse to follow the crowd, and always do it properly.
 
Soldato
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There is a roundabout very local to me where the layout changed about two years ago.

Imagine one entry has three lanes, lanes one and two of which you can use to take the second exit. With the local population all being mentally defective, they all struggle with the exit because it immediately goes from two lanes to one.

Walked past there today and there are still people cutting eachother up (albeit at 15mph not 30mph)

The thing is, the Police do nothing about this sort of driving, in fact it is not uncommon to see the Police themselves driving like it.

But woe betide anyone who speeds :S
 
Soldato
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You should see the essex folk of Clacton-on-sea. Most have no concept of how a roundabout works and which lane you should be in!

'Going off on the 3rd exit, past 12 o'clock on the roundabout, I know...I'll use the outside lane all the way around!'

Everytime I go there, without fail. I refuse to follow the crowd, and always do it properly.

That applies to nearly any roundabout in Basildon, and yes, they do it in front of Police too
 
Soldato
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My E36 M3 has ABS only and i really like the ABS, its a godsend

As for more fun without, it keeps you on your toes, you cant fully relax and just be complacent (well, i dont have to skills too)
 

mjt

mjt

Soldato
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Went for a proper drive today in my mum's GTI and I found it much easier to handle without the TCS as it cuts in too early.

Much easier to have fun without the ESP, but it saved me a few times from sliding off into a field when carrying too much speed. I must remember that winter tyres won't stop me sliding off a slippery road!

The main problem I encountered were people dawdling along at 10mph on an NSL road, and morons without lights. It's snowing, you're driving along country roads in a white car and YOU HAVE NO ****ING LIGHTS :mad:

Having now driven 4WD, RWD and now FWD in snow, I'd (obviously) take 4WD every time, but I think I prefer RWD to FWD..
 
Associate
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All the talk of ESP. How many people have cars with none of these driver aids? It's more fun without.

I've been driving the MG in the snow :D no servo's, electronic gizmo's or whatever. Just some skinny tyres, direct rack and pinion steering plus plenty of concentration and it's loads of fun :p
 
Soldato
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Got to say I think FWD is best for the lolz in snowy conditions. Never get stuck, and can hold stupid skids for as long as you want.
Rear drive you get stuck all the time, and holding a silly angle slide involves constantly switching power, handbrake and clutching.
AWD best for actually getting places no doubt about it.

As for ESP, I'm used to driving without it so I find it off-putting and end up turning it off, open diffs are the work of the devil too.
 

mjt

mjt

Soldato
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Got to say I think FWD is best for the lolz in snowy conditions. Never get stuck, and can hold stupid skids for as long as you want.
Rear drive you get stuck all the time, and holding a silly angle slide involves constantly switching power, handbrake and clutching.
AWD best for actually getting places no doubt about it.

You could do donuts and four wheel drifts all day long in my Leon, and never worry about getting stuck.
Tried doing donuts in a supermarket car park with my Z3 and almost got stuck in a few inches of snow!

I've done the same in an E60 with winter tyres and was drifting roundabouts at 5am for ages. RWD with winter tyres = win.
 
Soldato
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On my way back from Birmingham on Friday what surprised me the most was the amount o people who were breaking down.
It's hardly artic conditions, the lowest it got on Friday during the day was around -2, yet the way back was littered with cars of all types getting recovered.
 
Soldato
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On my way home on Friday it was nearly grid-locked in Leicester because of the snow.

I did see something funny though, a lady in a Mercedes (presumably automatic and left in D) with her front wheels locked and rears spinning. She was all over the place and everyone was keeping well out of the way. I don't think she had a clue that she was making the front and rear wheels work against each other.
 
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