Are We Ready For The SNOW

[Brian WH]

The forecast for next week is a worry.

Are we all ready for the BIG FREEZE and SNOW?

At the ready - Boots,antifreeze,de-icer, blankets etc????

Scotland looks the worst and the coasts of England and Wales.

BE PREPARED, don't get caught out and "Stranded". Remember the M11 debacle last year?

 

[Philirv]

Hi Brian,

We could all be prepared but if the council forgets to salt and grit the roads then we'll all be knackered again

I think I'll throw a sickie for the week instead

Rgds
Phil

 

[Shude]

We could all be prepared but if the council forgets to salt and grit the roads then we'll all be knackered again

The gritters drove past me last February as the truck dragged my destroyed car out of a field. Good ol' gritters eh? It took two cars spinning off the road and several potential accidents before the police rang the highways agency and told them to grit the road!

 

[Sp!ke]

I just ride the bike when its snowy - makes things 'interesing'.

 

[Steve_Perry]

Maybe someone should put the animated snow back on the main forum page

S.

 

[pluggers]

Im not looking forward to next week at all.We should have had new windows upstairs fitted 2 weeks ago.But they rang me up and cancelled and made a new appointment for ........next week.......

 

[andy_k]

we are thoroughly prepared for the snow

1, fridge full of beer
2, central heating turned up
3, alarm clock switched off



Andy

 

[jimmy]

Tomorrows jobs:

Lower tyre pressures.
Fill boot with something heavy.
Check the oil and water in the tractor!

 

[ChrissyBoy]

My old 330ci was appalling in the snow. Traction control or not, I couldn't even reverse it off my drive if there was more than a smattering. Can anyone comment on how the W211 behaves in the snow? Or are all RWD cars a dead loss? (apart from the joy of playing Starsky and hutch on an empty car park of course ;-))

 

[lotusmark2]

Main Job for me and the wife today is to Zymol the car front to back to keep the salt and road crud off the paintwork during the next week or so.

 

[Brian WH]

My old 330ci was appalling in the snow. Traction control or not, I couldn't even reverse it off my drive if there was more than a smattering. Can anyone comment on how the W211 behaves in the snow? Or are all RWD cars a dead loss? (apart from the joy of playing Starsky and hutch on an empty car park of course ;-))

W211 in the Snow? Not too good mate, as you say RWD isn't ideal with summer tyres. As Jimmy said, heavy items in the boot help grip.

 

[Philirv]

I'd imagine that the W124 series are just as bad on snow. Even in the wet,traction is problematic, and the car oversteers a lot.

I'll have to put in a few bags of sand in the back.

Maybe a sickie is the safest option after all ?

 

[RichardM]

I had a terrible time last Jan in the snow, I couldn't get up the slightest hill in this car. Went to the gym just as it started snowing, left about 3 hours later and couldn't pull out of the car park, took 4 people pushing to eventually move. Other front wheel drive cars had no problems.

I got back from Berlin last night, now that was cold! Low of -11, high of -5. Had a good chat with a taxi driver on the way back to the airport (made sure I got in a W211 taxi). It was a E200cdi, he couldn't believe we don't switch to winter tyres here, he made a comment that the would be useless in the ice! He also said his insurance wouldn't pay up if he had an accident and they found he had summer tyres on.

Off topic but he'd done 100K Kms in the car in a year and said he hadn't had a single problem with the car. He got the car on a 5 year finance/maintanance deal, that will have a lot of miles on it when it goes back!

 

[vito113]

…it's down to cost mate

It was a E200cdi, he couldn't believe we don't switch to winter tyres here, he made a comment that the would be useless in the ice! He also said his insurance wouldn't pay up if he had an accident and they found he had summer tyres on.!

Unfortunately it's down to cost. I've just replaced the M&S rated Pirellis (after 78k miles!) on my V with summer Continentals, because of cost. The continentals were £52 Pirellis were £98

I looked into keeping a spare set of winter tyres and I was quoted £25 each for M&S tyres (Colways) then you would need a spare set of steel rims £10 each from the scrappy, somewere to store them, and then sod's law being Britain it would not snow for 5 years! But there again I won't have to worry now as my wife has just bought a Honda 4x4 ;-p

Andy

 

[PJH]

...., he couldn't believe we don't switch to winter tyres here, he made a comment that the would be useless in the ice! He also said his insurance wouldn't pay up if he had an accident and they found he had summer tyres on.

The problem in the UK is that our winter weather isn't bad enough OFTEN enough. After all more often than not we don't get any snow.
This also means that we don't get enough practice driving on snow and ice.

UK motorists still can't win.!!


Also, I had a MOMENT one icy morning a couple of weeks ago.
Had to brake on a country lane which is less than 2 cars wide.
The brake pedal pulsed as the ABS cut in and the car remained straight, but didn't slow down that much, little more than engine braking.
I think every town should have a skid-pan and make skid training part of the road test.

 

[Kinky]

Well there's no fear of icy roads round here.

I was out last night and witnessed not 1 but 2 gritter lorries about 2 mins after each other gritting away on the same road.

Needless to say I also got gritted twice

K

 

[Steve_Perry]

I think every town should have a skid-pan and make skid training part of the road test.

One week to go to Castle Coombe

S.

 

[Flyer]

One week to go to Castle Coombe

S.

And three places still up for grabs!

 

[Philirv]

Looks like the the South-East has gotten away with the snow so far this week although it has been reported in the news that North England, Scotland and Eastern counties have been hit. So far, I didn't get a chance to pull a sickie yet ...

How's the road conditions in other parts of the country ? ?

Cheers,

Phil

 

[lotusmark2]

How's the road conditions in other parts of the country ? ?

Phil

In the North West and not flake in sight