Share a winter tip

[219]

Don't forget your insurance company won't pay out if you leave your keys in the car with the engine running, whilst you are in the house waiting for it to warm up / defrost.

With my Triumph Herald , you could start the engine , then take the key out without stopping it , and retire back into the house .

 

[paulyV6]

More of a question than a tip.....

My old man reckons you should put some weight in the boot of a rear wheel drive car to improve traction in the ice / snow. He then went on to suggest paving slabs - but unfortunately I don't have any of them spare. I think the mrs would go banzai if I started ripping up the patio.

So - 1) would it work and 2) how much weight would be required for it to be of any use?

I've got some metal bar bell weight plates in the garage that I'm not currently using.

 

[Sp!ke]

Buy a couple of bags of sand... this way, in addition to the extra ballast, if you get really stuck you can scatter the sand on the snow to get traction.

Putting weight *behind* the rear wheels of a car in icy conditions may not be such a wise thing to do however.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Stay indoors!

 

[martin_a]

winter tips?

Ranulph Fiennes' fingers?

Regarding the hot water on the windcreen - you do still need it (the windcreen) to warm up. I have had the new water simply re-freeze on the window before now.

 

[portal_96]

More of a question than a tip.....

My old man reckons you should put some weight in the boot of a rear wheel drive car to improve traction in the ice / snow. He then went on to suggest paving slabs - but unfortunately I don't have any of them spare. I think the mrs would go banzai if I started ripping up the patio.

So - 1) would it work and 2) how much weight would be required for it to be of any use?

I've got some metal bar bell weight plates in the garage that I'm not currently using.

I knew somebody that tried this a couple of years ago. It worked well until they needed to stop.

 

[LTD]

Regarding the hot water on the windcreen - you do still need it (the windcreen) to warm up. I have had the new water simply re-freeze on the window before now.

Which is why I worked out that using convection to thaw the ice is the best way. Whiteouts from ice aren't fun .....

 

[V12]

I threw a saucepan of boiling water over the old montegos windscreen that we used to run around in when I worked at the film studios.

Needless to say , it didn't have a windscreen for very long after that ( maybe 0.2 sec )

Was cold the rest of that winter at Leavesden

At least you didn't have to scrape it every morning after!

 

[paulyV6]

I knew somebody that tried this a couple of years ago. It worked well until they needed to stop.

Surely no different stopping wise to having a car full of people though?

 

[Sp!ke]

Surely no different stopping wise to having a car full of people though?

people dont sit aft of the rear axle.

 

[paulyV6]

people dont sit aft of the rear axle.

Ah I understand, but the boot on the CLK should mean I could put the weight plates directly over the rear wheels.....

 

[trapperjohn]

Got a diesel. If its really cold cycle it twice through the glow plug cycle - fires up first time every time.

Thank you Ian Walker for that tip.

 

[mejermy]

I prefer RWD always, and, since the weight transfer of any car moving off is rearwards, it makes more sense for improved initial traction. Less weight over those wheels than a FWD though, as already mentioned, so I fill the boot with sacks of coal, which we will use anyway, and will come in next winter if surplus. The old 2WD tractors always had their tractor weights to balance front loaders hanging way behind off the 3 point linkage.

 

[Bellow]

Ah I understand, but the boot on the CLK should mean I could put the weight plates directly over the rear wheels.....

Anywhere behind the centre of gravity will suffice (approx mid wheelbase). The further rearward the more it will weight the rear tyres.
If it (the car not wheels) starts to spin though it will take more catching and adding weight rarely helps stopping.
Get winter tyres and none of the above will be necessary.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Don't eat yellow snow!

Or better still, watch out where the huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow.
Don't let a fur trapper anywhere near your favourite baby seal.

For full details see Frank Zappa - Nanook rubs it. An bit of which follows:

He went right upside the head of my favorite baby sea lhe went "whap" with a lead-filled snowshoe, andhe hit him on the nose and hit him on the fin, and that got me just about as evil as an eskimo boy can be. So I bent downand I reached down, and I scooped down and I gathered up a generous mitten-ful of the deadly *YELLOW SNOW
Whereupon I proceeded to take that mittenful of the deadly yellow snowcrystals and rub it all into his beady little eyes with a vigorouscircular motion

and so on...

 

[Ted]

^^^ Ok, fine, for sure, for sure.

 

[grober]

Coming up to a halt sign in very slippery conditions it can help to slip an automatic gearbox car into neutral especially if the car is still in its fast warm up idle mode. Makes it easier for the front brakes not to fight against the transmission pushing the car forward. As far as the warm water screen defrost thing is concerned a small indoor watering can with a long spout can help spread the water over all the screen- keep one in the car when away from home as you can sometimes "top up " from the office/pub/restaurant/theatre washroom later in the day. Its probably a good thing to able drive away right away after the application of the warm water and wipers as this helps to dry out the screen and prevent refreezing.

 

[wemorgan]

tip a winter share

Edf

 

[grober]

Edf

Oh you French nuclear dudes- you have that "inner heat" tout le temp N'est-ce pas?

 

[developer]

If you have a sloping drive you need to clear it properly and grit it before parking a car on it.

The year before last I parked the wife's Focus on our badly prepared drive, got out, locked it and watched in horror as it slid down into the road, coming to rest in the middle .

Luckily there was nothing coming.......