Driving in snow

[LINUS]

I'm with Josh - If you can't get your car going in the first place, who cares about how well you can brake & turn?

asu's article is an ad selling snow tires to Canucks, but he's from the South (& attending school in AZ?!?). Driving in snow is theoretical in his world.

Sandbagging works - Just don't be an idiot & run around on worn out tires thinking sandbags will take you over a mountain pass.I agree that good snow tires are a worthwhile investment, but that article is fear-instilling crap meant to sell rires.

[TwoJ's]

Sure, that article may be aimed at selling tires, but it is absolutely and indisputably correct. Who cares if you can get traction to start the car if you are sacrificing braking and turning power. If you can't get the car to go without sandbags, you shouldn't be driving it in the snow. Period.

This is the stuff you learn in high school physics class man...

[TwoJ's]

And don't get me wrong here, the sandbag method may "work" for some people. But that it just chance. Driving on public roads comes with the risk of some dumb ass doing something to put you in danger. This danger is amplified greatly when it snows. Many people do not understand how to drive in the snow. You will be fine with a ton of weight in your trunk if you drive cautiously and leave plenty of room for stopping. But the fact is that you don't always have a bunch of room to stop. Say some ass hat pulls out in front of you. You are really going to wish that you didn't have a bunch of extra weight and that you hadn't skimped on good winter tires.

Josh, I would really reconsider sending your wife off with an ass-heavy car with no snow tires.

[sticksdaman]

wouldnt it be the same as having a passenger or two?

[TwoJ's]

No. When you have passengers, they sit in front of the rear wheels. They would make you handle worse as well, but not as bad. I suppose you could put the weight as far forward in the trunk as possible, but then what if you've got 4 people in the car? What, like 300 lbs in the back seat plus however much you put in the trunk. That would increase inertia a lot.

[asubimmer]

I'm with Josh - If you can't get your car going in the first place, who cares about how well you can brake & turn?

asu's article is an ad selling snow tires to Canucks, but he's from the South (& attending school in AZ?!?). Driving in snow is theoretical in his world.

Sandbagging works - Just don't be an idiot & run around on worn out tires thinking sandbags will take you over a mountain pass.I agree that good snow tires are a worthwhile investment, but that article is fear-instilling crap meant to sell rires.

really my sig says I'm in nc....

[Maluco]

Don't know much about driving in snow but I've heard of a chick in a stock Civic with snow tires that beat quite a few guys on the track.... lol

[jeckel30]

Buy some snow tires so you don't end up like this.

[AppState325]

adding weight over the drivetrain wheels does NOT help. If that was the case, my MR2 would be a better car for the snow than my BMW.......and that is not nearly the case

[TwoJ's]

Yeah, it's pretty clear that weight in the rear of the car is definetly not the way to go. Proper snow tires will do the trick fine, so just man up and buy 'em. It's cheap insurance.

[cholyoke]

Adding weight in the trunk increases the normal stress (perpendicular to the road). That does not change the coefficient of friction (a constant which is material dependent), but increases the shear stress necessary to cause slip. Which is why additional weight helps.

If your tire is not slipping, the friction between it and the road is stationary friction (i.e. not sliding friction), that relationship is defined:
Ff(friction force) is < or = u(coefficient of friction, a constant) * Fn(normal forces)

So the more junk in the trunk, the greater the friction force. This relationship is why mustangs fishtail like crazy (big engine + light back end). Yay physics!

I've had no problems with all seasons in snow in rear wheel drive cars. Just don't act like it is a dry summer day.

[Mastrcruse]

One thing you have to pay attention to is 90&#37; of the retards driving have never drove a RWD car. Things have helped me through the winter.

If it snows outside trust your ablility to drive but dont' count on it. Don't drive like a fucking idiot, you go as fast as YOU want.
If I am doing 20mph and another guy is doing 40 but I feel good doing 20 DO IT!
Put weight in the rear, I dont' care what some people say, it helps. Get good winter tires.
Don't take corners at retarded speeds, if you feel like you might slip out..why risk it?
E30's are fun to drive especially in the summer so why not just stop driving it like a race car for 2 months until the snow is gone completely, at least you'll have one.
Oo...and trust NO ONE on the road, only others in E30s

[TwoJ's]

Adding weight in the trunk increases the normal stress (perpendicular to the road). That does not change the coefficient of friction (a constant which is material dependent), but increases the shear stress necessary to cause slip. Which is why additional weight helps.

If your tire is not slipping, the friction between it and the road is stationary friction (i.e. not sliding friction), that relationship is defined:
Ff(friction force) is < or = u(coefficient of friction, a constant) * Fn(normal forces)

So the more junk in the trunk, the greater the friction force. This relationship is why mustangs fishtail like crazy (big engine + light back end). Yay physics!

I've had no problems with all seasons in snow in rear wheel drive cars. Just don't act like it is a dry summer day.

This is all true, but when you are talking about added mass increasing the frictional force, you are talking about the force that is parallel with the motion of the tire, not perpendicular. What you are talking about is the parallel component of the frictional force. When there is added weight in the trunk, and the car is turning, the added inertia of the back of the car will be greater than the frictional force perpendicular to the car and the ass end will slide out.

And I agree, yay physics. I just had a test today, and the main topic we are doing now is uniform and non-uniform circular motion.

[backtrail69]

I just had a physics test yesterday.. Relativity, microscopes, telescopes and light through single or multiple slits. Only two more weeks of it and I am done with the series. WOO WOO!

[mudflaps]

aside from the physics lesson going on in here, arent tire chains illegal?