Winter driving. Any useful tips?

[Mbstarz]

My first merc and know the rear wheel drive on my 18" wheels will be a whole new experience in icy conditions. Any members have tips? Apart from not driving! What mode to drive in? Snow chains? Etc... How bad is it really??

 

[grober]

Highest gear possible, lightest foot possible, if autobox slip the car into neutral when coming to a halt at a T junction, no sudden braking or steering inputs ANTICIPATE!!!!!!!!!ensure all the windows give clear visibility ----- buy a set of winter tyres

If possible "go looking for trouble" find a quiet car park with lots of room and a slippery surface and do a bit of practicing when you can do no harm to the car or anyone else- you will soon appreciate the car's limits and your own.

 

[Peter T]

"Snow Socks" are supposed to be good, although I've never tried them. I know they're supplied as standard equipment by Jaguar.

My cars tend to stay on the driveway when there's snow on the ground!!

 

[paul_c]

Its not that bad on gritted roads, but obviously you don't have the grip of a dry road. However, if you hit an icy patch, then typically ice is about 10 times less grippy than tarmac, so you'll inevitably skid if you approached it at anything more than crawling pace! So the skill is, to read the surface of the road and anticipate where ice might be - shaded areas, dips, shallow puddles, poorly drained areas, etc.

Standing water - will really drag the car to a slow/halt, so try not to enter at speed. If its more than a few inches deep, you risk damage to the car by ingesting the water into the engine, slow speed and once again reading the road to see where its shallow enough, is critical.

Remember that Mercs (well, the decent ones) are RWD so will tend to oversteer but can also understeer badly then flick into oversteer. Sometimes its better to induce oversteer since this will tend to tighten a turn, where understeer will widen it. But if you have traction control, then the car won't let you skid it, it will correct it in a benign fashion. And also the foot operated parking brake is completely unsuitable for handbrake turns!

 

[V12]

Leave plenty of room and remember that it's all about momentum.

Drive with anticipation so that you can avoid having to stop where possible.

 

[jamesfuller]

As previously mentioned, there is no substitute for getting the feel of the car somewhere safe and not public!

Forward planning and smoothness is the aim of the game!

 

[GordonTarling]

Given the current weather, consider a pair of floats.

 

[Dieselman]

I wouldn't worry too much, it's 9.5c outside at present.

 

[markjay]

Slow down...

It provides greater margin for error, gives you more 'options' of recovering from dangerous situations, and more importantly it gives other motorists a better chance of avoiding you...

Drive as if you have a tray of fresh eggs on the bonnet - avoid sharp/quick/abtupt/unexpected manouvers, avoid sudden acceleration and sudden braking, and plan as far ahead as possible...

Not much different than everyday driving then.

 

[boxbrownie]

Let me know when your going out and where

 

[trapperjohn]

Remember if its an auto your rear wheels are always being driven when you are in "D". You will be breaking against yourself if you are in icy conditions. Slip the car into "N" once you are just about rolling to a stop then apply the brakes,its easier to stop that way. An out of control 2 ton toboggan is quite a hairy ride.

 

[SimonRJ]

If we get snow and ice I'm not gonna brave it in my C Class - tried that last year and rear wheel drive and automatic didn't get me very far - I confess to having a bit of slippery 'throwing the back end around' fun though!

 

[crockers]

RWD in the snow is an accident waiting to happen. If you're that worried get a set of winter tyres fitted. Anyone driving a RWD car on summer tyres in the snow / ice are idiots.



Fuse now lit...........retires......

 

[markjay]

Just came back from the Swiss Apls, everyone there is on proper snow tyres.

Strangely it is not a legal requirement but obviously the only sensible thing to do.

The interesting thing is that in spite of a large number of SUVs and lots of 4-Matic Mercs, everyone made good progress in the snow with the proper tyres, even mundane FWD and RWD cars.

Which comes to show that it's 90% in the tyres and only 10% in the AWD or road clearance etc.

I don't use Winter tyres on the Merc in London and just don't drive it when it is snowy or icey (which accounts for 2-3 days a year).

Wife's car is a light FWD and this is what I take when it snows, if/when I must venture out in bad weather (very rarely).

I think that generally speaking winter tyres are a must when driving in snow / ice, but difficult to justify on a low annual mileage car that lives in the SE.

 

[Marvin16x]

Go slowly around bends, especially in older cars without ABS ...
I remember when I almost crashed into an approaching snow plough because the car wouldn't steer but slide although I was only doing about 10 mph.
Braking hard doesn't really work on icy roads ...

 

[cinek]

What winter?

 

[Mbstarz]

What winter?

When it eventually kicks in!

Better to be prepared and know what to do than sorry